One thing I just come up with regarding blogging and internet is that unethical does not mean unlawful. This common thing applies in any matters and quite often in blogging and blogosphere.
However, blogging is totally different with journalism in the way of ethics. Blogging flies more freely than journalism, therefore blogging is quite far from a lawful consideration whilst journalism is just close to it. Most journalists are more aware of being unlawful if they breach their ethics.
Below are some of the ethics of blogging quoted from Harvard Cyber Law Blog: Blogging, Journalism and Credibility.
The ethic of transparency: We believe that our public deserves to know about us and our perspective to better judge what we say. The ethic of conversation: We do not believe in one-sided lectures. We believe conversation leads to better understanding. The ethic of humanity: We believe this medium lives at a human level while old media lives at in institutional level. The ethic of the link: We believe one of our key jobs is to link our public to other voices and to source material so they may judge themselves. The ethic of correction: We believe it is vital to correct errors quickly and openly. The ethic of immediacy: We believe that the fast spread of information is will yield better information.
Hey, hold on... Where is the ethic of accuracy? Naaa, blogging doesn't need that. That's why blogging is quite far from the unlawful consideration, since accuracy happens to be such a lawful consideration.
Maybe, there would be some lawful matters in the future of blogging when cyber people think that blogging is supposed to have some law.
Sinceretheory just got the link to the legal guide for bloggers, which is I found an interesting quote from the link.
What should I do if I get sued for what I blogged?
You should contact an attorney (if you don't know an attorney, EFF may be able to help you find one). If the statement at issue is protected speech, you may be entitled to move to strike the complaint under your state's Anti-SLAPP laws.
How do I know if I am being SLAPPed? SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and the Anti-SLAPP laws are designed to help people sued for legitimate, protected speech made about public issues. If you are sued because you wrote about an issue of public interest or concern, you may have been SLAPPed. The First Amendment Project has an excellent FAQ on Anti-SLAPP laws. Note that Anti-SLAPP laws don't exist in every state, and they vary quite a bit among states, so this may not be available to everyone.
