§ Mr. David HeathTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department under what circumstances the Lord Chancellor's Department has required a website to be closed. [101091]
§ Mr. LockThe Department's attention was recently drawn to material on a webspace provided by Kingston Internet to a Mr. J. F. Hulbert which contained a series of defamatory allegations against individually named judges and court staff. Consequently, the Department wrote to Kingston Internet drawing its attention to the material and inviting the company's proposals for closing the site. However, it was for Kingston Internet to consider whether the use of the webspace complied with the terms of its contract with Mr. Hulbert and it subsequently disabled the webspace.
§ Mr. David HeathTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what recent communications there have been between the Lord Chancellor's Department and Kingston Internet Ltd. [101090]
§ Mr. LockThe Lord Chancellor's Department wrote to Kingston Internet on 25 October drawing attention to material on a website provided by that company to Mr. J. F. Hulbert. On 4 November the company responded indicating that it had disabled the webspace. This crossed with a letter from the Department of 5 November inquiring whether any consideration had been given to the letter of 25 October. The Department's letter of 5 November was in turn acknowledged by the company on 9 November. There have been no further communications between the Department and the company.