Blogging and the Law

October 10th, 2006 @ 8:48pm
Some people view blogging as the democratization of the media. But if that's the case, bloggers should probably be prepared to play by the rules of media law. Nightside's Chelsea Hedquist has more.

Nightside's Chelsea Hedquist Reporting
A San Francisco firm that tracks blogs estimates there are now 53 million of them out there. The same firm says there are 1.6 million daily postings. And, contrary to popular belief, you can get into trouble if you post the wrong thing about the wrong person.
Most people think of the blogosphere as a free wheeling, no holds barred world where people can say whatever they want, and get away with it. Not so says attorney Jeff Hunt.

"Bloggers have to play by the same legal rules that the traditional media has to play by."
And that means bloggers are just as vulnerable to libel lawsuits as any member of the press. In fact, there have been more than fifty lawsuits this year resulting from postings on blogs and message boards.

"You're seeing a more aggressive response by some of the individuals who have been defamed on blogs to strike back."

In one case, a former U.S. Senate aid sued Jessica Cutler after she posted a blog about their sexual escapades. In another, a criminal defense lawyer in Pittsburgh filed a libel suit against a website called dontdatehimgirl.com after a posting on the site accused him of having a sexually transmitted disease.

Utah blogger Sarah Nielson has even had a close call.
"I write about dating and at one point I had someone that had written me an email that I reposted on my blog. And he had threatened to sue. So I do worry about things like that a little bit."
Nielson, who blogs on sarahbellum.org, doesn't think most bloggers realize they are bound by media law.
Neilson says, "Luckily, you know, bloggers are pretty savvy with the internet and there's always a way to find out the information they need."

One place bloggers can go to learn about their rights is the electronic frontier foundation. The site lays out the legal issues that bloggers might run into and how to handle them. Chillingeffects.Org is another good resource for bloggers. Hunt says it's a good idea for bloggers to brush up on media law.

"There's just no substitute for accuracy and bloggers need to understand that the way traditional media reporters understand that."
In all reality, libel lawsuits against bloggers are still quite rare. And Brigham Young University Professor Kevin Stoker thinks that bloggers won't pay much attention to threat of lawsuits until they become more common.

"Until we start seeing a lot of cases coming through the system - at least publicized cases coming through the system - I think you're going to see a lot of bloggers continuing to say what they will."

But after all, that's kind of the cool part about blogging. People say things they would never print on the front page of the New York Times. Law student and blogger David Billings doesn't want to see lawsuits against bloggers ruin that environment.

David: "It's a first amendment issue and, you know, no matter how many mean things they say about somebody it's just speech."
And as Stoker stresses, bloggers who are just expressing their opinion should be safe from lawsuits.

"If it's opinion it should be protected because it's hard to determine whether it's true or false, essentially.:

Nielson and other bloggers reluctantly admit there may come a day when libel lawsuits infringe on the blogosphere.
"I'm sure it will at some point but until then keep blogging."

And with as many as 150,000 blogs being created every day, we'll probably keep seeing some pretty interesting posts.