Legal blogger Denise Howell, on the podium with Jason Calacanis and Buzz Bruggeman at Gnomedex, calls Jason a "warrior on the frontlines of participatory law." Jason is telling first-person stories of how he's dealt with threats of legal action in his role as head of the largest blog network, Weblogs Inc. He gives bloggers the following from-the-trenches advice for avoiding liability:
- When you're blogging, throw in words like "allege" and "claims" if you don't absolutely know something to be fact;
- Pay attention to readers' comments and make corrections fast if you find out you're wrong;
- Incorporate to protect yourself from personal liability;
- Put everything in writing when you're doing a business deal. Commit to a signed letter of agreement with initialed bullet points so you have documentation;
- If you're contacted by an attorney who's threatening you, make him talk to you rather than to your lawyer, and try to engage him on a human level; and
- Know when it's best to acquiesce.
1. I was at Gnomedex; and this was important information. I just wanted to thank everybody for putting this information out there.
Posted at 5:37PM on Jul 4th 2005 by prize (Mary)