Monday, February 02, 2009

Internet Defamation Gets Noticed


Too many bloggers are unaware of the dangers they face when they write a new post or comment on another blog. For reasons I've discussed before, bloggers mistakenly believe that all speech is protected by the First Amendment, when in fact several forms of speech are not, including defamation as an example.

This is why I'm glad that Seth Godin posted "Don't Get Sued," which sheds light on this important problem. Godin writes: "Before you write something negative about another person, you need to realize that the casual nature of your post doesn't protect you from a lawsuit." Well-said. I would add that you should especially be careful when making negative remarks about a business because businesses are more likely to sue you (or least threaten legal action) to protect their reputation.