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Loading ...50 lawsuits have been filed over postings on blogs and web message boards over the past two years according to a USA Today article. The article didn’t differentiate between blog posts and blog comments but there have been lawsuits over both. It also didn’t say how many of the 50 lawsuits were filed specifically against blgos and not message boards. The bright side of the story for bloggers is that fifty lawsuits is still very, very small compared to the 50+ million blogs Technorati is tracking.
Legal analysts say the lawsuits are challenging a mind-set that has long surrounded blogging: that most bloggers essentially are “judgment-proof” because they - unlike traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and television outlets - often are ordinary citizens who don’t have a lot of money. Recent lawsuits by Banks and others who say they have had their reputations harmed or their privacy violated have been aimed not just at cash awards but also at silencing their critics.
There has also been a recent push by companies to keep a close eye on blogs and their own employees. Robert Clothier, an attorney at Fox Rothschild LLP in Philadelphia, noted that the “legal risks associated with blogs are higher for posts written by a company’s employees than by those sent in by nonemployees. Companies are not likely to be sued for libel for posts on corporate blogs by outside users unless the company significantly alters the meaning of the content”, said Clothier, who specializes in First Amendment issues.
Clothier offers the following tips to avoid legal problems:
- Establish strict policies listing, which employees can post on a corporate blog, and what subjects they can write about.
- Assign an employee to monitor blogs to make sure that policies are followed.
- Discipline employees who violate the policies.
- Remove inaccurate blog items, and post a correction.
- Determine whether the company needs libel insurance, and if so, what kind.
The Internet is allowing more and more people to exercise their First Amendment rights, and companies and individuals alike are recognizing this and fighting back in the courtroom over what can and cannot be said over the net. Lawyers have had to become much more internet savvy over the years, but as they have, a great deal of business has been generated from internet related cases. As we move into the future of blogging, look for alot more “high-profile” blog related cases to arise…..
Filed under: Abraham Harrison LLC, Blog Policies, Blogger Ethics, Blogging, Blogging Policies, Brand Reputation, Business Blogging, Code of Conduct, Legal Issues
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