How a Blogger Can Get Legal Protection from Libel and Slander
Better to know now than to figure this out later.
[This is part of the Escaping the 9-5: My Road to ProBlogging series.]
Just what is a “blogger,” really? No seriously – who and what are we? Writers? Storytellers? Authors? Creators? Artists?
The obvious answer is that we are all of those things. Technically speaking we are also called “Publishers” and with that particular title comes certain responsibilities. And with any responsibility comes a bit of risk, perhaps even some exposure that if not managed well could get us into a bit of a pickle.
Blogging has come a long way in a very short period of time. For many it is simply a hobby. However, as proven by some rather talented “pro” bloggers out there, blogging is much more than that. It can become a primary source of income, actually supporting an entire family!
Now how cool is that?!
As cool as that is, there is another side to blogging that many of us fail to recognize, and others outright ignore – and I’m not talking about spending countless hours on a post to only have three of four pageviews and zero comments – we’ve all been there, right?
What I’m talking about is a legal perspective; a perspective that you need to know about regardless if you’re just a hobby blogger or a professional blogger and one that invites risk each time you click that publish button.
In fact, this is something you should definitely consider if you’re going to leave the protection of a corporation’s legal department and head out on your own into problogging!
Ready for a bit of schooling?
One of Banksy's famous stencils.
The Power of an Opinion:
It’s easy to forget sometimes amidst all the brainstorming, drafting, editing, formatting, and publishing that we are ultimately sharing our candid thoughts, opinions, and ideas out there for the whole world to see. That can be a very good thing, especially if you’re building a loyal (and growing) following. But, it can also put us at risk for a number of different legal actions.
How?
You might not even be trying to do it, but your view or opinion of something could be easily perceived by someone else as defamation, libel, slander, or even invasion of privacy, and before you know it, you’re getting phone calls from someone’s personal injury attorney.
For the uninitiated, here is a base definition for you to become aware of:
Defamation – also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words) – is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image.
In common law jurisdictions, slander refers to a malicious, false, and defamatory spoken statement or report, while libel refers to any other form of communication such as written words or images.
Even if the nature of your blog is “clean” and non-confrontational it’s still something you should take very seriously. This is a very real issue and bloggers get sued all the time even when they never intended in any way to be malicious, or critical of someone.
It’s especially easy to be sued because many personal injury attorneys work on a contingency basis (the lawyer doesn’t get paid until the client gets paid), meaning that it doesn’t cost the claimant anything up-front for them to “lawyer up” or simply get a lawyer and proceed with a case.
Just not interested in seeing the inside of a courtroom for my blog...!
How to Protect Yourself:
There are two common ways to protect yourself from this exposure, the first being obvious: Just quit blogging. You can avoid risk all together if you just stop blogging. For most of us this really isn’t an option.
The second option is to simply transfer the risk and you can do this by purchasing insurance. Here are your options for getting that type of coverage:
Option 1: Your Homeowners, Renters, or Umbrella Policy
If you have homeowners or renters insurance, you should have what’s called “Family Liability” or “Personal Liability” coverage. The limit on your policy is likely between $100-$500k. This liability coverage covers a whole host of things and sometimes automatically provides coverage for “Personal Injury” damages as well, so there’s a chance you might already be covered and don’t know!
Amongst other things, “Personal Injury” coverage guards you against libel, slander, defamation of character, copyright infringement, and invasion of privacy, all of which are exposures to a blogger or publisher. It should be known that not all insurance carriers include “Personal Injury” coverage on their policies.
If your policy doesn’t already have it, you might be able to add it rather inexpensively via an “endorsement” (a.k.a. “rider”). If it’s not available via endorsement, then your last option would be a “Personal Umbrella” policy, which is a separately purchased “excess” liability policy that amongst other things, includes the “Personal Injury” coverage.
An umbrella policy’s job is to shadow your homeowners/renters/auto policy’s underlying liability limits, and step in if those limits are exhausted due to a large payout.
Umbrella policies are almost always purchased in $1 million increments and normally cost between $150/yr on the low side, up to $400/yr on the high side depending on insurance carrier and what limits you buy.
Check out 'Umbrella' policies for your blog.
Option 2: Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL) or Business Owners Policy (BOP)
This is the option I would strongly recommend if you are incorporated and/or blogging for income, and especially if you manage several different blogs.
Just so you know the difference, a CGL is a “liability-only” policy. A BOP is a combination of liability and property coverage, sort of like a “bundled” package of coverages. Think of a BOP as a stereo-in-a-box. If you also need coverage for “business personal property”, like laptops, and other property relative to your blogging business, a BOP is the way to go.
If you’re smart (and I know that you are) you’re probably thinking about this question here:
Well, if I can get this coverage under my Homeowners policy, why would I buy a CGL or BOP?
