The owner of shoemoney.com currently ranked #66 on technorati's most popular blogs on the internet has been called to testify over comments made on his blog. Evidently one reader is suing another after being slandered on the popular blog. Is this going to be a landmark case or is there already case law pertaining to slander in blog comments. Here are two reference links: http://digg.com/tech_news/Technorat...ger_To_Testify_About_Comment_Made_On_His_Blog http://www.shoemoney.com/2006/09/01...-in-a-landmark-blog-case-slander-in-comments/
What is up with this distinction blog / forums / real life? If I bad mouth someone here on DP I am just as liable as if I had done it in real life.
Well with the internet there is a sense of both permanance and the ability for the libel to spread around the globe. Instead of just your neighbors or hometown getting wind of the rumor, now the whole global community is aware that so and so has worn the same underwear for a week. I think it would only be a landmark case if the plaintiff was suing the blog owner for the content of his comments because doing so brings in the question of third party liability as it wasn't Shoemaker who said the libel but another visitor. But the person is going directly after the one who said it and therefore, in my opinion, this really isn't any different than many of the offline cases in the courts. It'll still be interesting anyway to see what comes of it.
Holy man that guy is holding a check for 132,000! It must be a popular place as ive never been there before. hopefully nothing will happen and his site will only get popoluar because of this
A notice that Shoemoney/Jeremy's blog does not neccesarely reflect his own personal opinions should suffice to protect himself for being held responsible for comments of blog posters. At least that is my understanding for now...