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OBSERVATIONS: Matthew Hurley and Craig Smith Patients' blogs—do doctors have anything to fear? BMJ 2007; 335: 645-646 [Full text]

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Blogs can be expensive to remove

Oscar H Gyde   (28 September 2007)

Blogs can be expensive to remove 28 September 2007
Oscar H Gyde, Secretary Society for the Internet in Medicine 11 Central Maltings, Manningtree. CO11 1HR Send response to journal: Re: Blogs can be expensive to remove	Hurley and Craig Smith are correct in stating that the Defamation Act 1996 makes provision for internet service providers to make amends for publishing bloggers’ libels by an apology and costs; to which one might add the removal of the libel. They also suggest that internet publishers should have a "notice and take down policy". Unfortunately though one of the largest blog providers, Google, have "terms of service", the removal of defamatory blogs from their site is no simple process. They demand court action by an individual in the UK before considering the complaint. They are well aware that such a legal process is likely to cost in the region of £5000, which may well reduce their workload. Competing interests: lengthy experience of trying to get Google to remove defamatory blogs