The answer to that is because if someone tried to sue you and you presented that claim to your insurance carrier, and they investigated it and found that you are actually incorporated, and blogging for business, there is a good chance your claim could be denied because a “personal” policy like a Homeowners policy, is not intended to cover “commercial” or “business” exposures.
If by chance the claim was actually honored, your insurance carrier would almost certainly “non-renew” (basically cancel) your insurance at renewal.
That’s not the only reason you might want a CGL or BOP because they also provide many other beneficial coverages like loss of income, loss of business personal property (BOP), breach of electronic data coverage, cyber liability, and cover many other exposures that are borne out of blogging and/or managing websites.
The cost of these policies can vary widely depending on your needs and coverage levels but if you are a incorporated and/or blogging for income, there is much more at stake, so a good starting point would be a $1 million liability limit (if not $2 million), and potentially a “Commercial Umbrella” policy on top of that.
A Few Parting Thoughts:
Many of you may think that insurance is simply not necessary at this time, but the consequences of ignoring it are many. Even if the claimant doesn’t have a strong case against you, it costs just as much to defend an innocent person as it does a guilty one.
Depending on the laws in your state, all sorts of awful things can happen if you get sued, from wage garnishment, to asset liquidation or real estate repossession. That’s right, your house can actually be taken!
Please know that this is not meant to scare you, but to uncover something that many of us bloggers simply don’t acknowledge or understand.
If you have any other questions/comments regarding these coverages, just drop me a comment and I’d be happy to help in any way I can!
This is a Guest Post by Chris Langille. He accepted my offer to expand on a blog topic that I felt would be valuable to our readers after reading his comments about Health Insurance for Bloggers.
[This is part of the Escaping the 9-5: My Road to ProBlogging series. Images via Creative Commons, josh, nolife, joe, pinksherbert]
Thanks for the insightful post. Insurance is certainly not something I had seriously considered for my blogging until now!
definitely looking into it for myself!
Glad you found it interesting Rich! Many people have a negetive opinion of insurance, but the reality is…it’s a neccessity, and definitely important for us bloggers!
thanks chris for all your hard work here!
My pleasure! Glad to contribute!
Thanks, I can definitely see the potential dangers of publishing opinions online, so I appreciate you sharing your expertise!
seriously. chris did a great job…!
Thanks for sharing. I’ve always wondered about this. I have a lawyer on retainer because several years ago I dealt with Identity Theft. So when I started blogging, I told him I wanted to keep him if anything like this came up. But I had no idea I could be covered by insurance. I’m going to check with my insurance agent about the my personal liability coverage and look into the CGL & BOP insurance options too!
Hey Laurinda:) I’m sorry to hear about your Identity Theft experience! Did you know that you can purchase that coverage as a rider under your homeowners policy as well? It’s pretty cheap to add too!
identity theft… ugh. haven’t dealt with it ever…
Have you heard of Zander Insurances Identity Theft Protection? Since it’s impossible to actually stop identity theft completely, what Zander does it handle everything for you if it happens (aka police reports, dealing with the debt collectors, etc).
Here’s the link: http://zanderins.com/idtheft/idtheft.aspx
It may or may not do the same things as a lawyer on retainer, but I’m sure it’s a lot cheaper! lol
interesting… never heard of them.
laurinda,
i’m with you! this was really new for me as well.
check this out too Laurinda
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEqiwjlSjLZ4
not linking right.
Really? It worked for me. Weird. Maybe this one?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEqiwjlSjLZ4
this is what i see:
http://cl.ly/82st
Really? hmmmm
Maybe this one then?
http://www.conversationalcurrency.com/3183/who-needs-blogger-insurance/
that works.
That’s really great stuff! As of right now, my blog doesn’t really make any money and I’m pretty broke. The point? Suing me is pointless.
However, as I continue to grow this business I plan on adding these insurances into my life. I hope I never have to use them, but if I do it will be a great help!
Thank you so much for all the information!
Thanks Alex! Yes hopefully you don’t have to use it right?!
If I could add something to that though- even if you don’t have assets now, you can still be sued for future earnings/assets(wage garnishment). It’s a little more tricky, but it does happen, so when you hear people say, “You can’t draw blood from a stone”, it’s true to a point, but there are definitely ways around it:(
oh yikes. future assets? huh.
Really? That’s terrifying. Maybe I should look into some insurance a bit sooner…
Another point that I think is worth mentioning is being prepared for the fight should one present itself. All to often, when someone says “law suit” the tendency is to run and hide.
Trolls exist – and they will try and scare you into a payday.
Most of us, myself included, can’t afford to have an attorney on standby. I’ve used services such as http://justanswer.com to get some direction and http://rocketlawyer.com seems to have a good “plan” for legal services (should they ever be needed).
Great post!
thanks duane for these links!
Those links are great! Thank you so much!
