Webloggers beware

(This from guest blogger Alistair Alexander): The explosion of weblogs has enabled thousands of people to publish their views, but many are unaware that they are subject to the same legal constraints as any other publisher. The Washington Post reports that many webloggers are unfamiliar with matters legal, particularly laws concerning libel, copyright violation and trade secrets. Worse, offending information can be effortlessly retrieved years after it was published, through search engines such as Google. Of particualr concern to many firms are employees airing their views on the net. "Many a career has been ruined by blasting off an angry diatribe whether in person or in cyberspace," a human resource executive warns ominously.