Legality of Hosting a Site

[Cormac]

I'm looking into setting up a site which will be somewhat similar to www.mybosslied.ie and ratemysolicitor.com

The site i'm making this enquiry about will allow users to add their thoughts and opinions on a subject matter (irish subject matter). Their point of view may not be liked by those who are mentioned in the posts.

So my questions are:

Can some legal implications be avoided if you host your site outside of Ireland?
If you host abroad but you use a .ie domain name, can you avoid any legal implications?

 

[mneylon]

Can some legal implications be avoided if you host your site outside of Ireland?

Not entirely. Regardless of where a site is hosted you'd still have to face Irish law for any defamation /slander etc.,

If you host abroad but you use a .ie domain name, can you avoid any legal implications?

See above

 

[Cormac]

but if i hosted in america, for example, the only way for a company to sue me would be to go thru the US court system... is that right?

 

[bizhat]

No, Only Ireland Law apply to you, not US law. If you host illegal site in US, what they can do is disable your site.

 

[mneylon]

Regardless of where you host if you are an Irish citizen and you slander / defame etc., you could be pursued in Irish courts etc.,

 

[mneylon]

Ken McGuire : Blogging Technology, The Web, Creative Thoughts

Shows what can happen

 

[Gavin]

Interesting read on that page but what I am confused about is who in their right mind would dare to pubically bash a solicitor? That is just asking for trouble.

I also thought that hosting a site in the US would avoid this type of issue, glad to have learned this is not the case.

 

[mneylon]

Taking on legal eagles was a bit dumb.. They're more likely to be in a position to fight back