Posted by Racer on August 5, 2005, at 0:43:51
In reply to Re: clarification » NikkiT2, posted by crushedout on August 3, 2005, at 14:33:06
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> Do you mean the First Amendment? Would it apply to sites not hosted in the U.S.?
>
> It's a good question -- I'm not sure. I think it would apply to any lawsuit that was brought in a U.S. court, certainly. U.S. courts generally apply U.S. law. It's possible, though, that the court would throw the case out for lack of jurisdiction if the host was not in the U.S., in which case it would never reach the question of whether the First Amendment applies to the host.
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> As to whether the poster is outside of the jurisdiction, that I don't think would matter. The poster could still be tried under U.S. law (assuming the poster published something in a U.S. publication, whether it be online or on paper). The issue then is whether the court can get *personal* jurisdiction over the poster. That may require the poster to come onto U.S. territory. Or sometimes trials have been held in absentia, but I think that's very rare and maybe only for criminal cases.
>
> We're getting into pretty hairy procedural issues here, that are difficult to explain and probably a bit out of my area of expertise. I'm happy to share my thoughts but please don't sue me for malpractice!
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> Oh, man, what have I gotten myself into? ;-)For what it's worth, as far as US laws and who they apply to, furriners can be subject to certain US laws under certain circumstances:
If you get a traffic ticket in the US, or even a parking ticket, and you ignore it and it turns into a warrant? You'll have a hard time coming back to the US. (Don't ask.)
Also, when I was young and not like I am now, I know that Stiff Little Fingers couldn't get into the country for a tour because of having been convincted overseas of things that were against US law. As I recall, The Damned had a hard time making it to their tour, too... (That might have been because a certain Captain liked to get naked on stage, but I'm probably wrong about that... Besides, silly guitar kept getting in the way of the Naughty Bits...)
Hope that's clear as mud for you both...
poster:Racer
thread:531449
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050728/msgs/537711.html