...THE LIABILITY OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR UNLAWFUL CONTENT POSTED BY THIRD PARTIES N.D. O’BRIEN 2010 THE LIABILITY OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR UNLAWFUL CONTENT POSTED BY THIRD PARTIES By N.D. O’BRIEN Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MAGISTER LEGUM in the Faculty of Law at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University January 2010 Supervisor: Prof F. Marx PREFACE I would like to extend my thanks to the following people: To my parents and Emma Taggart for their help, encouragement, sacrifice and support; To my supervisor, Prof Marx, for his assistance and guidance; To Dawn Prinsloo, at the NMMU Library, for providing me with her time and guidance; To Ms. Fourie, the Law Faculty Officer, for her always prompt and friendly assistance; To Mr. Ant Brooks and the Internet Service Provider Association, for providing me with a variety of interesting information and insights. Without their invaluable assistance I would not have been able to have completed this work. i SUMMARY Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) are crucial to the operation and development of the Internet. However, through the performance of their basic functions, they faced the great risk of civil and criminal liability for unlawful content posted by third parties. As this risk threatened the potential of the Internet, various jurisdictions opted to promulgate legislation that granted ISP’s safe harbours from liability. The South African (RSA)...
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