Legality of Blogging

In this new modern age of the internet, anyone who has an opinion is able to voice it if they want to. Their are websites, blogs, and chat rooms all over the internet that allow people to share their ideas, recommendations, and criticisms. With all of these opinions flying around the internet a problem has arose. When does an opinionated criticism become a crime and what exactly is legal to say about another person on the internet?

This topic has been in the news after an accountant has sued both Craigslist and a blogger on Craigslist for an extremely bad review that he received. The blogger, who has yet to be identified, called the accountant a "crook" as well as a few indecent remarks. The accountant is suing for 4 million dollars because of the damage that was done to his business as well as his name. Craigslist is currently trying to find the actual blogger who is being sued in order to save themselves from the meat of the lawsuit. They are making an effort to find the actual blogger because of a law that is in place that states, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." This law gets Craigslist somewhat off the hook in this case, but does not in any way protect the actual person who posted the comment.

I think that people should be able to post whatever they want on websites such as this, but to a point. If a person has a terrible experience with a certain business then I think they should contact the business and not go and rant about it on the internet. Because of the scare of bad publicity on the internet, some companies and businesses are making clients sign forms agreeing that they will not write about their experiences on websites such as Craigslist. This is the classic case of with great power comes great responsibility. Us internet users have an opportunity to voice our opinions whenever we choose to, but we have to use it wisely. If a person has a bad experience with a business, then they should write about their experience honestly. Within this honesty their is no reason to be accusing anyone of criminal activity or using vulgarities.

In this case, I think the accountant has every right to sue the blogger who ranted about his business. It is a completely legal law suit and the blogger has damaged his business as well as his reputation by including what the accountant claims as "false information." In this case and in any case similar to this, it should be legal to sue when false words of one angry client damage a business. With this type of law, it almost always depends on the case, but their definitely should be a certain line that bloggers shouldn't cross.