The Daily Eastern News online edition has been getting some pretty nasty comments lately about a pair of stories with some controversy surrounding the topic matter. As a result, the editor, online editor, and a host of us advisers have been knocking around a new comment policy to attach to the comments on dennews.com (scroll down to the bottom of this story to see the policy, right above the comments). #

Even though there are a few comments that seem to draw fire, the existence of so many people wanting to comment on the stories suggests that people like to talk about the news. This will come as no surprise to readers of this blog. #

But there are always legal worries, especially for newspapers that publish online editions. Today, a reminder has come in that the CDA Section 230 immunity for internet service providers still applies to comments. A Vermont judge dismissed a libel lawsuit against iBrattleboro for a comment left on the site. #

This is a significant victory for community journalism sites, which often rely heavily on user-submitted content. Like many such sites, iBrattleboro edits and removes user comments in order to create “a forum for information-sharing, discussion and debate in a respectful and friendly atmosphere.” This is the quintessential activity that CDA 230 was meant to immunize, and courts have consistently held that these activities do not make an interactive computer service liable for defamatory material submitted by others that it does publish on its site. #

The DEN takes down comments that are deemed offensive. Our students don’t pre-approve comments. For now, that seems the best approach. #

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