ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on defamation, which is more likely to affect mainstream e-commerce than the criminal law areas mentioned. The global nature of the Internet makes it necessary to be aware of the law elsewhere, but in any case there are many materials on the law of defamation and the Internet from outside the UK. US law is far less protective of reputation than the UK, and there are a number of defences to a defamation action which do not exist in the UK. In the context of defamation, intermediary liability is important, not just because of the deep pocket syndrome, but also because the originator of the statement may be unknown. Defamation protects reputations, and is jurisdiction-dependent in that a defamation action in the UK protects only reputations in the UK. Singapore is one of the few jurisdictions to have adopted a code of practice which is a possible way forward for UK law.
