Blogging and the law

Sunday, 27 March 2005, 03:08

Established media law is adapting to the Internet on both sides of the Atlantic these days.

The Apple cases have raised the issue of whether bloggers ought to be seen as journalists in the eyes of the law (short answer: yes) and a recent case in Canada involving the Washington Post brought the issue of forum-shopping in internet libel cases — which first became an issue in 2002 — back onto the agenda.

Now CJR Daily has a story about AFP’s spat with Google, which centres on the fair use provision in American copyright law. You’ll have to click on the link, because quoting extensively from it might get me in trouble.

The Guardian, meanwhile, reports on the successful effort by Terry Smith, chief executive of City firm Collins Stewart Tullett, to hunting down an anonymous commentor in order to sue him for libel. Smith lawyers had forced the Motley Fool web site to reveal the information that it held about an anonymous account. This allowed them to identify one Jeremy Benjamin, a fund manager, as the posts’ author.

Entry Filed under: Blogs