Bloggers are becoming the favorite target of lawsuits.

A local business owner in Salisbury has filed both a criminal and civil lawsuit against a news blogger.

John Robinson, the owner of Robinson’s Jewelry and Clock Store, filed the lawsuits against Joe Albero, a Delaware native. Robinson claims that Alebero has been harassing his family and has published defamatory statements about them for more than two years already in his blog. The civil lawsuit also charges Albero along with two other contributors to Albero’s blog.

It will be interesting to see where these lawsuits will lead. Most defamation cases, according to the Media Bloggers Association, never reach the trial stage because the case is either dropped or settled out of court.

Bloggers are known to discuss and talk about sensitive issues. It’s what makes blogs so fun to read. But can discussions really get too sensitive?

RSA Security thinks so. RSA Security is one of the top security companies in the US and recently it sent a takedown notice to a blogger and the blog’s hosting company as a way of stopping the blogger from discussing the vulnerability that was found on a bank web site, a client of RSA Security and a site that it is helping monitor.

The flimsy accusation is based on the blogger, Scott Jarkoff, committing trademark infringement when discussing the said issue in his blog, Techmiso. This tactic is often used by companies if they want to silence any kind of negative coverage or criticism of these companies.

Fortunately, in a recent development, RSA Security has stopped with its bullying tactics after Techmiso showed that it did not infringe on any kind of copyright.

We’ll see if this is enough to stop the company or if it is just regrouping and will fire a fresh new salvo in the future.

Over at the Gothamist, a new directive from the New York Housing Authority has caught its attention.

The new directive now bans pit bulls from any of the buildings the Authority manages. In addition to this, a new 25-pound weight restriction has been placed on all pets. This means pets should not weigh more than 25 pounds. The previous weight restriction was pegged at 40 pounds. Of course, because of the lower weight ceiling, 24 other breeds are now also included in the ban list. This includes popular breeds like Rottweillers, Dobermans and Retrievers. Residents who currently own pets in the ban list can still keep their pets as long as they have registered them. Some people praised the move saying that animals that big shouldn’t be confined to small spaces but other pet owners are furious. One owner said that a small beagle that’s overweight can easily tip the scales at 25 pounds or more.

No rules have been given for a more immediate problem — residents who keep too many pets in their residences.

From GreenOptions.com‘s Sustainablog, a feature on the government’s drive to get people to trade in their old clunky cars for newer more efficient ones is underway. The post started with an idea from a child who suggested that everybody with old cars trade them in for new hybrids to solve the whole global warming thingy’. Bright idea right, well somebody in Washington thought of that too and the “Cash for Clunkers” program was born. The program is designed to make the world a cleaner place by giving incentives to people who trade in their old inefficient cars for newer cleaner cars that use alternative energy for fuel. The program is beginning to catch on and every family who opts to avail of the program helps mother nature and also gets a new car in the process making the approach a viable one that is good for the earth and the US auto industry as a whole.
read on

We received an anonymous tip last October 1 from a person claiming to be a “b5 Blogger.” Here’s the message he left on our Contact page:

b5 media is cutting our pay by at least half. They said it’s because our stats were wrong for the past three years and now they’re going to be right. The thing is the pay is lowering for most of us by 50% or more. A significant decrease. No one will talk about our base pay so we don’t know if that’s going down too but we’re going to be paid a lot less money now.

Everyones afraid to talk about it because they don’t want to be sued but one member of the team and a channel editor already left because of this and so did some bloggers.

Feel free to use this news but please don’t ask my name. I need my paltry pay until I find a new job. I don’t think I’ll sign the new contract.

We welcome any reactions and clarifications, especially from the network involved, b5 Media.

So much for the power of blogging, but employees who are not careful on what they post on blog sites may end up losing their jobs if they are caught incidentally by their employers when they post something negative about their company and workplace.

Many would say, this is not something in the employee handbook, but then again, this can always be amended at anytime that companies and organizations would wish.

“If there is a negative impact on the organisation’s corporate image which is so serious that it breaches the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, the employee could be dismissed for gross misconduct,” she warned.

