Why should it concern me, may you ask? For two reasons: the impact on media visibility of accessible and high-quality science commentaries generated by bloggers, and in general how this crisis is another reminder that certain potentially damaging corporate approaches to crisis management are still alive and well.

Let’s talk about the first concern: researchers (and science bloggers) are a pretty individualist bunch. ScienceBlogs gave bloggers a chance to create a community of high-quality blogs, but it also gave the readers a chance to learn a lot by going to one place… it was the “supermarket of science blogging”. And, given that science and scientists have a notoriously hard time penetrating the mainstream media, this gave them a chance to gain visibility, as well as to organize themselves. I might be wrong, but it felt like it was the nature of the interactions among bloggers at ScienceBlogs that promoted the birth of ResearchBlogging.

What about the second concern? Corporate over at SB made the usual mistake: they wanted a piece of yummy pie (or should I say, pop) and, because of their gluttony, avoided consulting their bloggers (who, I am sure, they knew might have disapproved of their plans). So they just tried to fly things under everyone’s radar, and introduced a full-blown corporate food science blog fully written by PepsiCo as a new ScienceBlog. I am sure that this would have been fine, if only this blog were treated for what it is – a form of advertising.

What surprised me quite unpleasantly is the obvious fracture between the bloggers and their direct SB contacts (the “overlords”, as they are called), and SMG corporate. This would normally not surprise anyone: most corporate structures still think of opacity as a professional value to be upheld, no matter what. However, what is surprising is that they still thought they could get away with this while dealing with a bunch of freethinking, outspoken bloggers – bloggers who are the only reason why SB can exist in the first place! This is not just an oversight, it’s a bad case of cataracts.

Needless to say, I am sure that SB will keep going, just like Bora and other bloggers will. Science blog networks, which were strongly inspired by ScienceBlogs, will keep popping up, even though it is becoming evident that such networks do require a serious investment in IT to run efficiently. But IT is not enough, as managing networks requires a management mentality not fully understood (or even feared) by many corporate hierarchies: it requires true communication, honesty and transparency, especially during harder times.

When it comes to human networks, lip service to communication and transparency just won’t do: we are wired to spot “cheaters” and, if we perceive anyone to be cheating, we will attempt to do what we can to make sure they do not get rewarded for it. Bora and others felt deprived of their credibility, and lost trust in the SB exec: their departure was only the very human and logical consequence of that perception.

Evidence-based decision seems to be having a really hard time climbing up that corporate ladder, even at Science Blogs. How could have this been managed better?

The first step of crisis management is to avoid crisis altogether. You have quality control systems in place, internal/employee communications, etc. All of these aim at avoiding crisis from emerging. Crisis, however, usually emerge because there are opposing interests at work, and one of them is given privilege over the other at all costs. This is an obviously unsustainable way of managing any business. Let’s take this fiasco as an example:

• Bloggers’ interests: transparency, honesty, free speech, and a (small but regular) paycheck, proportional to their blog traffic;
• Corporate’s interests: profit profit profit.

The crisis has a chance to bud when these interests are seen as opposing, not complementing each other. We could make countless other examples where the two interests which are seen as competing are safety and profit (BP and Toyota anyone?), but this is the general idea.

Here is the tricky part: these interests are usually not at odds with each other. However, one might involve an expense in the short term, while the other is mistakenly seen as involving no expenses. Just because your aim is called “profit”, it does not mean that reaching it will not involve any expenses. Moreover, financial profit per se is something that is net of any expenses, not something that does not require any expenses whatsoever.

Before you start saying that what I just said is obvious, think again. This is the thinking that leads to crises:

Expense = expense; profit = earnings – expenses

This is, instead, reality:

expense = expenses, some of which are necessary, and some of which can actually increase your profit in the long run; profit = earnings – expenses (where expenses are necessarily different from zero)

Often one thinks that all you need to get there is one or both of these two things: eliminate expenses (ideally to zero) and increase your earnings (ideally indefinitely). The problem with this is that earnings do not emerge out of thin air (unless you are dealing with derivatives): they are something generated out of someone’s work, something that has a cost associated with it. In a way, that cost is the only reason why you can end up with earnings at all at the end of the day. Maths will not tell you this, as you can have expenses = zero and the equation will do just fine.

In this case, bloggers are a cost, and their ideas could be perceived as hard to handle. But those ideas are the reason why the business and its earnings exist in the first place! You cannot have those earnings without those bloggers, and therefore those ideas being churned out. Not paying your bloggers and trying to sneak past them is not the way to increase your profits – it is the way to land into a sure crisis. And it is unsustainable in the long run.

Further Reading: a brief roundup of the ScienceBlogs fiasco

• A Farewell to Scienceblogs: the Changing Science Blogging Ecosystem
• ScienceBlogs = ZombieBlogs
• Bora and PalMD leave ScienceBlogs: What to do now?
• Pepsico, Scienceblogs, and the Future
• Pharyngula on STRIKE (P.S. not anymore… but still thinking about what is happening in science blogging)
• Oh, Pepsi, What Hast Thou Wrought?

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I am going to provide an explanation of the main points your disclaimer needs to cover, and then write up a template. If you are very impatient, you can jump off to the template right away.

