On knowing the dangers

The CP compiles a story on "cyberlibel":

Whatever the readership, libel lawyers and technology watchers say as more people use the Internet, the number of people getting in trouble for electronic words whether on websites and blogs, e-mails or electronic bulletin boards is also rising...

Marc-Andre Blanchard of Gowling Lafleur Henderson said such cases are more prevalent, particularly in labour law, where collective agreements may make it difficult for a company to sue an employee they consider to be slandering them.

But that doesn't prevent disciplinary action...

“It's seldom worth it to chase these people down because at the end of the day, there ain't anything there,” said Randy Pepper, a partner with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and a veteran litigator in the areas of defamation and misleading advertising.

However, he said there's an indication that courts may start awarding high damages for online material determined to be defamatory because of its broad potential readership.

The examples cited by the article seem to range from the most egregious of SLAPPs to much more reasonable actions such as the U of S firing a prof for anonymously criticizing his colleagues. The article doesn't draw any strong conclusions, but it serves as a useful reminder that there are plenty of ways in which organizations can take action against bloggers for what may seem to be highly dubious reasons...and that as a result, bloggers generally post anything substantive at their own risk.