Polish Courts Say Websites Should Be Registered As Press
January 14th, 2009, Tomasz RychlickiI wrote an article titled “Polish Courts Say Websites Should Be Registered As Press” together with my good friend Piotr Waglowski. It was recently published in “Computer and Telecommunications Law Review”, C.T.L.R. 2009, 15(1), 9-14. Being very busy I asked Piotr to make it available online at his website. He published it in the post titled “Polish Courts Say Websites Should Be Registered As Press“.
There is also a sequel to Leszek Szymczak’s story. On 16 December 2008, the Regional Court in Słupsk issued a judgment (act signature II K 367/08) in which Leszek Szymczak was acquitted from charges of “publishing press material featuring criminal content that publicly incited its readers to commit offences”. As you may read from our article, this case concerned posts that were published at the online forum of http://gazetabytowska.pl website (also accessible at http://gby.pl), which – according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office – included incitement to commit crime. Charges were based on article 49a of the Polish Press Law, Dziennik Ustaw (Journal of Laws) No.5, pos. 24, with later changes:
An editor who unintentionally published press material that featured criminal content mentioned in article 37a hereof, shall be subject to a fine penalty or the restriction of liberty.
in connection with article 255 of the Penal Code of June 6, 1997 (Dziennik Ustaw–Journal of Laws No.88, pos. 553, with later changes):
1. A person who publicly calls for committing an offence of a fiscal crime shall be subject to a fine penalty, the restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to two years.
2. A person who publicly calls for committing a crime shall be subject to the restriction of liberty for up to three years.
3. A person who publicly praises the commitment of a crime shall be subject to a fine penalty amounting to up to 180 daily rates, the restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year.
The court ruled that according to the Polish Press Law, Leszek Szymczak is the publisher and the editor, however the entries that were posted by visitors of his website did not constitute a press material.