BLOGGERS BEWARE! THE INTERNET IS NOT LAWLESS
A lot of bloggers think of themselves as individuals or maybe writers but in the courts, they are considered a publisher’, Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association.
Blogging about other people can land you in trouble. Legal experts say bloggers are increasingly the targets of defamation suits, which are testing the bounds of free speech. A 53-year old grandmother who blogged about Anna Nicole Smith was jailed recently for contempt in a defamation case brought by the late Playmate’s mother. Like many other bloggers, Lyndal Harrington doesn’t consider herself a publisher and is shocked that she is being sued for comments posted on someone else’s blog.
Blogsphere is no longer virtual cowboy town with no holds barred. Though the majority of litigation is defamation, copyright infringement and invasion of privacy are also common. Judges have consistently applied the same standards to blogs as they would any other medium of expression. In our country, there is the other very real danger of making seditious statements in blogsphere as you would in ordinary circumstances. The Information, Com¬munications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim has purportedly warned bloggers, hardcore perpetrators and private groups that those who have broken the law in cyberspace will have to face legal action in reality. In the same breath, “But I stress that using legal action will be our last resort,’’ he said.
