The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court decision in Young v. New Haven Advocate, a case which merits note as it addresses the issues of jurisdiction and Internet libel, the focus of a recent high profile decision in Australia. Stateside, the court determined that two Connecticut newspapers and their staff did not defame a Virginia correctional employee via their publication of articles critical of the employee on the Web.
The High Court of Australia took a very different position on an Internet libel case decided on December 10 (see my posting here) which resulted in a flurry of articles from sources around the world warning of the possibility of web censorship resulting from a potential future wave of such litigation.