Fergus Cassidy

Turbulent times

WHEN Michael arrived in Ancona on Italy's Adriatic coast, the rain was pouring down faster than the drains could cope. Foresight had made him pack a decent set of waterproofs. But he was totally unprepared for what happened next.

For most of the following twenty four hours he sat soaking and shivering under bus shelters, with only soft shoes between him and a hard rain. His trusted walking boots were in his baggage, which was on its way to a land far away.

Boat connections missed while waiting for his baggage meant that his holiday was over and he returned to London.

That was September 2003 and he's still shivering. Not at memories of the holiday that might have been, but because of a website he owns and publishes. He replaced his abated anger with a mission to inform other travellers of his experience with Ryanair, the airline he had flown to Italy with.

He launched www.ryanair.org.uk in the autumn of 2003. The declaration on the home page says he wanted "to make some honest and innocuous observations about Ryanair's operations". One year later his world went into a nosedive.

On the 29 November 2004 a letter arrived by email from the London office of Howrey, a big American legal firm with over 600 attorneys and specialising in global litigation.

Acting on behalf of Ryanair, the letter said that Michael's website gave "rise to claims for defamation and injurious falsehood". It ended with: "In the circumstances, we request that your website be shut down immediately." And "our client reserves the right... to seek an immediate injunction preventing further publication".

A month later Michael's site disappeared from the web. Claranet, his internet service provider (ISP), had pulled the plug. He received an email from Claranet, which cited a British precedence case involving an ISP and alleged defamation.

Because of this, stated Claranet, "we were effectively 'put on notice' by Ryanair's solicitors and as such we acted accordingly. We have no choice. We are not in a position to make a judgement as to who is right and who is wrong".

Michael then moved his website to a hosting company in Canada but another legal letter landed on him. On 4 February last, Howrey's letter noted that "you have resurrected your website with a new internet service provider" and repeated the request that the site be "shut down immediately". It ended: "We have written to your new internet service provider setting out our complaints".

Last week Michael replied, stating that he had made some changes to accommodate Ryanair's concerns. He wrote: "Our aim is not to make Ryanair look ridiculous, but to improve the situation for everyone". As of last Thursday, the site remains up.

This incident of a website being taken down is by no means isolated. It joins a lengthening list and is a dangerous development. Because of how easy it is to take down sites and thereby eliminate expression. Especially when compared to other media such as newspapers and magazines.

In an experiment in October 2004, ten Dutch ISPs were sent a fictitious legal notice by email stating that a website contained text which was in breach of the law. Seven removed the text without bothering to verify the request. Half of them removed the text following a second email request and one acted within three hours of the first request.

In Ireland, concern is growing at the fragile protection afforded to online expression. Tom Murphy, who runs Boards.ie , one of the country's most successful web-based forums, believes strongly that liability for libel must be tackled.

"The reason I am so keen to see that law [libel] changed is that it is a very convenient way for anyone to shut down the public speaking ability of individuals. You can have freedom of speech all you like, but if you have nowhere to talk or sites on which to publish, you are in trouble".

The findings of the European Court of Human Rights last week in the McDonald's 'McLibel' case hammers home the same point.

The court said there was a "strong public interest in enabling such groups and individuals outside the mainstream to contribute to the public debate by disseminating information and ideas on matters of general public interest".

The internet - and the ability for anyone to publish which it has created - is a crucial component in facilitating such public interest. In the forthcoming Defamation Bill here in Ireland, the internet must not be left stranded at the departure gate.