The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling by a
federal appeals court that online service providers cannot be held
responsible for information a subscriber transmits to others
on their service. The ruling on June 22, 1998 came in the
case of Kenneth Zeran, who sued AOL because someone had
posted messages saying Zeran was selling T-shirts
with offensive slogans about the Oklahoma City bombing.
The courts have ruled that the Communications Decency
Act of 1996 protects online service providers from legal
liability for information subscribers post.