Hi all, First post (of what I hope to be many) here. This forum seems to have a very active community which is always a good sign. I've a question that I hope someone could help me out with. If I have a blog that deals with consumer issues (e.g. poor public service providers) that will no doubt result with a number of posts being heavily (but justifiably) critical of public service providers and governmental bodies will there be any legal implications of hosting this kind of information. Many thanks in advance.
It is wise to stay away from problems that may come. You can always put some censor in your site or approve posts.
I'm not a lawyer. You might want to do some reading about slander and libel which are the most likely accusations another company might make about the site. I've seen other sites similar to this. If you (the site owner) are reporting the bad behavior then you need to make sure everything you say is 100% true, based on fact, and not just generalities like "these people are bad". If other users will be reporting the bad behavior, then you should make it clear that the statements are not yours, and belong to the person who submitted the comments. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but that is how I would handle it.
I think that you have to really piss someone off to actually worry about that. But I guess it's better to me prepared.
If you're in the U.S., I'd say you're generally safe as long as none of the opinions are false. If a company cops an attitude and demands you remove a posting, you would be in the right to ask them to prove their case (and if you have money you should get a lawyer to put that in writing). If the opinion IS wrong, removing it should be enough. Unless the opinion is something like "Microsoft Windows is killing my baby", the offended company will usually give you a "cease and desist" order before taking you to court. Of course, that's just my 2 cents. Take it with a grain of salt and call a lawyer in the morning