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Friday, April 28, 2006

Maine blogger sued

Source: Maine Web Report and the Media Bloggers Association

Lance Dutson, a small businessman in Maine has some beefs with the way the state manages the tourism industry, and writes about it on his blog Maine Web Report. Well, he was just slapped with a huge lawsuit alleging copyright infringement and defamation for reporting and commentary written and published on his blog.

Dutson makes no bones about how he feels about the state's operation of the tourism industry on his blog. "This is supposed to be our biggest industry, but it's being run like a trailer-park daycare on its 3rd notice from the Human Services people."

So Dudson gets served with a potentially life-destroying lawsuit? I can't vouch for Dudson's claims, but it absolutely smells like he's being sued for criticizing the government - which, last time I checked, was still a venerable all-American tradition, not to mention a fundamental right.

Luckily The Media Bloggers Association has come to his aid. They have a legal defense initiative which provides member bloggers with "first line" legal defense and pro bono advice on how to respond to legal threats.

Robert Weisman has an excellent piece on this in today's Globe.