Tapes from hidden video cameras in toilets, changing rooms and showers at university sports facilities were sold on various web sites hosted by the two ISPs. The companies that made and sold the tapes are also being sued by the students.
The students brought their case under the Communications Decency Act, arguing that, as web site hosts, the ISPs functioned as “content providers.” Judge Charles Kocoras took the view that the ISPs did not provide any content for the web sites in question, and therefore dismissed the case against them. He observed that US federal law makes service providers immune from liability for exercise of a publisher’s traditional editorial functions, such as deciding whether to publish, withdraw, postpone or alter content.
On 1st May, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of Prodigy, an ISP in the US, which had been sued for defamation over the posting of an obscene and threatening message. This case gave ISPs complete immunity from such actions in the US.