Here are the main points the disclaimer needs to address, in no particular order:

1. You will need either two separate disclaimers, or one disclaimers but including a section regarding comments. In fact, if your blog is moderated (and that is usually the case) you might be held responsible for what other people have written on your blog. Think of it in this terms: if you owned a newspaper, and you allowed a columnist to continually address a certain ethnic group in a manner that is considered illegal, would you be liable? Yes, you would. Although the law is still quite ambiguous when it comes to blogging, you should consider yourself as a publisher and editor, who is therefore responsible for the quality and legality of everything being published – whether you agree with it or not. However, you should not be held liable if the commenter is committing a crime and you are simply not aware of it.
2. You might want to include some “Terms of use” in this disclaimer, or even consider the disclaimer as a series of sections within a Terms of Use Agreement. When readers use the blog, they agree that the blog comes with no guarantees, and that the content might contain errors. You also want to say something about your abilities and how these affect (or not) the content of the blog (see point 4). They also agree not to use the content (images, files, text – be specific) without your express consent – and if they do that, they will become exposed to legal action.
3. As you are probably “moonlighting” as a blogger, you have to make sure that it is made extremely clear that everything you write is simply your opinion, and not the one of your employer.
4. You need to think of your “clout”: are you a doctor writing about health? Are you a business owner writing about business? Then you have to make it extremely clear that you are not acting as a professional, but as a simple individual. That is, anything you write, and any advice you give, is not being given as a doctor or businessman, but as an individual.
5. Now think of the reach of your blog. If you own a newspaper, you will be writing in a certain language, and catering to a (more or less) local audience. But as a blogger, your blog is potentially accessible from the whole world. However, you do use a certain language, and somehow cater to a certain audience. This implies that you need to make it clear that:
   • You are writing in language A (and B, and C…) only.
   • You are not responsible for any misunderstandings and controversy arising because the reader is not fluent with language A/B/C.
   • If you are writing in language A, but you are not a native speaker, you might also want to mention that, and again remind the audience that sometimes misunderstandings may arise because of this, and that they might not be intentional.
6. Consider that commenters may be writing from countries where what they write is illegal – while, say, it is not in the one you are currently located. You need to clarify that you are based in country A, and that what you are writing might or might not infringe laws in other countries. At the same time, you are not responsible for comments that break the law somewhere else, and not where you are (how are you supposed to know that anyway?).
7. Even with all this, there might be issues that legal representatives or individuals want to raise about the content of your blog. You need to explicitly ask these people to contact you (by e-mail, snail mail, or however you like) in person before bringing forth any legal action. For example, if you write about research articles, you might be asked to pull something down from time to time…
8. This brings us to the part where you need to know where you stand in terms of copyright/fair use. This has to be mentioned somewhere in your disclaimer. Of course, if Fair use does not exist in the country where you are, you will not be able to write that – so you need to enquire as to what the law concerning copyright allows you to do: for example, if you are in Canada or another Commonwealth country, you will need to be familiar with Fair dealing. You have to cover these points:
   • Images and text are under X.X Creative Commons License, or completely (C)author, unless when it is mentioned otherwise. All logos and trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
   • It is the responsibility of the commenters not to infringe copyright in comments.
   • If you are writing about/publishing something that is copyrighted, you need to mention that you are doing it under a “fair use” provision.
9. Something about your content (whatever that is) must be said. More specifically, you will need to mention these points:
   • Content validity: the content might contain errors and not be completely up to date. Errors, when pointed out, might not be corrected immediately.
   • Links: you are not responsible for the content of websites you are linking to (they should have their own disclaimer, don’t you think?).
   • Make it explicit (funny or not, but explicit) that you do not mean to harm, or encourage to harm, anybody. Also, remind your readers that you do not mean to libel/offend anybody, and that they can freely disagree with you – all you write is simply your opinion.
   • Are you advertising for products? Are you writing reviews and getting paid for it? You should disclose this in your disclaimer.
10. Does your blog have multiple users? Who owns it anyway? Mention this, and remind your readers that you are not responsible for what other users are writing. As a suggestion, you might want a company to own a multiuser blog, or if you own it, get them to sign agreements where they state that they are assuming responsibility for all they are writing, and that they indemnify you.
11. Let’s say that you did write a good disclaimer, but somebody with money and time in their hands decides to sue you anyway. When this happens, they will try to attack your finances. Therefore, your blog disclaimer also needs to mention the limits of your financial liability.
12. You want people to read your disclaimer, and to feel that you are approachable to solve controversies. So make the disclaimer legible…and make sure to run a spell check AND proofread it very well. If you are not a “lone poor blogger” but you are working on a company blog, or even blog for a living, you might want to consider having a lawyer go through the disclaimer and fix any holes for you.

I think I managed to address most (if not all) of the important points. We can now move on to the template. Remember, I am not a legal expert, and a template needs to be modified (words and all) for your individual needs. So if you use my template and somebody sues you…well, you are still responsible for your own disclaimer!

If you need other resources, or you are just too lazy to read the other post…here are a few useful links:

• Writing a blog disclaimer (The Blog Herald)
• Herche’s Blog Disclaimer (legal redux)
• How to Write a Blog Disclaimer? (Websites Made Simple)

Anyway, here it comes. Change the italics/highlighted parts with your name or the name of your blog, and with different wording, whichever is suitable. You are hereby authorized to use and modify this template, at no cost to you, as long as you post a link back to this page from your blog. Any comments about the template, and suggestions for improvements, are welcome – just write a comment.

Happy (and safe) blogging!

————————————————-

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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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