Blogging has really taken off during the recent years as a legitimate way to make money on the internet. You just have to have a quick look at the different make money online blogs that exist to understand that there is a real interest in this field.
But do you know that there are some legal implications when it comes to blogging? Do you know that you can expose yourself to lawsuits if you are not careful? In this article we will be having a look at these issues in order to help you learn more on this.
Disclose your affiliation
The FTC now requires bloggers to disclose all their affiliations with products and services that they may be reviewing in their blogs. If you receive a free gift or some compensation in order to do a review it is important that you make some appropriate disclosure on your blog. This can be done in the post itself or you might as well create a separate page.
Defamation
There are some bloggers that will not verify their information and will just publish anything that will bring them traffic. This is the best way to find yourself entangled in a lawsuit. Indeed by publishing some fallacious statement on your blog you may be accused of defamation. Before you post something on your blog you should make sure that you have the necessary proof to back it up.
Trade Secrets
You should also be careful when it comes to disclosing trade secrets. In most cases companies will be eager to protect their sources of profit and may be ready to take the battle to the court. Do not forget that they will have the financial resources and also a whole legal department that will be at their service. Make sure that you weigh the pros and cons well before publishing a post that may be considered as a trade secret.
Content Stealing
Bloggers should also be careful when it comes to dealing with copyrighted content. You should make sure that you provide a link back where it is due to make sure that you acknowledge the original author. With the ease that you can copy and paste content you can very easily fall in the trap and in some cases this can be unintentional. Always make sure that you check the license under which the work is released to make sure that you do not get involved in copyright infringement.
Intrusion into seclusion
You just cannot publish anything that you want under the pretext of free speech. For instance you just cannot drop into the house of a person and then photograph them. Bloggers should be wary of not publishing information that may be considered as private facts. However if you have the written consent of the person then you can do so.
It is expected that the amount of lawsuit involving bloggers will continue to rise as blogging continue to develop. It is important that bloggers learn about the different aspects of the law in order to protect themselves.
Charles Borromeo is the writer behind Justice-Explained.com, a site devoted to explain legal questions in layman’s terms. He is also a passionate blogger during his free time.