The Poynter Institute’s NewsU announced a free ecourse that offers legal guidance on copyright, defamation and privacy for bloggers.
I am thinking this ecourse should be required for bloggers! With bloggers having so much liability, this course will offer guidance on major media laws many bloggers do not even realize exist.There are laws affecting gathering information and publishing online (such as publishing on a blog). Anyone who blogs about products, news, personal stories, ect. can use this course.
Bloggers who know their legal rights and responsibilities can protect themselves against lawsuits, and YES there have been bloggers who have been sued for libel, copyright infringement for quoting news stories, and privacy issues from commentors who have to register to post comments.
The course, which includes games and learning exercises, is designed to help participants understand their legal rights and responsibilities associated with their online publishing activities so they can protect themselves against lawsuits.
The course was developed in partnership with the Media Bloggers Association with contributions from the Citizen Media Law Project, which is jointly affiliated with Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Citizen Media; City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism and Baruch College; and Media/Professional Insurance
Do you know what the term libel means without looking it up? Most bloggers don’t!
Libel is the legal term that describes a written form of defamation. The dictionary defines defamation as a “false or unjustified injury to someone’s good reputation.” Libel is a written defamation; slander is a spoken defamation.
Even if a blogger commits libel by accident, such as repeating something they heard, they can be sued! Knowing your rights as a blogger can prevent any type of lawsuit.
While the Constitution and federal laws, such as copyright law apply nationwide, many laws that affect bloggers vary from state to state.This course, I will actually be participating in, as I do not know all of the laws myself and have heard of some bloggers being sued over some things I would not even consider wrong. To be honest, until a few months ago, I did not even realize a blog owner could be sued for his/her opinions or comments. I would rather take a few hours to learn the laws that could affect this blog than to be another blogger sued!
