The Media Bloggers Association has issued its first legal alert to let us all know about a blogger under attack in a suit. Lance Dutson, who blogs at Maine Web Report, has been slapped with a federal suit by an ad agency handling the state’s tourism business.
Here’s Dutson’s report and summary. Here is the PDF of the suit against him. Of course, I can’t vouch for any facts in the case. But one of the agency’s allegations is that “Dutson also claimed, falsely, that WKPA is ‘pissing away’ Maine tax money. ”
Well, I woud hope that we would always be protected from challenging government spending. “Pissing away” is a value judgment any taxpayer should be able to make.
The Agency is also claiming copyright infringement because Dutson put up an ad the agency made that he says mistakenly displayed the phone number for a sex line (and, indeed, the number does offer new friends, and I don’t meen moose). I would hope, too, that we woud always have the right of fair comment on anything produced with our tax dollars.
It is gratifying that the MBA is there to offer support to legally beseiged bloggers. Without fear of the support bloggers can muster, the rich and powerful will try to use their money and the courts to harass citizen journalists.
Mind you, this case is not just about journalism but also citizenry: We must always have the right and even duty to watch and question our government. Contractors acting as agents of government should come under the same scrutiny as government.
I hope that not just bloggers but also journalists and other groups will investigate this case and come to the defense of the right of this blogger and all of us to watch and question government.
: Also, a reminder: Eric Robinson at the Media Law Research Center is keeping a list of legal action against bloggers.
[...] (via BuzzMachine) [...]
[...] interessante Story, die aufzeigt, wie in den USA die Blogger sich vor Abmahnungen zu schützen versuchen. Hierbei scheint die MBA (Media Bloggers Association) als Instrumentarium im Vordergrund zu stehen. Jeff Jarvis über einen Blogger, der von einer Werbeagentur wegen kritischer Äusserungen abgemahnt wurde: The Media Bloggers Association has issued its first legal alert to let us all know about a blogger under attack in a suit. Lance Dutson, who blogs at Maine Web Report, has been slapped with a federal suit by an ad agency handling the state’s tourism business… It is gratifying that the MBA is there to offer support to legally beseiged bloggers. Without fear of the support bloggers can muster, the rich and powerful will try to use their money and the courts to harass citizen journalists.. Also, a reminder: Eric Robinson at the Media Law Research Center is keeping a list of legal action against bloggers [...]
[...] Update: Looks like the blogosphere is on this, I sincerely appreciate the support from all of these folks who have posted on this. Jeff Jarvis Robert Cox Jason Clarke Tor’s Rants Shel Israel James Joyner Robert Basic B.L. Ochman Bill Hobbs Sean Coon Alan Herrell Rex Hammock Adirondack Base Camp Wendy Hoke [...]
[...] Jeff Jarvis continues: The Media Bloggers Association has issued its first legal alert to let us all know about a blogger under attack in a suit. Lance Dutson, who blogs at Maine Web Report, has been slapped with a federal suit by an ad agency handling the state’s tourism business. [...]
[...] The Media Bloggers Association is defending blogger Lance Dutson from a 3 count multi-million dollar federal lawsuit (pdf2html) claiming defamation, libel, and copyright infringement. The charges are laughably stupid, but the intent is to bully the blogger into saying only positive things about the Office of Tourism. The lawsuit revolves around an advertising company that is paid by the state that Dutson has been critical of (via Buzz Machine): 12. Dutson also claimed, falsely, that WKPA is “pissing away” Maine tax money. [...]
The easy fix here is to get rid of libel and similar laws. This would offer more protection to Bloggers and even “professional journalists” than any laws trying to protect them.
Libel is an out dated concept from a time where reputation was not easily defended. Today, this just isn’t so.
[...] The Boston Globe today is running a story about a small-town blogger from Maine who is being sued by one of the state’s advertising contractors. Lance Dutson is a web designer who authors a blog called “Maine Web Report,” which according to the Globe’s story here is devoted to “comment on technology and Maine tourism issues.” Sure, that’s an odd combination but it’s not our place here to say what the guy can write about. And it shouldn’t be Warren Kremer Paino Advertising LLC’s (WKPA) place, either. They’re the advertising agency suing Mr. Dutson for “copyright infringement, defamation and trade libel/injurious falsehood” for comments Mr. Dutson made about a web campaign the state of Maine hired WKPA to produce. The agency’s “draft” campaign shots also included a phone sex number on photos of Maine’s beautiful backcountry. Dutson says he pulled the images from Maine’s Department of Economic and Community Development website. If that’s true, then WKPA isn’t the only entity that ought to be embarrassed. In any event, the agency is looking for damages of north of a million dollars. We’re no lawyers but it looks like a clear-cut free speech issue and sounds as if Mr. Dutson will be fine in the end. Fine that is, if the distraction of a million dollar lawsuit doesn’t seriously disrupt he and his family’s lives. But back to the point. Whatever WKPA’s intentions for following through with this lawsuit–shut down the blog, shut up a critic, extract its pound of flesh for having its mistakes publicly called out–the agency is quickly going to learn what kind of a public relations problem the blogosphere can create for a business which doesn’t understand the medium. Problems out here spread exponentially. It’s a word of mouth issue which no company, lawsuit or any amount of behind the scenes strong-arm tactics can stop; you can’t ‘unring’ a bell. WKPA has rung a very loud bell and attracted the attention of some of the blogosphere’s most read authors. See comments on this story here, here, here, here and, oh yeah…… here, to name just a few. If WKPA’s intentions were to keep this issue out of the public eye, then LISTENING to blogs and engaging the author in a dialogue would have been a more prudent course of action then filing its suit. Mr. Dutson’s blog goes into detail about the problems the legal action is causing his family. He can probably take some comfort in knowing WKPA has created quite a problem for itself, too. Businesses need to understand what blogs mean to brand, reputation and image management before taking action against blogs and bloggers. If they don’t, they risk doing further harm to their brand. Just ask WKPA. Technorati Tags : blogs, reputation+management, PR, crisis+communications, Maine+Web+Report, WKPA You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS 2.0 Bookmark on del.icio.us [...]
