Can I get in trouble for slander?

Question

If I post negative things about a person or a company on a web page, can I get sued for slander? If so or if not why?

If there is nothing on the website that says it's mine, can they find out who wrote?

Answer 1

I think the best advice to give you is to just don't post the comment(s). It's a very if/or situation that you should avoid completely. If it's about a company, I'm sure there is someone you can call or write too about the experience.
If it's about a person, that's always bad. Just be the bigger person. Also, all posts can be tracked to who posted them, and who that person really is. I mean, your for examle, your screenname or posting name can be obtained and that can lead to your personal identity if some officials were looking into it. Just don't do it! It'll save you lots of trouble if don't!

Answer 2

First, the truth is an absolute defense against slander, so if what you write is true, then no, you cannot be sued (not successfully at any rate - though you'd have to prove what you wrote was accurate). Slander is the spoken word btw; libel is written statements.

On being anonymous on the web. I have spent 25 years in computing, and can tell you that it is incredibly complicated not to leave a trail when you post to a website. With sufficient time and resources, the entry certainly can be traced back to your computer, even if it can't actually be traced to you. And if you have written more than a few words, semantic analysis may even prove that you composed the content.

Answer 3

In many states, you can be sued for as much as $5000 causing pain and suffering to another person by posting, distributing or making damaging comments. If your comment caused additional harm (losing a job, denied a promotion or caused hostile work environment), you will have to pay lots more. So be very careful.

Answer 4

I'm not sure about sued, but more like fined along the lines of harassment, maybe. And written harassment is libel, not slander!

Answer 5

If it became actual then you definitely've no longer something to rigidity approximately. yet whilst its actual its no longer seen slander the two. in case you somewhat slandered the individuals by ability of spreading malicious and recognition unfavorable lies then sure you will get sued and in difficulty with the regulation for that

Answer 6

Check the community guide lines

Answer 7

You just have to pick the right place to post. Try www.ripoffreport.com. There you can add posts about people, companies, cars, etc. Try it!!

Answer 8

It depends on what you say and how you say it.

Answer 9

nope. in print, it's libel.

Answer 10

That's not slander (I think you mean libel). Can you get in trouble? Possibly, it's not black and white. Try your best to post only factual material.

Major Risks

Intellectual Property

Basic to an understanding of legal risks from blogs is that, whatever the subject of a blog may be, the legal issues that are raised by blogs are a mixture of intellectual property law, employment law, and common law issues like defamation, privacy and trade secrets, just to name a few. These legal principals apply online as well as offline and concern a lot more than real estate law.

Some legal issues that have insinuated themselves into blogs are similar to those that exist for websites, like questions of copyright or trademark infringement. Just because it’s easy to copy a photo of a product or a professional photographer’s copyrighted work or a piece of marketing material from another web site doesn’t mean that it’s legal. And the fact that the copying is for a blog post, rather than an official website won’t usually change anything unless it amounts to what the law regards as “fair use”, a complicated analysis that challenges lawyers and courts alike, and that isn’t intended to protect most commercial activity.

Ironically, the very ease of setting up and posting to a blog may actually increase the danger since so many posts become spur of the moment, impulse submissions. In other words, when you don’t have to pay a web designer to put something up on a website, there’s a lot less time for reflection.

Potential trademark infringement poses other problems. Trademarks or service marks protect a company’s brand and logos in their products and services. These also cannot be appropriated in any way which either confuses the audience as to the source of the blog post, the approval or association of the trademark holder or, in the case of “famous” marks, things which tend to diminish or “dilute” the value of the mark in the context of certain types of commercial activities.

In addition, published blogs posts can be the source of claims for invasion of privacy and online libel, a form of defamation.

Put simply, online libel, a form of written defamation, concerns accusatory or “bad light” statements made that are both demonstrably false and injurious to someone’s reputation and which are made either maliciously or negligently and without any legal privilege, such as those applicable to certain statements made about public figures by journalists that are made without what the law considers “actual malice”.

While, generally speaking, mere opinions are not the proper subject of a defamation claim, calling something that is defamatory a mere “opinion” when it is not, will not qualify as an automatic “get out of jail free” card.

This is an area fraught with uncertainty and requires serious attention on a case by case basis.

Workplace Issues , Employer and Commercial Liability

Blogs created by company employees, even on personal time, pose their own particular problems for employees as well as their employers. In fact, there are notorious instances when employees who posted material on personal websites that their employers considered damaging to the company or potentially harmful to prospective clients, were fired.

According to widely circulated reports, at least one blogger was terminated as a result of posting pictures of her co-workers at an office party on her personal website. Even though the blogger posted under an assumed name and even though the blogger only used the first names of the co-workers, her identity was apparently discovered when the pictures were found online.

And if the blogging is done on company time, with company provided computers and Internet access, companies must watch out, because the use of workplace facilities may leave employers open to claims based upon inadequate employee supervision in claims made against the company by third parties based upon the actions of their employees.

Blog postings can also pose a risk of unwitting breaches of commercial non-disclosure agreements or the unauthorized dissemination of company trade secrets. And companies can have long memories.

The Web is replete with stories about employers who discover postings made by current or former employees, claiming, rightly or wrongly, that certain blog posts compromised company trade secrets and may even have violated an employee’s employment and non-disclosure agreements.

And, as in the case mentioned above of the blogger who was discovered despite blogging under an assumed name, using an alias won’t always prevent companies or others from figuring out who the blogger is by what’s posted in the blog.

While employer awareness of these possibilities is growing, less often discussed, but potentially just as important is the use of blog posts as evidence of claims that are originally grounded in other sources. For instance, if an employee sues an employer for sexual harassment or hostile work environment related claims, the original wrong might be based on crude remarks or unwanted advances, yet evidence of the claim could come from employees writing about it on a blog.

Even if they don’t give rise to a lawsuit, unmonitored blogs can pose everyday bottom line business problems. Apart from the legal risks per se, there are legitimate business concerns that need to be taken into account for the benefit of employers and employees alike. Certain blog posts, even if not necessarily illegal or actionable, can be plain bad for business, causing harm to a company’s reputation in its marketplace or its standing among peers in its industry.

As a practical matter, employers would also be rightly concerned about the unauthorized use of company resources and the accompanying drain on productivity

So, in the age of the “blogosphere”, its especially important for employers and employees alike to revisit their employment agreements, particularly those portions dealing with non-disclosure obligations, employee duties of loyalty and non-competition covenants.

Companies might also consider revisiting their employment manuals concerning permissible and impermissible employee behavior in the work place and may wish to review the appropriate sections for modification or supplementation, as necessary.

Companies entering into non-disclosure, joint venture and other sensitive commercial agreements with other companies should also make sure that this avenue of potential trouble is adequately covered in the agreements.

Since blog posts can potentially be used as evidence, they should be looked at the same as other electronic records which might be the subject of subpoena or other discovery in litigation. Companies may wish to be proactive and set up teams made up of HR and IT representatives, general counsel or outside attorneys, etc. to set up a system for monitoring and retaining records of blog posts that might qualify as “business records” under the law and/or to prepare to respond to likely discovery requests in the event of litigation.

While all aspects of the Internet, including blogs, have been an undeniable boon to the both individuals and business, the use of the digital medium carries risks that many attorney specialists in other areas are not equipped to deal with on behalf of their clients. Clients seeking to begin or expand their use of the medium are advised to seek qualified legal assistance early to avoid needing much more of it later.