Civil liability of internet service providers for transmitted information : problems and perspectives of legal regulation

With the unprecedented development of the Internet the role of Internet intermediaries that give access to, host, transmit and index content originated by third parties or provide Internet-based services to third parties have grown over the recent years. These entities provide services through both wired and mobile technologies. Internet access intermediaries, hosting and data processing providers create a platform for new, faster and cheaper communication technologies. They also contribute to innovation and productivity gains, provision of new products and services. Furthermore, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) create circumstances for expanding global freedom of expression. However, such a broad proliferation of Internet possesses major threats to privacy protection, copyrights and also helps to spread various sorts of illegal information. The evaluation of the necessity and scope of the legal responsibility of ISPs for the information transmitted through their networks by third parties and introduction of the conceptual model of mechanisms and principles which could form a background for global unified system of civil liability ascription is the main aim of this article. In order to achieve this aim, several tasks were formulated and accomplished: firstly, main theories and theoretical approaches of the ISPs civil liability for the information transmitted by third parties were analyzed (Theoretical part of the article, Part I); secondly, factual situation in ISPs civil liability area of EU as a whole, of USA and of Lithuania was presented, the main legal acts were pointed out and the most important cases of this type were examined (Analytical part of the article, Part II); thirdly, main aspects of various legal regimes on which background of the ISPs civil liability system can be built including economic and social implications were singled out; and finally, basic principles for conceptual model of global regime of the ISPs civil liability were introduced (Conceptual part of the article, Part III). The following methods of theoretical and empirical research were used: 1) comparative research approach; 2) analysis of scientific literature; 3) method of generalization; 4) qualitative analysis.