Rules & Policies

Legal Issues

Note: Our Legal Disclaimer is detailed below.

Sadly, we've had a great deal of experience with legal problems such as libel and defamation. Here's the current situation as we see it:

• New Zealand internet law is still developing and there are many gray areas. In the meantime the judicial system is relying on existing laws which govern such things as print and broadcast media.
• It's unlikely that The Race Cafe could be successfully sued. This is due partly to our care in protecting ourselves and partly to the legal situation, which requires that we are first informed of any complaint and given the opportunity to respond. We can only be sued if we then refuse to respond to the complaint.
• Users who post defamatory or otherwise illegal material can be sued more easily, but in most cases the defendant must still be given the chance to publicly retract their comments before serious charges can be pursued.
  However, there have been precedents for successful lawsuits. Judges have been quite harsh on those who mistakenly claim "freedom of speech" rights (see below for an example).
• If someone really does want to take you to court, they can. In such cases we may be bound by law to reveal your personal details. Regardless of whether the suit is successful, you're still in for a difficult time.
   

Our policy is to remove any message which we feel has the potential for legal repercussions. It doesn't matter whether you're prepared to take the legal risk yourself, if you get sued then we get dragged into it and it costs us time and money. It also brings The Race Cafe into disrepute.

Note: We've found that a lot of New Zealand lawyers have been slow to keep up with the internet and some of the professional advice we've seen has been questionable. If you're looking for legal advice regarding the internet, we suggest you shop around and get a few different opinions. www.howtolaw.co.nz is a good place to start.

Precedents

O'Brien vs Brown (September 2001)
The following article appeared in the Waikato Times, September 2001:

Net users warned on defamation
New Zealand's growing community of internet users has been put on notice of good behaviour with a landmark court judgment awarding $42,000 against a website contributor for defamation.
The penalty, for statements placed on an electronic newsgroup and e-mail list, has raised immediate complaints by internet users that their freedom of speech in website newsgroups could be affected.
In a reserved judgment in Palmerston North District Court, finding Manawatu Internet Service director Alan Brown guilty of defamation, Judge Gregory Ross warned net users to be wary of their language -- or face the consequences.
"I know of no forum in which an individual citizen has the freedom to say what he likes and in any manner he wishes about another individual citizen with immunity from suit for all consequences," Judge Ross said.
"Merely because the publication is being made to cyberspace does not alter this ... There can be no question that publication on the internet counts as publication for defamation purposes."
The action was taken by Patrick O'Brien, ex-chief executive of the New Zealand Internet Registry, trading as Domainz. A third party posted criticism of Domainz procedures.
Awarding $30,000 general damages, Judge Ross also imposed punitive damages of $12,000.

--NZPA

Legal Disclaimer

The Race Cafe makes no assurances about the suitability of the content in this section. Naturally, the views expressed here are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site's producers or affiliates. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.

You agree, through your use of these forums, that you will not use The Race Cafe to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, racist, hateful, harassing, sexually explicit, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material without the owner's consent. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Race Cafe with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

Any person who feels that a posted message is objectionable should immediately fill out the complaint form. Upon receipt of your complaint we will investigate and remove the offending message(s) within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that this action is warranted.

The Race Cafe reserves the right to edit or delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever.

The Race Cafe reserves the right to monitor and record details about your ISP, IP address and other details about your computer. By posting messages in our forums, you agree to allow us to use these details to identify users who breach our rules. We agree to keep these details absolutely confidential and use them only for the purpose of enforcing our published rules.

In the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you, The Race Cafe reserves the right to reveal your identity, your IP address(es), your Internet Service Provider(s) and any other relevant information regarding your messages.

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