Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Shaddup
This is not a new story but I am posting it because it shows how far one can go before overstepping while blogging. In this case, it was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Sun Microsystems who ticked off Hewlett-Packard by commenting on HP's strategy. HP sent him a stiff letter telling him to cease and desist. But then Jonathan Schwartz, the President, was practically begging for HP to say something. He said HP's operating system was "dying" and that the company was being left out in the cold as the industry moved away from it.
A cease-and-desist letter doesn't mean that one must stop or that a defamation suit in is the offing. It does mean someone is watching you, and they don't like what you have to say. That means if one is going to keep writing, check facts and grammar closely before publishing. If there is any doubt, leave the comment out.
I wrote here a long time ago that bloggers are not free to say anything they want because laws still apply. This case is a potential example of that.
A cease-and-desist letter doesn't mean that one must stop or that a defamation suit in is the offing. It does mean someone is watching you, and they don't like what you have to say. That means if one is going to keep writing, check facts and grammar closely before publishing. If there is any doubt, leave the comment out.
I wrote here a long time ago that bloggers are not free to say anything they want because laws still apply. This case is a potential example of that.
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