Blog publisher liability for hosting illegal content IT Tips by Burleson Consulting

Recent court rulings have upheld that anyone who operates a blog, participates in a chat room, or comments in a forum is now considered a journalist, and subject to the same rules as any other international publisher. 

Like it or not, millions of Americans have unwittingly become auteur journalists, without the benefit of understanding the important laws regarding publishing of information that might hurt someone else.

Many Americans have a false sense of security and freely exercise their First Amendments rights to free speech, not understanding that their comments might get them hailed into a foreign court.  Whenever you are tempted to publish an opinion about a person or software product you must be conscious of your personal responsibilities, even if your statements were made anonymously.  Let's take a closer look and explore these issues:

- The current state of internet privacy and defamation laws:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_defamation_privacy_libel_laws.htm

- Internet law and personal liability:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_laws_message_boards_forums_blogs_personal_liability.htm

- False light, invasion of privacy and defamation:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_laws_false_light_privacy_defamation.htm

- Sure-fire ways to wind-up in court:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_linking_libel_lawsuit.htm

These are just a few issues I explore with Stephen Andert in our latest book ?Web Stalkers: Protect yourself from Internet Criminals & Psychopaths?.  It?s only $19.95 and you can get a copy at this link:

http://www.rampant-books.com/book_2004_2_stalkers.htm

 

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