Google loses legal battle in India
In a battle over slanderous blog posts a prominent doctor in India sued Google and won. Apparently the good doctor had some questionable dealings and thus offended some people who promptly went to blogger and posted some disparaging remarks. The doctor decided suing Google India was the way to go. Google India is attempting to distance themselves from the Blogger service based in the U.S. We’ll have to see if this strategy works. Other than that placing the censorship responsibility on the service provider is a tall order. Do you think any other social network has this kind of duties placed upon it?
Which goes back to what I’ve been saying: blogging in foreign countries can be dangerous. Certainly in countries like China, Iran, and now you can add India to that growing list. I foresee a blogging future where traditional journalism rules are placed upon all blogs to be quickly followed by guerrilla blog sites housing controversial opinions. Get ready for big brother to watch what you type and the content you produce.
Making your site unique
If you use the wordpress platform it’s often the easy way out to use the default templates. Here’s some info on how to hack it to make your site more unique. Tease your readers with upcoming posts. Display your most popular posts or keep your fans on your site by pointing them to a related article. Common hacks like these are easy and just make sense.
Reporting From Foreign Countries, Worth the Risk?
A couple of American journalists were recently sentenced to hard labor in North Korea. Both Laura Ling and Euna Lee made headlines upon their 12 year sentence was handed down. Analysts say this is simply a ploy by North Korea to bargain for some sort of deal. It would appear that the American government has no choice but to play ball in an international effort of diplomacy. But is the risk worth it? And what will the cost be to the American government for bailing out journalists who get themselves into these kinds of situations. Perhaps a better discussion should take place on exactly how much money is being spent on getting them out of North Korea.
They had to know the potential certainly existed given that they were Americans in a hostile territory. As would describe “reporting” here, they would describe as “spying” over there. And don’t forget, when you’re in a foreign country you’re subject to their local laws. No mercy regardless of what country you’re from. The whole “I didn’t know” won’t get you out of jail in Thailand or Singapore.
At the end of this whole ordeal you can bet both journalists will get exclusive book deals, interviews, and their 15 minutes of fame. Perhaps even a tv movie. The goal is fame and fortune. Journalistic integrity can take a backseat while Obama’s administration deals with yet another mess.
Blogger gets into trouble in Texas
More and more bloggers are getting arrested. A blogger was arrested in Texas as a part of a lawsuit. Ordered to turn over the laptop the defendant claimed that the laptop had been stolen. The judge did not believe her and had her jailed. The lawsuit arose from defamatory comments made by the blogger. While the law differs on electronic free speech in Texas, it’s leading to lawsuits. (link)
The attending police officer believed that the robbery of the laptop had been staged hence leading to the jail time. Which equalled 4 days in the slammer. Next step? Turn over the laptop since the jig is up or further jail time? If the laptop was indeed legitimately stolen there’s not much the blogger can do. However the timing does seem suspicious. Perhaps I’ll lay off the rants for now.
