Forum Insurance

Hello,
I am based in the UK and run a number of forums.

I have recently tried to get some sort of liability insurance cover for my company - which is the owner/operator of the forums and I am finding this very difficult.

I basically want a policy that would cover me for any legal costs for slander and libel which may occur as the forums grow.

I was wondering if other Big Board owners have insurance and if anyone can recommend any forum friendly insurers?

Thanks for any advice,
Bob

[sanjay369]

I would be interested in this as well

[FreshFroot]

good topic.. I'm wondering about this too. I guess this would be VERY valuable if you run a huge forum. I would think the insurance price would be high though and have to depend on TONS of factors, eg. server, host, software.. might get complicated compared to something like car insurance..

[mhackl]

I don't know.

I believe that I've read somewhere that it has been established in a US court that the forum operator is not liable for content contributed by its forum members. This, if true, would make such a policy unnecessary at least in the USA.

I'll try and dig up the case info for anyone whose interested.

[Hex_legend]

I am also in the UK and my forums are my company. I have been able to get legal cover under the data protection act (speak to the information commissioner) and Public Liability Insurance for electronic details being held on file.

Want any more info? PM me.

www.alwaysalternative.com

Leigh

[hotcouponworld]

I believe what you're looking for is an errors and omissions policy. Generally, coverage of $1M is sufficient as I understand it. It's on my to-do list as well.

[wtrk]

Originally Posted by mhackl

I don't know.

I believe that I've read somewhere that it has been established in a US court that the forum operator is not liable for content contributed by its forum members. This, if true, would make such a policy unnecessary at least in the USA.

I'll try and dig up the case info for anyone whose interested.

the case is a california supreme court case i believe.

[kobescoresagain]

Could you just ensure your business against all types of lawsuits? I don't think the type of organization would matter.

[moveforward]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I think this is a very important topic for all of us that make substantial revenues and run large public forums.

So far I have contacted all the major insurance providers in the UK. And they are all as primative as each other. The first challenge is finding someone that actually understands our type of business is not about insuring a house or a car.

I have still had no luck.

Hex_Legend. Thanks for your response, I will be PMing you to find out more if you don't mind.

I believe that I've read somewhere that it has been established in a US court that the forum operator is not liable for content contributed by its forum members. This, if true, would make such a policy unnecessary at least in the USA.

This seems to also be the case in the UK though I have heard of forum providers also being sued - hence my concern. My forum is about property investment. People are posting their bad experiences with various dubious agents and property developers. To date, 3 of my members have had legal notices to cease their on going critique and to arrange for the content to be removed. It is strange that I have had no legal notices directly yet and it may well be the case that the precendant has been set so that the orginators of the content are held liable for slander etc.

However there have been cases (in the UK) which involve forums that are "heavily" moderated. These forum providers - by pre-moderating - seem to take on the legal responsibility for publishing the content...

I hope we can keep this topic going. I will keep posting back when I find out anything helpful.

Regards
Bob

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Pre-Moderating = accepting the consequences (you aproved the post)