What an amazing world we live in this millennium. Publishing anything used to be only for a minority with access to the powerful. With simple Blog tools now anyone can broadcast, or even narrowcast their message out to the world.
It can be a broadcast message to a wide cross section or to a small niche. With power and even authority comes responsibility. What are the basic responsibilities of Bloggers and blogmasters of the world, or a webmaster when it comes to rules of law of slander and libel? What do these terms mean, what do they entail and what are the responsibilities and pitfalls of webmasters including editorializing Bloggers?

In terms of strict legal definition and definitions the term “libel” can be said to be defamation that is expressed in written, printed, even oral as well as basically any other form of communication in an audible or visual content. Hence you can include websites and blogs in this grouping. Once you publish your site – it’s out there on the web. It is visible and written. Even if its up for the briefest of times and then taken down , you can bet that somewhere on some computer server somewhere in the wide wide world of the world wide web , some hosting or webmaster server has cached and recorded it , most likely indexed by search engines as well.

Hence it pays to be most conservative before hitting the “publish” or “post”. A moment in haste can cause the webmaster or blogger time, effort and cost of legal bills down the road or perhaps the internet highway.

It is important that the person, organization or authority running a web-site, hosting a domain or posting, managing or even supervising a blog-roll, have a clear understanding of the legal as well as practical legal concepts involved in the forms and formats of slander and libel, as well as to comprehend what can and can not constitute a proven case of libel or slander.

Effectively by being aware of “the rules”, those in the know of internet publishing can both guard against the publication, and what may well constitute libelous activity which may be undependable in court or civil suit settings. On top of that if a case of libel or slander arises , the blog or webmaster / host-master / manager of a domain will be both in a much better situation , better prepared in terms of understanding the law and legal concepts involved , have a framework to both defend themselves and as well be able to both make their case . On top of that it’s a lot easier to explain the situation to a lawyer, lawyers or law firm without more ado. Read into this faster time of preparation, ease of getting a clear lawful and legal opinion or opinion from your barrister or solicitor.

Finally first and foremost your law bills should be substantially lower by the greatest degree. With proper and full explanation ,with the details of your case being presented in your initial meeting and legal assessment with the judicial professionals and officials involved they may quickly determine that the “other side” ( the one’s charging you with libel or slander ) have no case at all or what so ever. Hence your legal problems may be closed and shut down early on from the get go. Problem solved with conservative tactics, understanding of legal concepts and procedures and your solid preparation along the way.

In the end it can be said when posting or uploading by ftp to a website it never hurts to be cautious, conservative and err on the side of editorial and legal caution.

By Robert C.C. Lamb



Robert C.C. Lamb Search Engine Optimization Engineer http://searchengineoptimizationengineer.in/ Winnipeg Google PPC Pay per Click Adword Adwords Campaigns http://www.hepcommunications.com Wpg Manitoba Web Design Designers