Search engine optimization consultant and author Aaron Wall is being sued for comments posted on his blog last year. The implications for other bloggers are nothing new. If someone feels you've damaged them personally or professionally with something you have written or published, they can file suit.
In Wall's case, the company claims that anonymous posters to his blog leaked trade secrets. The suit also cites other damages, in case they trade secret argument runs into trouble.
Wall is weighing his options, but the likelihood of him achieving anything worthwhile from a lengthy suit is slim. It would likely only prove whether or not the company was harmed by the comments. It wouldn't grant any other legal powers to blog authors elsewhere, who still have to watch out for libel and other legal potholes.
Long-time blogger Dave Taylor comments that bloggers must be aware of the implications of moderating or editing comments to their blogs. Once someone starts picking and choosing which comments to leave on their blog, they stop being a "common carrier" for other people's messages, and they essentially become the editor and publisher of those comments. Taylor doesn't claim to be able to offer legal advice, but he points out that once a blogger edits or alters comments, they can't claim they just have the comments section open for the public to scribble on it whatever they want. In a world of comment spam, the likelihood of finding a popular blogger who doesn't delete some of the comments on their site is becoming increasingly remote.
See also Jeremy Pepper's posting about blogs and libel.
Links:
Comments