Blogging & Tweeting Without Getting Sued: A Global Guide to the Law For Anyone Writing Online

173 Pages·2016·1.37 MB·English

by  Mark Pearson

Dr Mark Pearson is a journalist, author and professor of journalism at Bond
University. He holds a PhD examining Internet journalism and a Master of Laws
with a focus on media law. Professor Pearson is a correspondent for Reporters
Without Borders and has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Far
Eastern Economic Review and The Australian newspapers.
Blog: journlaw.com | Twitter: @journlaw | Facebook: Journ Law.
Also by Mark Pearson
The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law (with Mark Polden)
Breaking into Journalism (with Jane Johnston)
MARK PEARSON
A GLOBAL GUIDE TO THE LAW
FOR ANYONE WRITING ONLINE
This is an independent publication and has no affiliation with or endorsement from WordPress, Twitter,
MySpace, Google, Delicious, Facebook or any other social media platform or service provider.
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First published in 2012
Copyright © Mark Pearson 2012
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For our brand-new grandchild—
Beatrice Elizabeth Staughton
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1 Down to basics: the legal risks of going global in a flash
Chapter 2 Cyberlibel and reputational damage online
Chapter 3 See you in court . . .
Chapter 4 Identity, anonymity and deception
Chapter 5 Privacy and security
Chapter 6 Confidentiality in a medium with few secrets
Chapter 7 The fine line between opinion and bigotry
Chapter 8 Copycats and corporate capers
Chapter 9 Big Brother and you: censorship hotspots and security laws
Resources Read all about it!
Notes
PREFACE
The roots of this book can be traced back more than thirty years to when I was a
cub reporter for a suburban newspaper. After only a few weeks in the job I wrote
a story about a disgruntled patient who was complaining about the negligence of
the local hospital. A few days later I was summoned to my manager’s office and
was told the hospital was suing for defamation. The newspaper negotiated a
$10,000 settlement. My editor let me keep my job. ‘But you’d better learn
something about the law,’ he advised. I’ve devoted much of the past three
decades to doing just that and the process has continued in this project.
This book is for the countless bloggers and social media users who realise
they now have the same legal obligations as large media organisations, but lack
their experience, knowledge and muscle. We are all international publishers now
—every time we blog, tweet or comment on a website—and are subject to the
laws of several hundred legal jurisdictions worldwide.
There is no way a small book like this can cover the laws of all of those
nations, states, provinces and territories. For that reason, most of the examples
and discussion focus on the English-speaking world: the US, the UK, Canada,
Australia and other Commonwealth countries. But you’ll also find many
examples from Europe and other parts of the world.
My aims are modest: to introduce you to some common legal principles that
broadly apply to online publishing in many parts of the world and to bring them
to life with the stories of bloggers and social media users who have encountered
them. Some have defended their cases successfully while many others have been
fined or jailed because of their ignorance or outright defiance of the law. Some
have discovered their publications have broken the law in another nation when
they would have been perfectly safe publishing the material at home.
This book can’t give you specific legal advice, but hopefully you’ll learn
enough about basic blogging and social media law to avoid some of the main
hazards and know when to seek the professional guidance of a lawyer.