One of the blogging issues that I continue to see deals with inaccurate/defamatory statements on blogs. The question is: If you (or a client you represent) post inaccurate statements in a blog, what is the precedent for responsibility?

Case One: The NYC Mayorial Race

In NY City, there is a story involving Mayor Bloomberg and Fernando Ferrer, the Democratic Candidate for Mayor. Bloomberg’s team is accusing Ferrer of either posting lies on his blog, or lying about who is the auther of his blog.

In his blog, Ferrer states that he “was born in the South Bronx and educated in public schools for most of my education.” But Ferrer wasn’t….he was educated in Catholic schools.

Bloomberg’s campaign jumped on the issue, saying:

“I think the Bronx Borough President is allergic to the truth. He says that subway crime is up when it’s down, he says test scores are down in our schools when they’re up and now he’s trying to rewrite his own record.”

Ferrer’s campaign manager attributed the false statement to an inaccuracy in editing the blog.

So now the question is: does Ferrer “write his own blog”, or was he lying?

All politics aside, this is a good example of the fallout that can arise from just a small inaccuracy in a blog.

Case Two: Suicide Girls
In Wired today, there is a story about angry ex-models from the site “Suicide Girls”, who have begun anti-suicide girls blogs.

SuicideGirls is a site that shows adult content, specifically tattooed and pierced women. The site has built a reputation for being women-friendly, and some even say it is “feminist porn”.
However, in recent weeks, around 30 (according to the Wired article) models have quit in disgust. The ex-models have been denying the empowerment claim, saying that the site is run by a man (Suicide Girls claims they are a company run by women and the site administered by women) who treats women badly and does not pay them enough.

The company denies the claim and holds the position that a minority of ex-models are simply spreading lies in their blogs.

Case Three: Traffic-Power.com vs. TrafficPowerSucks.com and SEOBook.com
Traffic-Power.com is a Las Vegas search engine positioning firm. Aaron Wall, who runs the blog SEOBook.com, posted negative comments about Traffic-Power.com in his blog.

Readers of Wall’s blog began adding their own comments attacking Traffic-Power.com. Wall then received a cease and desist order from an attorney demanding he remove all information related to Traffic-Power.com. The attorney then filed suit in Nevada court for defamation and theft of trade secrets against the blogger.

Conclusion:
Blogging is much more informal and personal than traditional web sites. Due to this, many bloggers see posting as a conversation between friends. How will bloggers find the line between chatting with a friend and writing defamatory statements? And who will define this line?

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