The Wardman Wire

I thought I should give Shillings a chance to explain their understanding of what has been going on.

A Letter to Schillings - Lawyers for Alisher Usmanov

Sent to legal@schillings.co.uk early this evening (17:30):

Dear Sir

As I understand the situation, you required the removal of a small number of articles alleged to be defamatory towards Mr Usmanov, posted on two weblog sites (www.bloggerheads.com and www.craigmurray.co.uk). I also understand that previously Tim Ireland - owner of bloggerheads.com - had edited articles on his site at your request.

As I am sure you are aware by now, your approach to Fasthosts has resulted in the removal of far more than a small number of articles by switching off an entire server, viz:

* The entire content of the 2 weblogs mentioned above has been removed.
* Boris Johnson, the MP and candidate for London Mayor, has had his website - www.boris-johnson.com, removed.
* Bob Piper, an elected Councillor in Sandwell, has had his website - www.bobpiper.co.uk - removed.

I’m attempting to cover this issue accurately, and I wonder if I could ask you to comment on 2 aspects:

1 - Your intentions when writing to the webhost - i.e., did you intend to have entire sites deleted.
2 - Your opinion of the proportionality of the actions that has resulted - i.e., the removal of far more than the “offending material”, and in particular the removal of websites which had nothing to do with the dispute whatsoever.

I accept that it would not be reasonable to ask you to comment on the UK legal situation where webhosts are held responsible as “publishers” for material that they are not aware exists, so I am not asking you to do so.

I should say that I will use your response to inform my coverage of the situation on www.mattwardman.com.

However, if you wish, I would be happy to undertake to publish your response verbatim.

Thank you for your time.

Matt Wardman,
Editor, www.mattwardman.com

And the Guardian has now Picked up the Story

The best quote I have seen on this so far is from Boris Johnson quoted in the Guardian:

This is London, not Uzbekistan

He then went on:

“It is unbelievable that a website can be wiped out on the say-so of some tycoon.

“We live in a world where internet communication is increasingly vital, and this is a serious erosion of free speech.”

They Just closed the Whole Customer Account

Reading the account in the Guardian, it appears that my previous speculation was more or less right:

My guess is that the web host in this case rents out a whole (or shared) server, and that was simply turned off.

The Guardian said:

Fasthosts Internet confirmed that Mr Johnson’s site was disabled as part of a clampdown on a separate web address.

“Where concerns are raised to us about a website, such as in this case, in accordance with our normal procedures, we will investigate the website content,” the company said in a statement.

“In this case, we examined a website for potentially defamatory material and communicated to the customer that they had indeed breached the terms and conditions for Fasthosts Internet hosting.

“The customer was repeatedly advised of the breach and upon failing to permanently remove the content in question.

“Their customer account was terminated, the unfortunate result being the possible downtime of other unrelated websites … of which we understand boris-johnson.com was one.”

Responsibility for the content of websites lay solely with their owners and publishers, the company added.

On the last point, British Courts treat the webhost as if it were a publisher (”if it is on your servers, you publish it”).

From Mr Usmanov’s spokesman (wha-hay spokesman still appears in the Guardian!):

A spokesman for Mr Usmanov said he was not aware of any reason why Mr Johnson’s website should have been taken down.

“We only requested the removal of specific statements and postings with regard to one individual site,” he said.

This is not the first time Mr Usmanov has taken action to close down online discussion about him.

Wrapping-Up

I’ll post again when Schillings respond do not respond, and I’ll put together a legal analysis over the weekend.

Tags: matt wardman, alisher usmanov, guardian, schillings lawyer, arsenal, red and white holdings, bob piper, bloggerheads, boris johnson[tags]matt wardman, alisher usmanov, guardian, schillings lawyer, arsenal, red and white holdings, bob piper, bloggerheads, boris johnson[/tags]