BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Lawsuits Against Bloggers Seen Rising Since 2004, 159 Court Actions Have Targeted Citizen Journalists for Libel and Other Charges By HUMA YUSUF When Christopher Grotke answered a late-night knock on the door, he did not expect to find the deputy sheriff on his doorstep serving notice that he was being sued. Nor was he prepared for the charge: libel. Someone had posted a comment on his citizen-journalism Web site, iBrattleboro.com, stating that a woman in Brattleboro, Vt., was having an extramarital affair. The accused woman then sued Grotke and his Web site co-founder for failing to edit or delete the comment. The blogging community increasingly is subject to lawsuits and threats of legal action running the gamut from subpoenas to cease-and-desist notices. Since blogging became popular in about 2004, there have been 159 civil and criminal court actions involving bloggers, according to the nonprofit Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) in New York. Seven cases have resulted in verdicts agai...

Four years ago, I found myself in a situation where police asked if they could watch my email for a while. Eventually, I gave away my computer and didn't get a new one for almost a year - and just allowed the police to monitor that email & ISP. At least they ASKED! I found out, they didn't have to, either. I also watched police pull up someones 3 years worth of online history -- including all their transactions, forums, posts, salacious stuff they'd downloaded and a lot of instant messaging in less than five minutes. While what they found made me sick - the speed and ease with which it was done? Made me sicker. Think you're anonymous, safe and your activities online will never be found out? THINK AGAIN! Fine print reveals that you have fewer rights than you might realize By Peter Svensson What's scary, funny and boring at the same time? It could be a bad horror movie. Or it could be the fine print on your Internet service provider's contract. Those doc...