Is Libel A Rising Issue For Bloggers Worldwide?
As a blogger I’m always cautious of what I write and how I write it. After all, what I say here can be taken against me if I was to abuse, harass or even speak against somebody in a defamatory way. The fact remains that bloggers worldwide are being taken to court by corporations and single entities because of what they wrote about, which is called libel in legal terms.
One blogger I highly respect is Alex and he made me aware of a current lawsuit involving ePerks that seems to have caused an uproar in the blogosphere in the last couple of months. After reading Alex’s post I went off in search of information pertaining rights for bloggers and what they can and cannot do but to be honest, it is a legal jungle out there and unless we are trained in Internet law or know a little more about the first amendment of the USA than most, it is very hard to see exactly what we can and cannot “say” on a blog.
While Freedom of speech certainly allows us to speak up for ourselves, it isn’t that black and white at all.
For instance, we cannot post information that would intentionally cause harassment, hurt or defamation to another person or entity on the net as far as I was able to make out. While this is rather logical on first thought, it proves a lot harder to see where the actual boundaries lie on second.
Where one person could see themselves hurt by defamation, the courts might just put it all down to mambo jumbo if it was to be taken to a lawsuit. Many lawsuits aren’t even cause for one either and they add an enormous amount to the tax payers bill just because somebody thinks they can cash in quickly.
The sad state is that more and more lawsuits are being filed online against bloggers and my question is, how far will this go? How can we as bloggers make sure that we stay within the right side of the law and still bring our message across?
To me the answer is simple:
Don’t post anything that could be taken against you in a court of law. If you call another blogger and asshole or an idiot this could potentially lead to problems and while we all know of one blogger (Vic) who used to do this quite well, we also know that he got away with it. From where I stand, this could have just as easily ended up in court. Having said this, it is my own opinion and I might be wrong. Even though I know Vic has a heart of gold it doesn’t mean I agree with everything he says, or how he says it for that matter.
As bloggers we do have a responsibility to act human and express our views and ideas in a way that isn’t negatively affecting others and their name within the industry. Just like we act when we have a discussion offline really. After all, we don’t go shouting asshole or idiot to everybody that disagrees with us (or do we)?
I believe that we will see more and more of these type of lawsuits if the company that sued Vlad where to succeed. (As seen in Alex’s post above). This certainly makes me cautious about what I write and I reckon we should all be somewhat civilized in the way we dish out opinions.
What do you think? Are you worried about lawsuits as a blogger, or do you feel this all to be blown up affairs for the sake of media attention?
Monika
About the Author: I'm a passionate freelance writer and problogger. To further build my business I'm also in the process of building my own niche empire which pays me residual income.
Brett Legree | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
Good post Monika and it is something we all need to keep in mind. I don’t think I’m at risk but as you say you never know when you write something, and all it would take would be to offend one person.
And then, it is you (a single person) against a big legal entity. We know how that usually turns out.
I think the scarier thing is when you write something that is genuinely *not* offensive to the people at large, but it affects the interests of a big corporation – and then they go after you… I can’t think of any particular example but you could see this happening (for instance, if you gave an honest movie review and the production company didn’t like it).
Anyway – thanks for the words today.
-Brett
Lin | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
Monika, you’ve provided an important reminder for all bloggers, because Libel and Slander can land anyone into court.
When I’ve read various blog posts that verbally slam another person, naming them in the post, it alarms me. I believe that having freedom of speech to say what we want also carries a great deal of responsibility.
Even if/when we read a post article that we disagree with for one reason or another (or are angry with another person), we as writers have to be cautious and mindful about what we publish about others.
Some time back I saw a flaming post that not only “outed” someone’s sexual orientation and relationship problems, and the post actually used the person’s name and specific details about the breakup. I was shocked and saddened at the same time to see such a post published on the internet for the entire world to see. I lost respect and faith in that blogger from that moment on.
Jenny | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
Definitely gave me something to think about. Being new, I am overly cautious anyway but now will keep this in the back of my mind for future rants I might take!
Thanks for provoking thought!
Monika | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
@ Brett: That movie review example is a scary thought, common sense would say that there is no way that a company would sue a bloggers for a negative spin on things, but then you never know either do you.
I reckon that this Vlad blogger guy also never thought he would be sued and now he is in deep trouble as it seems. The problem seems to be that the line in which we dread on seems to be mighty small.
What is right for one person could be entirely wrong by another and that is where the trouble starts brewing.
In the end cases like these serve to keep us alert if all, knowing that there are possible implications if we take a wrong (by the law) turn as a blogger.
Monika | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
@ Lin: You said it short and sweet I think.
“I believe that having freedom of speech to say what we want also carries a great deal of responsibility.”
I agree with you on that one Lin. Much like the blogger who posts his failed relationship online, posting just about anything about others might get bloggers in trouble alright.
The same applies for those who renamed that company that is responsible for Vlad’s lawsuit (ePerks). Many renamed them with a not so nice name finishing with jerks and that to be spells utter malice.
While many bloggers would take sides with Vlad, I still think we have to do it in a civilized way without getting down to name calling and the likes. This doesn’t serve anybody and in the end, just gets more bloggers into trouble with the law.
Monika | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
@ Jenny: You are welcome. I appreciate you stopped by and shared your own views as well. I think we can’t take this too lightly and do have to be cautious and civilized.
Brett Legree | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
@Monika,
It does sound scary, doesn’t it. I’m not sure if they would sue, but you never know, and they can certainly make threatening moves.
Not a movie example, but a music example – last week (I think) Metallica had an informal listening party for their new album, and invited some people to listen. There was no non-disclosure agreement. Some of the invitees blogged about it.
Metallica’s representatives asked that they take down the blog posts…
Monika | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
@ Brett: You know, I wonder whether they can or cannot do this legally since there wasn’t a disclaimer. Although I do see this as being intellectual property too. One of those grey zones for sure.
Terry Didcott | Jun 19, 2008 | Reply
Hi Monika,
Interesting stuff, but I figure taking anyone to court if they are resident in another country might prove difficult.
The USA might be a big deal, but that doesn’t make them the world’s policemen and what is illegal there may not be in another country.
Worse, their lawyers will have to prove the person who owns the blog actually wrote the libellous content and with hackers being able to inject code, text or even malware into anyone’s website (as happened to me recently) who’s to say with utter 100% cast iron proof that the owner of a blog actually wrote the stuff unless they were stupid enough to admit it?
I’d like to see them track down some clever student sitting in a hotel room somewhere in China hiding behind a brace of tor proxies laughing his or her ass off at the irony of it all…
Mmmm, I can be such a cynical bugger…
Monika | Jun 19, 2008 | Reply
@ Terry: You are certainly not cynical, in fact you raised a very valid point. I think it would be quite hard to prove such things if it all came down to it.
Like you said, anybody can surf the net on false proxies, creating havoc in the process.
Plus the cross country issues are valid too. Maybe there exists a law for it, who knows. I reckon it would be quite a challenge for Internet lawyers to see through all the hoops.
Cath Lawson | Jun 20, 2008 | Reply
Hi Monika – I hope this isn’t the beginning of a trend. If a company does something wrong, you should be able to blog about them. Trouble is, if they can afford expensive lawyers – it’s your word against theirs. I have many things to say that I don’t say for that very reason.
betshopboy | Jun 24, 2008 | Reply
Recently a US citizen who is a lawyer was arrested in Singapore for posting critical remarks of a Singapore High Court Judge on his blog.
Care to pick up this story?