This maybe somewhat a stupid question, but it is something that I have always wondered about.

For crimes or civil law matters such as defamation, committed on the internet, where is the crime or action deemed to be committed?

I will give an example to illustrate what I am talking about.

Imagine someone submits a post on a forum stating that Politician John Doe is a criminal. Lets for argument sake say that it is untrue and therefore John Doe has grounds to sue for defamation.

Lets also say for arguments sake, that the politician is american, the forum owner is canadian, the server which holds the internet site is in UK, the person who wrote the post is Indian.

Which country is the case held, if at all? Which jurisdiction governs it? Where is the civil crime deemed to have taken place?

Not sure, if this is an easy question to answer or not. It is just something that has always interested, especially with the litigious nature of some of the posts in other forum(not IAP). I was always curious, why politicians or people who are being defamed don't seek redress through the courts, and if they do, what jurisdiction they take it to.

The basics of what I said at first are correct.  But there are two factors affecting how this would be treated.  Both people and property are subject to a courts jurisdiction, so in a civil court, a judgment may be levied against property within a court's jurisdiction when the property belongs to a person who is not within that jurisdiction.  So in your example, John Doe could sue The Indian and if The Indian had property in NY, that could be taken and wind up in John Doe's hands.  Additionally, a person may voluntarily place themselves within a courts jurisdiction, even if they normally would not be there. So the Indian might appear in the court to protect his property, and then theorectically wind up in jail.  And generally the incident would be examined to determine where the damage from the act occurred and would be prosecuted there. If you are defamed, the defamation is where you are (generally).  Again, generally, defamers acting outside of a jurisdiction (say Europe) with regard to a person in the US are not likely to have any consequences.  All that changes when the stakes get higher (a major corporation being defamed by someone in another country, or having secrets stolen via internet, or a criminal conspiracy that's internet based, or terrorist activity). The act is deemed to have taken place where the damage is done, and that opens up the world for multinational corporations to be able to react more fully say in India. The server and forum operators are largely not held responsible, unless their failure to perform some aspect of their contractual agreement or operating laws created exposure.  (Ex, they had been warned to take The Indian off their forum, or were required by law to monitor postings, had agreed to, and then failed to) The law here is actually hopelessly behind the technology, for the most part. Hope this helped answer your question, which isn't stupid at all. 

Its probably assumed to be the location of the person committing the crime....if I hack into a bank's web site...I'll probably get prosecuted by Federal (and state laws where I live).


Defamation (and libelous cases) are often brought about against the web site (ie - this forum) because the content is under my control as the administrator and owner, and in all honesty, that is the easiest way to get something slanderous removed.

However, if I wanted I could fight it (and win) with precedence (see AOL case about libelous slander on the web)...but I don't have the time to defend trolls (nor the money, even if I had any to spare I wouldn't out of general principle).

That's what always gets me -- people come here (IAP) and think that I'm doing a dis-service by deleting flamewar bait that trolls leave behind.

I'm really just protecting my own ass, and if you think *you* are entitled to your right to free speech from me, you're gravely mistaken...the only right you have to free speech is from the government. Private persons and corporate entities can do whatever they want with your "info"...might want to think about that before you go giving your SS# and everything else about you to FOX (myspace) -- inevitably, they will build a profile and will most likely catch you with the credit hook eventually.