BC Court of Appeal Rules Merely Linking is Not Defamatory

The British Columbia Court of Appeal has affirmed, in a divided decision, a lower court decision that merely linking to a webpage that may contain defamatory content does not amount to "publication" and so cannot support a claim for defamation.  The majority characterized a browser's active decision to click on a link as a "barrier" between the linking and linked sites that the overcome reader overcomes, not the linking site.