Thanks Duane! Great links:-)
Hi Chris,
Thanks for putting the little credit at the bottom saying “images via creative commons…” – a good reminder that we need to be sourcing images that we’re legally aloud to use, and a good way of being above reproach. Also a great post with a whole load of things I haven’t thought about at all. Cheers!
Mike
mike,
actually, i added the pictures…
i follow my own rules here:
http://tentblogger.com/images/
I have to give credit to John for that disclaimer, but it’s good that you noticed that! Thanks for the complement! Definitely food for thought huh?
This is extremely helpful Chris! Perhaps a follow up someday on retirement options for bloggers? But do bloggers retire from blogging?
Thanks Dewitt! LOL, you’re right,….do we retire? Actually, that might not be a bad idea (if John is cool with it of course), and since I work at a financial planning firm, it’s definitely something I can give advice on!
What about succession plans? Who will keep our blogs updated? Who will pay for hosting and domain registrations? Should blogs/websites be included in wills? Serious questions to consider.
Those are great points and definitely good ideas for a follow up! Here’s another point to chew on….what if your income and/or family depended on your blog, and for some reason, you were not able to continue blogging because of a severe injury (paralysis, loss of limbs, etc.).
Should bloggers purchase disability insurance? Probably so right?
Definitely. Not too mention if the Blogger has children or is expecting.
Questions: At what point should a blogger make the move to add his/her blog in the policy? Is it when ads are sold? Certain amount of traffic?
Excellent questions!
I suppose it depends on what type of income your drawing from it but I would definitely recommend having coverage before you take on any advertisers, because at that point, someone else’s income is dependent upon your blog and that raises the stakes up bit, and definitely from a legal perspective.
If/when you’re at the point to take on and advertiser, a written contract is a must, even if they don’t require it. Be as transparent as possible about the traffic your website gets, so they can’t come back after you later if their expectations weren’t met.
If your blog was your sole source of income, get the coverage sooner rather than later:)
love this answer. great question dewitt!
i seriously #LOL’d here.
i wish! … i’m thinking about this…..!
Chris, nice job with this, I just hope people listen. I’ve been sued and threatened to be sued many times with blogging. One case went so far as depositions, as I was being sued for 5 million dollars—all because of some honest product assessments found on one of my company blogs. In this particular case, my insurance made a huge difference.
Cheers,
Marcus
Thanks Marcus! I hope people listen too. It’s a very real thing and I’m sure you can agree that when it happens, it’s very scary! Is everything okay now?
All is well now Chris, thanks, but I learned a heck of a lot—especially the fact that we can be sued by pretty much anyone and everyone for saying anything. When it comes down to it, opinionated bloggers must be prepared for this stuff, otherwise they may get burned.
I’ve also learned that many companies that threaten legal action never follow through with it, as they think a blogger will just cave immediately.
ah, this is true. a lot of words, for sure.
yikes…..! how did they end up?
I’m looking into it with my insurance company right now. I’m a writer. Should I get commercial, then? Not currently making any money on my blog, but there’s that potential.
nikole,
i think what was postulated was to check into it and just to be aware and careful… and even prepared.
Hi Nikole:)
John is right and getting commercial insurance is definitely a safer bet than relying on your homeowners or renters policy. Look into a “BOP” policy and be sure it includes “Personal Injury” coverage
Hey man give yourself some credit
Don’t think the WORLD WIDE WEB is as simple as described here…
Freedom of the press/speech exists only in the USA. In parts of the rest of world defamation, insults or words “with the [mere] likelihood to offend” can be criminal: big fines, jail time or a capitol offense (yes, death). Those jurisdictions won’t care if you have Allstate or the Gecko.
If your country has a reciprocal extradition treaty, insurance won’t help. Neither can/will your local lawyer.
Exercise caution before deriding any one. Material aimed/distributed outside of the USA should be restrained–even opinion is often not protected. The fact that you shout from a protected state means nothing when heard in a place with no free speech right.
Remember what grandma said, “If you do not have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”
As for within the States, public figures and the clowns masquerading as public servants on the Hill are all fair game. Members of the proletariat are not and insulting them may land you in court. FYI, purposeful acts are rarely covered by insurance…
Blog negatively at your own risk!
thanks for this doktor…!
Never would have crossed my mind. Will have to look into it. I’m not even sure what someone could/would sue over with my blog?
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
you can never stay prepared enough… right?
Interesting post, very informative. My problem is that I’m a college kid so I don’t have homeowners and I’m not blogging for income or anything, so I’m not sure if a CGL or BOP would be beneficial…although I am maintaing social media for my campus ministry, a local music talent, and of course my own, so would a BOP be good for that? Also, my fear is the cost, being a college student.
you should probably talk to your ministry to see what their rules are as well as your music management team… just to be sure.