LCO Public consultations: Defamation Law in the Internet Age

The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) which is Ontario’s leading law reform agency has started public consultations in relation to its Defamation Law in the Internet Age project. It is therefore seeking input from technology lawyers. Their project considers how defamation law should be updated to account for “internet speech,” including social media, blogs, internet platforms and digital media.

One of the key issue which will be addressed in the project is to what extent internet intermediaries should be legally responsible for defamatory content that they did not author. In Quebec, the Act to establish a legal framework for information technology  deals with this issue at sections 22 and 27. While this legislation has been around since 2001, there has not been much case law providing additional guidance on this issue. Another issue considered in their project is the relationship between privacy and defamation law in the internet age, including online complaints processes as potential ADR mechanisms for some online defamation claims. This project is timely and will be of great interest to many regulators, academics, courts and lawyers accross the country.

To access the LCO’s Consultation Paper, click here (175 pages).

To access the LCO’s Executive Summary, click here (18 pages).

If you wish to participate, you may contact Project Head, Sue Gratton at sgratton@lco-cdo.org or by phone at (416) 650-8406.

This content has been updated on January 10, 2018 at 9 h 21 min.