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Currently there are over 30 million blogs on the Internet and thousands more being created each week. Assuming ownership of one blog per person, that’s a minimum of 30 million individuals slinging around their personal opinions on all that exists under the sun. This is a good thing. The free exchange of thoughts and ideas is what prevents the world from becoming a stagnant puddle of simple beliefs.

Having said that, to steal a line from the movie Spiderman, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Blogging has become an easy method for the words of the people being heard. We should be careful, though, not to abuse our power through thoughtless acts that hurt the credibility of bloggers and blogging. One place that remains our Achilles heel is when good posts go south.

In the united states, libel and slander are the two types of defamation. In several states, courts have started treating all of them the same as the only big difference between both is libel is a false written statement about a person, place or thing that harms his/her/its reputation while slander is the verbal act with the same offense. Whether blogged on the net or whispered offline to your mother, the common denominator is that what’s said is false.

Since I’m psychic, I already know what you are thinking. ‘The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects me. As long as it is the truth, I will say whatever I want.’ Well, sort of. As crazy as it sounds, truth is not the silver bullet defense for each case of libel or slander. A judge may demand that besides being true the information relayed is in the public interest to learn.

So reporting the CEO of any major corporation was caught pilfering money from the employee’s retirement account could possibly get dismissed from civil court whereas telling the world your neighbor has smelly feet might get you into more trouble than you really want. Whether or not it were true, why would it end up being in the public interest to learn your neighbor’s feet could empty out Yankee Stadium?

Right now, the First Amendment will respect your right to an opinion. If you think that the Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap, you are certainly free to tell anyone within earshot as long as you ensure it is clear that it’s your opinion about the subject. Also, if a person puts forth a poor sentiment concerning their experience with you and it is clear to any reasonable person that it’s their opinion, your legal recourse against them is significantly limited.

Parody and satire are also protected. If they weren’t, Saturday Night Live and South Park would have never got past the initial episode. And criticism of a public performance like a symphony, a play as well as a book is guarded under the Fair Criticism and Comment clause.

Now the Internet adds some interesting layers of complication for the whole blogging shebang. Instead of being contained in a localized area, libel has the potential to cross international borders and not every single country handles these cases the same. One of the major problems courts around the globe are having to deal with is the one of jurisdiction. If I live in the us and I libel someone that lives in the United Kingdom where exactly does the case occur and who’s laws do we go by? Several cases have set a scary precedent that leans towards having the ability to sue anywhere around the globe for libel published on the web.

Then there is the issue of third party liability. Say you are a responsible blogger who is careful about her posts to avoid a troublesome libel accusation. One of your readers pastes a libelous statement in your blog. Would you be held the cause of that person’s actions? Well, up to now the law has only made provisions for Internet service providers stating that they can not be held responsible for how their clients use their services (as it pertains to defamation). Similarly, blog service providers such as Google and Six Apart is likely to be safe from any lawsuits arising from a person’s use of the service.

Whether or not you would be held responsible may come down to if you moderate your comments. Should you allow comments to be posted automatically, you may well be protected under Section 230 of the US Code (for US Citizens). It could be another story, on the other hand, should you approve comments before posting them. It may be argued your posting of the comments equates your agreement to them. Up to now, no one has shown up in court to argue this, for this reason the fact that we are kind of forced to make it up as we go along.

Defamation is a tricky issue and something that needs to be tread carefully if your are in order to avoid ending up in court. Here are some tips to help keep you out of trouble. Take note: I am not a lawyer. Although I did get to play one on “Touched by an Angel” . In the event that you and your blog handle some highly controversial issues or you’re simply not sure how much trouble you would get into if you published that post about your best friend’s boyfriend, I recommend getting in contact with a lawyer to obtain the best advice.

1. Change the names. By far the easiest thing that you can do is to change in order to avoid using the name of the person you’re talking about and to strip away as much identifying information as you possibly can. If a reasonable individual can visit your hometown and quickly identify the “mealy-mouth cow” you blogging about on-line, you need to carry out some modifying.

2. Take advantage of some sort of disclaimer. I’ve an great one on my website. Even some thing as simple as “By making use of this blog site, you agree the views expressed are the property and responsibility of the respective owners” may provide some safeguard in the event of a court action. (Check with a real lawyer please).

3. Consider writing the rant as a parody or satire. Intense exaggerations that no reasonable individual would believe usually are not considered defamation simply because, quite frankly, they’re incredible. Be careful though, this type of writing will take a specific je sais quoi, and may easily backfire on you. Have a fair individual proofread your entry to ensure it passes the believability test.

4. Watch your language. Make sure you use wording which can make it clear that this is your thoughts and opinions about the subject. Statements like, “That Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap” makes it sound as if you are stating a truth when in all actuality you might be making a personal judgment about the toy. Something like “I believe that Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap” or “That Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy fell apart right after the first use” tend to be safe bets. At the least so far as the law is involved.

5. And last but definitely not the very least, really don’t tell bogus tales. Now this could could be seen as common sense but how common is good sense these days? Really. If you feel the need to resort to lying regarding someone, you might want to seek professional help in evaluating the reason why you need to do that. Because it’s likely that, it’s not to safeguard the public. Use blogging wisely!

Blogging is actually a terrific way to meet folks and stay current in the world and doing so responsibly will only help to make the experience better. Remain safe, stay rational and most of all, enjoy yourself.

This article has been written by the author, Alex Blaken. Should you require any more 30 million blogs on the Internet please visit his Blogging resources!