social behaviour in a digital world
Apologies for simply quoting various places in one article, but I thought
this overview from the Citizen Media Law Project was worth repeating through paraphrasing. The following are pretty obvious, but easy to forget if you start blogging regularly.
While I know I should be using APA, I’ll also apologize for that and plead the hunger-panged, time-strapped, conversational blogger as an excuse.
In the well-worth-a-read article, Gilmor makes very good points (with a lot of information I haven’t included below) about what to keep in mind. It speaks very much to accuracy, truth and things like slander - all things we should be very aware of in the realm of academic integrity and rigour in doing our own work. It’s so easy to bang off a blog post, that sometimes these things don’t remain top of mind.
A few direct quotes in bullet format to whet your apetites ….
- If you publish information that harms the reputation of another person, group, or organization, you may be liable for “defamation” or “false light.”
- If you publish private or personal information about someone without their permission, you potentially expose yourself to legal liability even if your portrayal is factually accurate.
- If you use someone else’s name, likeness, or other personal attributes without their permission for an exploitative purpose you could also face liability for what is called misappropriation or right of publicity.
- If you have web forums, allow reader comments, host guest bloggers on your site, or if you repost information that you receive from RSS feeds, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA 230”) will likely shield you from liability for problematic statements made by your users, guests and other third-parties.
- if you publish or use the creative work of others, their trademarks, or certain confidential business information without the permission of the owner, you may be exposing yourself to legal liability for violations of intellectual property law.
- As you publish your work online you may want to correct things you have previously published.