Forbes v. Blogs

Interesting article in a recent edition of Forbes magazine I stumbled upon (Nov. 14, 2005 print issue, sorry but I can't find an online article). The gist of the article was that a subset of bloggers tend to pick on a business and/or business owner, with charges real and imagined, and that said businesspeople are without any recourse against this powerful new technology. Which, of course, ignores whole volumes of law regarding defamation and publisher liability in a rush to paint a dire situation.

Libel and slander, on the internet or on the street, are obviously a problem for a business trying to build a reputation and goodwill. The article does have a good suggestion for businesses, in the form of utilizing "searchers" who scour blogs for mentions of the company. This is a task any technologically competent attorney ought to consider doing for existing clients or offering to new intakes. An attorney couldn't ethically create a flame war with bloggers or posters, but most certainly I/we could respond to attacks in a professional manner to safeguard a personal or business reputation.