http://linasoo.com/blog/?p=1006
June 4, 2009
‘A lot of bloggers think of themselves as individuals or maybe writers but in the courts, they are considered a publisher’, Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association.
Blogging about other people can land you in trouble. Legal experts say bloggers are increasingly the targets of defamation suits, which are testing the bounds of free speech. A 53-year old grandmother who blogged about Anna Nicole Smith was jailed recently for contempt in a defamation case brought by the late Playmate’s mother. Like many other bloggers, Lyndal Harrington doesn’t consider herself a publisher and is shocked that she is being sued for comments posted on someone else’s blog.
Blogsphere is no longer virtual cowboy town with no holds barred. Though the majority of litigation is defamation, copyright infringement and invasion of privacy are also common. Judges have consistently applied the same standards to blogs as they would any other medium of expression. In our country, there is the other very real danger of making seditious statements in blogsphere as you would in ordinary circumstances. The Information, Com¬munications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim has purportedly warned bloggers, hardcore perpetrators and private groups that those who have broken the law in cyberspace will have to face legal action in reality. In the same breath, “But I stress that using legal action will be our last resort,’’ he said.
With the suppression on information in Malaysia, the internet offers an alternative voice and we rightly pay homage to these citizens’ journalists in cyberspace who speak up bravely on what should be right, and how things could be better for the development of our nation. Undeniably bloggers have their responsibilities as well as their rights; at the same time self-regulation is required. A lot of bloggers are not trained in journalism (I confess I am one guilty one!); it pays to remember that double sourcing information is important, and that things could be worded differently sometimes to pass the same message, without offence.
About 200,000 new blogs are created every day according to Technorati, a blog search engine. No such statistics exist for Malaysia. With Google alerts and rss feeds, it is easy to monitor what’s being said about who, and more technology exists to find anonymous bloggers. The few errant bloggers in Malaysia who breach etiquette, are gently reminded that “People can find you???, period.