Cubby vs. Compuserve (1991)

Cubby vs. Compuserve of 1991 was the case that question whether or not internet service providers being held subject to the traditional defamation law for their hosted content, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Compuserve was an internet service provider but was not found accountable for the defamatory content on one of their forums because they had no knowledge of it, nor did they claim to monitor the content that is published on their forums. They are merely hosts. In order for an internet service provider to be held accountable for defamation charges, they have to have claimed to monitor or edit their forums.