CRESSWELL, Ore., Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued
by Judge Edward Fadeley, Retired Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme
Court:
    Today's blogosphere is a veritable Wild West of verbal ambushes and
shootouts, with very little fear of legal recourse to keep character
assassination, defamation and dirty business tricks in check.
    It's an area of the law that desperately needs serious attention.
Self-proclaimed "experts" and "journalists" abound on the Internet. "Web
logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty, but
spewing lies, libel and invective," wrote Daniel Lyons in Forbes. Some 50
percent to 60 percent of blog attacks are now sponsored by business rivals,
said a lawyer quoted in the story.
    Ten years ago Congress passed a law requiring blog operators to protect
the public by self-regulation. But many flout that responsibility and
willingly post inaccurate messages that damage others.
    That law has stifled the courts' rights to recover damages for
unauthorized, negligent or dishonest use of Internet sites, including
blogs. The guarantee that a person injured may use the courts to recover
has existed in our culture since the century of the Magna Carta, more than
700 years ago.
    But free-speech guarantees haven't previously protected libel,
defamation or spoken-but-fraudulent activity. As the strong free-speech in
the Oregon Constitution also provides, for example: "...but every person
shall be responsible for the abuse of this right."
    These legal holes exist while the cyber Wild West keeps getting bigger.
There were about 10,000 Web sites in 1994, according to Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Technology Review. By 2000 that number soared to
more than 25 million, and sites continue to grow exponentially.
    Sometimes it is impossible to find sources for damaging language
published on the Internet. An example is Apple vs. Doe where, in December
2004, Apple filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County, California, against
unnamed individuals who allegedly leaked information about a rumored new
Apple product to several online news sites. Apple is seeking information
from these "news" sites regarding identities of the sites' sources, and has
subpoenaed Nfox.com, the email service provider for PowerPage, for email
messages that could provide that information.
    The courts must walk a fine line between a federal statute interpreted
as creating immunity and the responsibility for the harm caused by libel.
    Unfortunately, many innocent companies are being damaged by individuals
out for profit or self-promotion. Even in instances where legitimate
organizations have been seriously damaged by bloggers, it's difficult to
counter unfounded attacks or to demand the actual sources, let alone seek
the protections of the law.
    It needs to be further examined to determine whether the protections in
place for journalists are appropriate for bloggers, when they are not held
to the same standards as the mainstream media. Journalists are held to
account for what they say, whether or not they are quoting someone else.
Unfortunately, the law has yet to create reasonable standards for the
Internet and allows anyone to quote any source, with almost no liability
for what they say.
    The impact on innocent parties can be severe -- some companies have
lost millions in stock value from an irate individual speaking anonymously
as an expert on a blog soapbox, making statements intended to be read as
fact, although they may be nothing more than the venom generated by a
personal and perhaps unjustified grievance. Even when such statements are
later corrected or balanced, misperceptions are hard to change after the
first assertion of fact.
    Commenting on a recent case in which Traffic-Power is suing Aaron Wall,
host of the Blog SEOBook.com, for defamation and the disclosure of company
trade secrets, Steve Rubel, VP of client services with Cooper Katz and Co.,
noted, "Right now the world of consumer-created media is a bit like the
Wild West. Anything goes. Eventually, as cases are decided (in either
direction) and clear precedents are set, online marketers and their legal
teams will be in a better position to assess their potential downside risk
in jumping into the blogosphere -- if any."
    The courts aren't helping matters. For example, Landmark Education, an
international training and development company that presents The Landmark
Forum, dropped its lawsuit in New Jersey against Rick Ross, a
self-professed "cult expert" who has built a career and reputation by
quoting people's opinions on his Web site. Landmark Education terminated
its lawsuit when, in an unrelated case, a New Jersey court significantly
limited the kind of Internet behavior it would consider damages for. Court
decisions like that make it even more difficult for companies to protect
themselves against misinformation and false accusations.
    Ross, who claims he's an expert on cults, religions and any
organization he deems potentially harmful, should be held to a higher
standard - not a lesser one. Rick Ross is a convicted felon with no degree
of any kind. He says so on his own web site. His lack of professional
qualifications doesn't stop Ross from freely labeling credible
organizations in the personal development area "worthless" and "faked."
While Ross acknowledges that Landmark Education is definitely not a cult,
he nevertheless smears the company through innuendo. Ross also attacks John
Gray, author of "Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus," the Mormon
Church and the practice of yoga.
    Whether or not you endorse Gray or yoga, the law should protect their
rights and demand journalistic standards and accountability.
    It's high time to fill the gap in a system that allows defamation in
the blogosphere to go unchecked. The harm can be wide-ranging and
devastating. Until the law catches up with technology, innocent parties
have little or no protection in the volatile world of cyberspace.
    Judge Edward Fadeley is a retired associate justice of the Oregon
Supreme Court.
    Erin Bubenhofer
    Danielides Communications
    p: (212) 319-7566
    erin@danielides.net

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