Wired is reporting that a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision has cleared the way for many of us who publish information on a small scale (and who mostly point to other media for source material) to gain some protection against libel.

The protection seems to stem from an interpretation of the CDA (Communications "Decency" Act of 1996), in which service providers are not considered publishers by providing people access to content provided by others.

The case in question was a very twisted one indeed, involving Nazi art theft (but, not really) and a car repair shop in North Carolina.

Further, it is not clear that any of this pertains directly to original content, or editorial commentary that appears along with stories on a web site.