Currently you can find over Thirty million weblogs on the web and thousands more getting created per week. Assuming ownership of one blog per person, that’s at the least Thirty million people slinging around their personal opinions on everything that exists under the sun. This can be a good thing. The free exchange of thoughts and ideas is what prevents the planet from becoming a stagnant puddle of uninspiring values.
However, to rob a line from the movie Spiderman, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Blogging has become a way for the voice of the people to be heard. We should be careful, though, never to abuse our power through thoughtless acts that hurt the credibility of bloggers and blogging. One place that continues to be our Achilles heel is when good posts go bad.
In the USA, libel and slander are the two types of defamation. In several states, courts have started treating them the same as the only difference between both is libel is really a false written statement about a person, place or thing that harms his/her/its reputation while slander is the verbal act of the same offense. Whether blogged on the web or whispered offline to your mother, the normal denominator is that what’s said is false.
Since I’m psychic, I already know what you really are thinking. ‘The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects me. Provided that it’s the truth, I will say whatever I want.’ Well, kind of. As crazy as it sounds, truth is not the silver bullet defense for each case of libel or slander. A judge may demand that besides being true the info relayed is in the public interest to know.
So reporting how the CEO of a major corporation had been ensnared pilfering money from the employee’s retirement fund could possibly get dismissed from civil court whereas telling the world that your neighbor has smelly feet might get you into more trouble than you want. Even if it were true, exactly why would it be in the public interest to learn that your neighbor’s feet could empty out Yankee Stadium?
Right now, the First Amendment will respect your right to an opinion. If you believe the fact that Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap, you happen to be certainly free to tell anyone within earshot as long as you ensure it is clear that it’s your opinion on the subject. Also, if a person puts forth a negative sentiment regarding their experience with you who is clear to any reasonable person that it’s their opinion, your legal recourse against them is seriously limited.
Parody and satire will also be protected. If they weren’t, Saturday Night Live and South Park would have never managed to get past the initial episode. And criticism of a public performance such as a symphony, as well as a book is protected under the Fair Criticism and Comment clause.
Now the on-line world contributes some interesting layers of complication to the whole blogging shebang. Rather than being contained in a local area, libel has the possibilities to cross international borders and not every single country handles these cases the same. One of the major problems courts around the globe have to deal with is the one of jurisdiction. If I live in the us and I libel someone that resides in the UK where exactly does the case take place and who’s laws and regulations do we go by? Many cases have set a scary precedent that leans towards being able to sue anywhere around the world for libel published on the net.
Next there is the issue of third party liability. Say you might be a responsible blogger who’s careful about her posts to avoid a troublesome libel accusation. One of your readers posts a libelous statement in your blog. Would you be held accountable for that person’s actions? Well, so far the law has only made provisions for Internet service providers stating that they can’t be held responsible for how their customers use their services (as it pertains to defamation). Likewise, blog service providers like Google and Six Apart may likely be immune to any lawsuits arising from an individual’s use of the service.
No matter whether or not you would be held responsible may come down to if you moderate your comments. If you allow comments to be posted immediately, you may be shielded under Section 230 of the US Code (for US Citizens). It might be another story, on the other hand, if you approve comments before posting them. It may be argued that your posting of the comments equates your agreement to them. To date, nobody has shown up in court to argue this, therefore the fact that we are kind of forced to make it up as we go along.
Defamation is a tricky issue and something that needs to be tread carefully if one is in order to avoid ending up in court. Listed here are a few tips to help keep you out of trouble. Take note: I am not an attorney. Although I did get to play one on “Touched by an Angel” on television. In the event that you and your blog handle some highly controversial issues or you’re simply not sure how much trouble you’d get into if you published that post about your best friend’s boyfriend, I suggest getting in contact with a lawyer to obtain the best advice.
1. Change the names. Definitely the easiest thing that can be done is to change in order to avoid using the name of the man or women you’re talking about and to strip away as much identifying information as possible. If a reasonable individual can visit your hometown and quickly identify the “mealy-mouth cow” you blogging about on-line, you need to do some modifying.
2. Make use of some sort of disclaimer. I’ve a good one on my Internet site. Even some thing as basic as “By making use of this blog site, you agree the views expressed are the property and responsibility of the respective owners” may provide some defense in the event of a court action. (Check with a real lawyer please).
3. Think about writing your rant as a parody or satire. Intense exaggerations that no reasonable person would believe aren’t considered defamation simply because, quite frankly, they are unbelievable. Be cautious though, this kind of writing takes a specific je sais quoi, and might very easily backfire on you. Use a fair individual proofread the entry to make sure it passes the believability examine.
4. be careful about your language. Make sure to use wording that makes it apparent that this is your thoughts and opinions about the topic. Assertions like, “That Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap” makes it appears like you’re stating a truth when in all actuality you’re making a personal judgment concerning the toy. Something like “I think that Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap” or “That Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy fell apart right after the very first use” tends to be safe bets. At least so far as the law will be involved.
5. And last yet definitely not least, do not tell false reports. Right now this could seem like common sense but wait, how common is good sense nowadays? Actually. If you think the need to resort to lying about an individual, you might want to seek professional help in examining the reason why you need to do that. ‘Cause odds are, it’s not to protect the public. Use blogging wisely!
Blogging is a terrific way to meet people and also remain current in the world and doing so responsibly will simply make the experience much better. Remain safe, stay sane and most of all have some fun.
This article has been written by the author, Eric James. Should you require anymoreneck massagersplease visit his seat massager resources!
