Is blogging a potential legal nightmare or can it still be used for online lead generation

March 6th, 2010 by admin

Blogging: The Thing You Need To Understand About DefamationAt this time you can find over 30 million weblogs on the Internet and 1000’s more that are being developed every week. Accepting ownership of one blog per individual, 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 world from becoming a stagnant puddle of simple beliefs.But, to rob a line from the movie Spiderman, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Blogging is now an easy method for the voice of the people being heard. We should be careful, though, to not abuse our power through thoughtless acts that hurt the credibility of bloggers and blogging. One place that remains 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 begun treating them the same as the only big difference between both is libel is really a false written statement about someone, place or thing that harms his/her/its reputation while slander is the verbal act with the same offense. Whether blogged on the Internet or whispered offline with your mother, the common denominator is that what is said is false.Since I’m psychic, I know what you really are thinking. ‘The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects me. As long as it is the truth, I will say whatever I want.’ Well, kind of. As crazy precisely 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 information relayed is in the public interest to learn.So reporting that the CEO of any major corporation was caught pilfering money from the employee’s retirement fund would probably get dismissed from civil court while telling the world that your neighbor has smelly feet might get you into more trouble than you need. Whether or not it were true, exactly why would it end up being in the public interest to know that your neighbor’s feet could clear out Yankee Stadium?Today, the First Amendment will respect your right to an opinion. If you feel that the Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap, you happen to be certainly free to inform anyone within earshot when you make it clear that it’s your opinion on the subject. Also, if a person puts forth an adverse sentiment regarding their experience with you which is clear to any reasonable person that it is 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. Along with criticism of a public performance such as a symphony, as well as a book is guarded under the Fair Criticism and Comment clause.Then there is the issue of third party liability. Say you’re a responsible blogger who’s careful about her posts to avoid a troublesome libel accusation. One of your readers writes a libelous statement on your blog. Can you be held the cause of that person’s actions? Well, so far the law has only made provisions for Internet service providers stating they can’t be held responsible for how their clients use their services (as it relates to defamation). Likewise, blog providers such as Google and Six Apart would likely be immune to any lawsuits arising from an individuals use of the service.Defamation is often a tricky issue and something that needs to be tread carefully if your are in order to avoid landing in court. Here are a few tips to help keep you out of trouble. Be aware: I am not an attorney. Though 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 just not sure just how much trouble you would get into when you published that post about your best friend’s boyfriend, I recommend getting in contact using a lawyer to acquire the best advice. The other clear distinction to make is that blogging can be used for Local Business Online Marketing One. Change the names. Definitely the simplest thing you can do is to change or to avoid using the name of the person you are talking about and to strip away as much identifying information as you can.

Two. Take advantage of some sort of disclaimer. I’ve an good one on my web site. Even some thing as basic as “By using this blog site, you agree that the opinions expressed are the property and responsibility of the respective owners”

Three. Consider writing your rant like a parody or satire. Four. Watch your language. Five. And last but definitely not least, do not tell bogus tales.



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