I've been following a couple of stories lately about lawsuits against bloggers. This is ground-breaking news if you are an internet writer, especially when you ramble about feelings and such to no one in particular and everyone in general. Say the wrong thing and defamation is your new friend.
One story in particular that interests me is about the Washingtoneine. This is one of the first blogs I remember reading when blogging was still in its infancy. This site bordered on lurid, which was right up my alley. It was almost as good as porn, but the IT department hadn't started blocking it yet.
This aide talked candidly about how she slept around with five or six guys and let them buy her gifts or pay her rent. It was exciting yet gross at the same time. When she was exposed, it turns out these "guys" were in some cases, senators. Okay ... She lost her job, gained a book deal, but the outcome of her lawsuit could change how we blog in the future.
It reminds me of the first few years of music trading sites like Napster. That was a great time for me. I traded music with people all over the world. I mixed some of the best CDs and then gave them to my friends. And then one day it was gone and 12-year old girls were being sued by Metallic for trading music.
It's too bad, really, because in the greatest country in the world, we can't even share the things we love most, such as music.
Speech is free. Music is free. Writing is free. Or at least until someone else says it's not.
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