[WikiEN-l] Mirrors and accountability

Tue Dec 13 19:24:55 UTC 2005

I was thinking about something during the whole Seigenthaler thing,
about the mirrors of wikipedia (I apologise if this has already been
discussed, if it has, I haven't seen it). One of his big complaints
was that even though wikipedia removed his information instantly it
stayed on several of our mirrors such as answers.com and others.
Legally speaking, can wikipedia be held accountable for that? My gut
feeling is that we can't (mostly because we shouldn't be) because
thats the other servers' problem. That is, if they hold old, now
nonexisting on wikipedia libellous claims, can we be sued for that? It
seems like a case of "Hey, we removed it long ago, if you have a
problem with other servers, take it up with them".

Can anyone clarify the legal aspects of this for a poor, legally
illitarate wikipedian?