A modest suggestion:
I have just taken the trouble to visit the Dutson web site, where the names, email adresses, and telephone numbers of the principals are clearly listed. I sent polite emails to each of them asking them to drop all lawsuits and pointing out the stupidity of their position. I suggest that everyone reading this take the time to do the same. When the lady and the gents arrive at work Monday morning only to see they have 20,000 email messages it might have a certain impact on their thinking?
Oops: Here is the URL for Dutson: http://www.mainewebreport.com/
I hope Maine has a strong anti-SLAPP statute. Counterclaims to follow, if so.
[...] Jeff Jarvis: I would hope that we would always be protected from challenging government spending. “Pissing away [tax money]†is a value judgment any taxpayer should be able to make. I would hope, too, that we would always have the right of fair comment on anything produced with our tax dollars. [...]
[...] Glenn Reynolds Jeff Jarvis Robert Cox Jason Clarke Tor’s Rants Shel Israel James Joyner Robert Basic B.L. Ochman Bill Hobbs Sean Coon Alan Herrell Rex Hammock Adirondack Base Camp Wendy Hoke The Florida Masochist cehweidel Don Singelton Orient Lodge Gabe Gates Digg Ed Cone Bill Hennessy VicePR The Boston Globe The Portland Press Herald Dave Winer Eric Jaffa Lisa Renee VillageSoup Center for Citizen Media Bill Trippe Travis Corcoran Pajamas Media John Palfrey Presto Vivace Blog Robert Ambrogi PRSpeak Eric Scheie Michael Feldman James Robertson about:blank Eric Siegmund Overlawyered the Blogging Times William Quick adland Ron Coleman at Dean’s World Wall Street Journal Law Blog Berkman Center for Internet & Society Mark Glaser Scott Johnson Mark A. Rose tHg News smays Brett Schulte Big News Michael Arrington First Maine Forward Civil War Cavalry Dan Gilmour Robert Scoble Words Matter Downbrigade news The Blog Herald Pascal Vernier Bring It On Seth Finklestein Publishing 2.0 Silent Running City Troll Mike Orren The Bell Curve Scar Tris Hussey Brian Bonner Journalism Hope Gary Goldhammer The Blogging Journalist Coffeehouse Studio Lewiston Sun Journal [...]
[...] Ad Age Steve Rubel Aaron Wall Glenn Reynolds Jeff Jarvis Robert Cox Jason Clarke Tor’s Rants Shel Israel James Joyner Robert Basic B.L. Ochman Bill Hobbs Sean Coon Alan Herrell Rex Hammock Adirondack Base Camp Wendy Hoke The Florida Masochist cehweidel Don Singelton Orient Lodge Gabe Gates Digg Ed Cone Bill Hennessy VicePR The Boston Globe The Portland Press Herald Dave Winer Eric Jaffa Lisa Renee VillageSoup Center for Citizen Media Bill Trippe Travis Corcoran Pajamas Media John Palfrey Presto Vivace Blog Robert Ambrogi PRSpeak Eric Scheie Michael Feldman James Robertson about:blank Eric Siegmund Overlawyered the Blogging Times William Quick adland Ron Coleman at Dean’s World Wall Street Journal Law Blog Berkman Center for Internet & Society Mark Glaser Scott Johnson Mark A. Rose tHg News smays Brett Schulte Big News Michael Arrington First Maine Forward Civil War Cavalry Dan Gilmour Robert Scoble Words Matter Downbrigade news The Blog Herald Pascal Vernier Bring It On Seth Finklestein Publishing 2.0 Silent Running City Troll Mike Orren The Bell Curve Scar Tris Hussey Brian Bonner Journalism Hope Gary Goldhammer The Blogging Journalist Coffeehouse Studio Lewiston Sun JournalLawyers Guns and Money Karl Martino Doug Miller Idea Grove Peter Robison Hearsay.com Jaffe Juice Frank Bisono AdRants WMTW TV Internet Marketing Newscenter Thought Mesh Garrett Fitzgerald Texas Rainmaker Politicalman Jack Lewis Juan Cole Ad Age Okiedoke Wizbang Bomb SquadBrand Flakes for Breakfast [...]
Actually, Dann Lewis tried to stop the lawsuit…AND the truth is finally coming out!
http://lancedutson.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/lance-dutson-flees-augusta/