8 Legal Issues for Bloggers: Part 1

Editor’s Note: In addition to their client work, many freelancers keep a blog related to their work, industry, and passion. In a two part series, James Adams helps us explore the legal pitfalls and concerns of publishing a blog. Today we’ll focus on common issues such as defamation and privacy. Watch tomorrow when we go into specific issues and details in Part 2!

Blogging, like traditional forms of journalism, is a legal minefield. If anything, however, it’s even more confusing for bloggers than for journalists, as laws have not yet been adapted to fit with this thoroughly modern method of public interaction. While journalists might have the relevant experience, training and resources to be able to deal with legal problems, chances are, most bloggers won’t. Large companies often take advantage of this fact, bullying bloggers into submission.

If you want to cover your back and stick up for yourself, if and when legal proceedings come your way, you need to do a bit of background reading. The article below acts as an introduction to the kinds of issues you might encounter as a blogger, but you should seek out more comprehensive information and legal advice if necessary. You have the right to free speech, the right to blog anonymously, the right to make fair use of intellectual property and much more. Read on to find out how to safely exercise these rights.

1. Defamation

Defamation is essentially making a false statement on your blog that’s harmful to a person’s reputation. It’s perhaps the one legal issue which all bloggers should be most wary of, as when venting about people, famous or otherwise, it’s surprisingly easy to get into hot water. The most important thing is that the opinions published on your blog are just that- opinions. So long as what you say is an opinion, you can’t be sued for defamation or libel (written defamation). However, you need to make explicitly clear that what you’re saying is an opinion and not a statement of verifiable fact.

A verifiable fact is a statement which can be proved to be false. For instance, you can’t say that somebody is mentally retarded if they’re not, as this can easily be disproved. You probably can get away with calling somebody a “jerk,” however, as this is rather harder to refute. Furthermore, if what you’re saying is true then you can’t be sued either, but knowing something is true and proving that it’s true, in a court of law, are two very different things.

2. Intellectual Property

You need to make sure that the content you upload onto your blog is not the intellectual property of another person or organization. Generally speaking, publishing short quotes, facts and ideas from blogs or other sources is OK, as is republishing information for the purposes of criticism, news reporting, teaching and research. What you certainly should not do, however, is copy large chunks of text or images and videos to your blog. You’re most likely to get into trouble if the material you’re reproducing acts a substitute for the original, thereby diminishing its value in the market. Linking to the original content can help to reduce this risk.

If you want people to be able to copy content you’ve created for your blog, you should consider publishing your work online under a Creative Commons license, which means that “some” rather than “all” rights are reserved. The attribution license, for example, means that people can use your work, so long as they name you as the original author.

3. Privacy

Bloggers do not have the right to publish private facts about individuals on their sites, but what constitutes a private fact is often a bit of a gray area. Generally speaking, a private fact is a personal detail about a specific person that has not been made public. It might relate to that person’s sexual orientation or a private sexual affair they’ve had. Once the information has been disclosed, however, it moves into the public domain and you’re free to republish it yourself.

The newsworthiness of a private fact in question can also have some bearing on whether or not it can be published by you on your blog, but the rules governing this vary from state to state and country to country. In California, for example, a lawsuit can be brought against you if you disclose a private fact that’s both offensive and not a matter of public concern.

Editor’s Note: Please bear in mind that this article is intended to explore and educate and FreelanceSwitch is not offering legal advice or counsel.  Stay tuned for Part 2 where we’ll explore issues like student bloggers, trade secrets, and right of publicity!