Cautioning employers to pay attention to worker’s blogs, Dowling added that blogs could provide evidence of other conduct issues, uncover workplace discrimination or bullying or even leak confidential financial information or new product details.

With the prospect of supremely cheesed off employees whistleblowing dodgy company practices, Dowling added that, “Employers need to ensure that they carefully consider the impact of blogging on their organisation and take appropriate steps to minimise any potential risk.”

Source: Digital Lifestyles. Blathering Work Bloggers Risk The Boot

[tags]blog news, blogger, problogger[/tags]

Why do you publish photos or articles on the web if you don’t want people using or criticizing them? This is perhaps one of the standing issues that caters to the hyperlinking issue of blogs today.

We all know that blogs are more of critics at work. While some may provide good viewpoints, there are also bad ones. People may use photos or images from published sites but the fact is, a link back is a form of respect to which owner’s rights are still being observed. But for some people, this does not seem to be enough.

For purposes of not wanting people to “borrow” or “use” your stuff, then why publish them on the web? Keep them on your computer or your digital camera if you don’t want people using them!

He’s facing three lawsuits for copyright infringement, but that’s OK with notorious celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who sees himself as something of an activist for bloggers’ rights.

“In a perfect world, you’d rather not be sued than be sued, but I think from his standpoint all these lawsuits essentially stem from the same exact issue,” his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, tells The Showbuzz. “It’s the rights of bloggers to the fair use of published photos that are on the Internet and the right to use them for satire and commentary. I think Perez is excited to be the one that makes the law in this area and is fully prepared to go all the way if he needs to in order to make that law.”

Perez, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, takes celebrity photos, doodles on them, posts them on his popular blog, perezhilton.com and adds commentary.

“He uses them in a transformative way and then opens a dialog of commentary. Whether you like the commentary or not is a different story,” said Freedman.

“I totally disagree, obviously, that what he does constitutes fair use,” Brandy Navarre, VP of X17, which sued Lavandeira in November for more than $7.5 million, told The Showbuzz. “I don’t feel that what he does qualifies (as satire). These are not all newsworthy photos, (and) he’s not altering the photos enough to make a difference. Sometimes just writing a question mark isn’t satirizing significantly enough to make a difference. And the volume at which he uses the images is out of bounds.”

Universal City Studios Productions LLP filed a lawsuit against Lavandeira in February, claiming a stolen image of a topless Jennifer Aniston from the set of her movie “The Breakup” was posted on Lavandeira’s site.

In late April, five photo agencies joined together to sue Lavandeira for $7 million for using their photos and videos.

His lawyer argues that Lavandeira has merely used photos that were already published elsewhere on the Web.

“If it’s not already out on the Internet, it’s protected,” argues Freedman. “He’s not in the business of taking watermarks or anything like that. I can’t for the life for me understand how a photographer has been hurt when the photograph has already been published on the Internet.”

Navarre claims Lavandeira’s actions have hurt her company’s bottom line.

Source: Perez Hilton, Defender Of Bloggers Rights?

[tags]blog news, blogger news, disputes, copyrights, infringement, hyperlinks, links, violations[/tags]

For the benefit of people who have not yet been heard of this virtual world where they can portray anyone of their chosen character, Second Life is a virtual online world game that allows people to interact, explore and even make money if a person knows the ins and outs of the game. The game has been totally addictive, making people more or less glued to their stations practically the whole day. People are logged on in long hours since outside the usual commercial interaction that they make, they can earn a living while being online.

But many people have questioned the consistency since Second Life has been down for some times, making it doubtful if they can sustain the number of subscribers logged in to play the game.

However, updates have to be made and patches employed. This is one reason for the downtimes subscribers are experiencing and rightfully so. If people want to get their money’s worth, then continuous development and improvements towards the game must be done.

“The main issue raised in the original blog entry on Gamer.Blorge.com was that Second Life is experiencing six hours of downtime. To hear other blogs, like TechCrunch, position it, this is kind of a noteworthy occurrence.

The truth is that Second Life is frequently down on Wednesdays, because that’s when its publisher, Linden Lab, releases updates to its client software.

