WWW Liability (slightly off-topic, but someone might know)

[Jeremy Barker]

Ian G Batten wrote:

> The following claim has been made in support of the purchase of a
> product:
>
>   As far as the UK is concerned we believe that UK
>   government can make the company liable in case
>   an employee (using his companie's infrastructure)
>   accesses e.g.: a terroristic site and does bad
>   things based on this...(it seems not to be
>   enough to simply provide a company policy that
>   forbids the use of such web sites).
>   So it is "recommended" to pro-actively prevent
>   the use of illegal (and non-work-related) web sites
>   using such a tool.
>
> Has anyone heard this particular meme before?  Does it have any basis in
> fact?  My money's on ``Yes, from a salesman'' and ``No'', but I'd be
> interested to hear other answers...

That looks like salesmanspeak to me.  For a start the phrase "UK government
can make the company liable" is nonsensical.  They may be legally liable but
that is for a court, not government, to decide.

If an employer has made it crystal clear that certain web sites are not to
be used and takes disciplinary action when use is detected I would suggest
that it is very likely that the employer will escape any liability (assuming
they had liability in the first place).  I base that comment on the law in
relation to acts of discrimination by employees (which employers can be held
liable for) and I cannot see any obvious reason why similar considerations
would not apply to other unlawful activities of employees.

jb