Understanding Your Legal Risks When You Blog or Publish Online
David Ardia of the Citizen Media Law Project had an excellent posting called “Understanding your legal risks when you blog or publish online”:
“Every time you publish something online, whether it’s a news article, blog post, podcast, video, or even a user comment, you open yourself up to potential legal liability. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise because the Internet, after all, is available to anyone who wishes to connect to the network, and even the smallest blog or most obscure discussion forum has the potential to reach hundreds of millions of people throughout the world.”
“Often the legal risks are small, but not always. The risks you could face when you publish online can take a number of forms, depending on what and how you publish. This post and the legal guide sections it links to are not intended to make you an expert on media law, but merely to help you identify potential “red flags” so that when you publish something that might result in liability, you will know to be extra careful and will take the necessary steps to minimize your potential legal risks.”
Some of the topics being discussed:
Defamation/false light
Publishing private or personal information
Misappropriation or right of publicity
Publishing the statements and content of others
For the whole guide:
There’s also a section on Newsgathering and privacy:
Info via the Citizen Media Law Project:
Posted by Rich