And it’s true that some users are upset about the downtime. But they’re also upset every time the “grid” goes down for the several hours it takes to complete an upgrade. After all, there are countless virtual businesses that can’t sell things, and countless people who can’t get in-world to do whatever it is they want to do.

For many longtime Second Life users, the issue this raises is not about any individual shutdowns of the grid, but rather that it has to happen so frequently. The Second Life software is built in such a way that the constant bug fixes, updates and new features can really only be implemented through these periodic updates, and the unfortunate side effect is semi-regular downtime. “ – What is the extent of ‘Second Life’ problems?

[tags]second life, blogger, virtual world, social sites, socializing[/tags]

It has been an issue that has been longed debated on. Bloggers are not officially categorized as journalists. The directives may be the same at some point but the fact remains, the method of composing articles and facts in proper format for people to understand needs to have differentiating factors.

Bloggers can be better than journalists and vice versa. However, no one has been given the proper authorization to differentiate both. For regions such as Hawaii, they can classify a blogger and a journalist and point out their differences. Here is an overview of this latest trend.

Hawaii is one 19 states that does not have a journalist shield law, designed to protect a reporter’s confidential sources. If Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang refuses to accept Zimmerman’s claim that she is a legitimate journalist, the ruling could set a dangerous precedent for other bloggers.

There are two sides to the argument. The plaintiff’s lawyer is trying to convince the judge that accepting bloggers as journalists would create a big loophole.

There are a lot more nuances to the case, so I suggest you read the whole summary.

I’d like to think that Marketing Pilgrim would be able to claim journalist privileges, based upon the fact that we are a legitimate news source, regardless of the fact that the site is organized like a blog. However, I agree that you can’t extend that same privilege to everyone, just because they have a blog. The courts needs to establish some kind of criteria for what makes a blogger a journalist.

What criteria do you think should make a blogger a journalist? – Hawaii Court to Decide if a Blogger is a Journalist

[tags]blogger, blog news, blog jobs, journalists, problogger, problogger jobs[/tags]

Blogs have become more of rumor mills to date, being the premier source of information before they hit the news stands and channels. However, consistency is something up for debate and for some, total understanding of the whole ordeal may eventually lead to something disastrous.

This is clearly the issue regarding the release of the iPhone launch originally posted at Endgadget. Apparently, the tip turned out to be a false alarm and this eventually affected the stock trading of Apple which tumbled by 3 percent and losing billions in the process.

Hence, blogs may not be consistent or be used as a means of forecasting launches and predictions. Such was learned the hard way. Here are some excerpts from the blog blunder:

Stock Manipulation Via Fake News –- Nothing New
I agree with others that speculate Engadget was played by a trader who knew that this story would have a negative impact on Apple stock. My guess is they used this rumor to short Apple stock and mint a fortune.

Blog bashers will point to Engadget’s flub for years to come. But it’s important to remember “traditional” media has fallen for similar chicanery before to.

In 2000 Emulex, a networking firm, saw its stock take a nosedive from a morning high of $113.06 to a low of $43 by lunch time. What prompted the stock to drop was headlines that appeared on major wire service proclaiming: “Emulex Announces Revised Earnings; SEC Launches Investigation Into Accounting Practices. Paul Folino Steps Down As CEO.”

The story was fake. It was planted by a then 23-year-old Mark Jakob, a former employee of a wire service called Internet Wire. The story was planted by Jakob on the wire and it was picked up by major news outlets as real. The FBI investigated and arrested Jakob. Published reports say Jakob made $250,000 from his scheme, money he later had to return.

If the Apple/Engadget incident is a case of stock manipulation than this is a coming-of-age moment for Wall Street miscreants who target blogs. The success found with dropping Apple stock will only fuel the cottage industry of manipulating stock prices through e-mail, message boards, and blogs. With Engadget the scammer(s) landed a big fish. You better believe they are thinking about a new stock/blog target right now. – False alarm: iPhone NOT delayed until October, Leopard NOT delayed again until January

[tags]blogger news, blog news, iPhone, apple, blunders, false alarms[/tags]