Aviva Directory has a list they call Blogger Law. The items on it are potential legal issues that could affect bloggers, with advice on how to operate so you won’t get in trouble. Most of it’s nothing new, exactly, but it cites some court cases that you should be aware of. Most of them should not apply to simple opinion and thought blogs, but since most lawmakers and judges are probably much less internet-savvy than we are, there’s always a potential for misapplication of the law, so why not protect yourself?
There is one change I immediately implemented on some of my sites. I’ve used it before, but forgot to re-do it when I last changed themes. Comments left on your blog technically belong to their author, not you. To grant yourself the right to delete and edit them as you see fit, you should include at the very least a commenting guideline or TOS somewhere on your site which spells out your rights. I also include a bolded paragraph right above the "submit" button which says that "by commenting here, you agree" to follow the rules, grant me the right to edit or delete your comments as I see fit, and grant me the right to cite your comments.
If you have any troll humiliation devices in place, I suggest mentioning those up front, too.
Remember: to anyone who’s spent much time in the blog or forum world, it’s pretty obvious that some people delete entire threads on whims and there’s no point crying about it. But when a sue-happy nutcase realizes lawmakers are ignorant about all this stuff and the law is kinda sorta technically on their side, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of that stupidity.
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Updated: May 3, 2007, first published: Posted in Blogging.
