Bloggers (博客) and website-owners (網站公司) are liable (應負法律責任的) for libelous (誹謗性的) blog contents, Hong Kong judge rules (判決)
A Hong Kong judge recently (最近) ruled that website holders are responsible for contents that bloggers , such as Dean Fung, put up (刊登) on their blogs. The judge said the contents in the case were deemed libelous. The website company was fined (罰款). 不過，最近加拿大高等法院把兩宗誹謗官司發回重審。原審法庭早前判兩份報章的報道誹謗了兩名原告，要賠償分別70萬港元和1千萬港元。不過，高等法院重新 解釋誹謗法，以後報刊或「博客」（bloggers）都可以用「responsible (Note 1): communication」（負責任的報道）來抗辯。換 句話說，記者和「博客」受保護的程度增加了。那麼，何謂 responsible communication 呢？其實很簡單，只要報道內容真實，事件與公眾利益有關，而又給予報道的對象有反駁指控的機會，這樣做，記者或「博客」的報道都不會構成誹謗罪。以前的法例較嚴，基本上如果指控對象名譽受損，而報道有丁點兒錯誤，記者都要入罪。
Note 1: Responsible 的相反詞是irresponsible不負責任的, 不可靠的；近似字= careless, reckless, cavalier
Hey pals, be responsible for what we say. Have a nice weekend!
Dean Fung
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