Giovanna Di Sauro

Any blog, but especially any personal, non-anonymous blog, should have a blog disclaimer. But what are the reasons why this is the case, and will be even more in the near future?

While blogging becomes more and more popular, so do trials and legal hurdles against bloggers: in some countries bloggers will face outright censorship leading to jail time, in others they might be attacked if their posts are considered denigratory in nature, libelous, or if they republish/discuss copyrighted materials, even when they were not meaning to make any profit from them and they are using them under “fair use”. Much blogging starts resembling journalism more and more, but bloggers are still not protected by laws aimed at the protection of journalists. And what’s worse, bloggers are often easy targets, as many might not be acquainted with the law, and the legal consequences of their online activities. Last but not least, bloggers might be risking losing their current job, or jeopardizing their future career, if they do not consider the legal implications of blogging seriously.

For all these reasons, and many more, I have started looking into writing a blog disclaimer for myself. I looked around the web for good sources that could point me to

1. a template for a blog disclaimer
2. what points must be addressed in a disclaimer, as well as
3. some good examples of blog disclaimer. It turns out that it is not very easy to find them.

While in the process of writing my own disclaimer, I am going to collect resources, good examples, and even some “disclaimer humor” I find along the way, in the hope that this will help me, as well as other bloggers, to come up with decent disclaimers, protecting ourselves from the risk of litigation, and “internet bullies” who might want to use litigation as the means to “extort” money from you, as well as find a subtle way to censor you.

In this first post, I will list links to some useful resources, and in my second one I will publish a disclaimer template with all the main points that need to be covered in a disclaimer. I am not a lawyer, so I do not guarantee that the template will be “fool-proof”, but I hope it will be useful to me, as well as to other fellow bloggers contemplating whether, or how to write their own blog disclaimer.

First of all, one of the best resources for bloggers (especially in the US) with regard to legal matters pertaining to blogging and digital rights is EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF is a non-profit organization based in the US, whose aim is to defend our digital rights. The EFF has prepared a useful Legal Guide for Bloggers, which can be freely accessed through their website. The only caveat to this guide (unfortunately, not a minor one) is that it is based on US law only. However, it is still a useful resource for international bloggers - as I can imagine that you would still need to consider how your blogging is seen under US law, especially if most commenters, readers, and news you discuss pertain to, or are located in, the USA. In addition, international bloggers should consult some additional resources.

At this point, I still wanted to look for something to address my needs a little more quickly - going through the Legal Guide takes some time. I found three useful posts for bloggers intending to write a blog disclaimer: “Does your blog need a disclaimer?” and “How to write a blog disclaimer?“, as well as “Crafting the perfect blog comment disclaimer“. However, these still fall short of providing what a blogger really needs: a short, step-by-step guide/template on how to write your own personalized disclaimer.

The problem is also just how “personalized” a blog disclaimer should be. In fact, we do not all work for other blogs, news sites, and similar. I expect that most of us would not be able to have this kind of disclaimer on our blog. At the same time, I doubt that a “blanket-style” option like Herche’s Blog Disclaimer would really be considered valid for legal purposes. However, this last one is worth checking out because it points the finger to the spreading of a “litigation culture” aimed at maiming our freedom of expression, as well as to some of the main points that need to be covered in your own personal disclaimer.

In my next post of this series I will publish a disclaimer template; in the meantime, I hope you found these links and resources useful. If you have suggestions for more resources that you think should be included in this list, you are welcome to them in the comments.

Images courtesy of EFF, sxc.hu, and their authors

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