Libel litigation in the blogosphere is low

Cathy Kirkman, publisher of Silicon Valley Media Law, has a nice post regarding libel litigation in the blogosphere. There’s not much of it.

She cites Glenn Reynolds‘ key points from his Libel in the Blogosphere paper for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s upcoming conference, ‘Bloggership: How Blogs are Transforming Legal Scholarship.’

1. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which immunizes ISPs and others for publishing third-party comments; and
2. Technological and cultural aspects of the blogosphere, including norms of rapid correction, third-party substantiation, and hostility to legal threats in the form of public exposure and criticism.

Jeff Jarvis has the best take. “Do we need the courts to confirm for us that the bozo ranting in the corner is indeed, a bozo? Rarely.”