Today, the Canadian Supreme Court found that an online writer who used external hyperlinks could not be held liable for the contents of the hyperlinked materials:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1072362--supreme-court-ruling-big...
Justice Rosalie Abella, who wrote the majority opinion, said, “Only when a hyperlinker presents content from the hyperlinked material in a way that actually repeats the defamatory content, should that content be considered ‘published’ by the hyperlinker.”[1]
It is reassuring to see the Canadian Court supporting this particular principle, one on which the Wikimedia projects are heavily dependent. It does, however, identify a boundary (repeating defamatory content) that bears some watching.
Risker
[1] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hyperlinking-doesnt-constitute-...