Bloggers as the News

Two bloggers are the subject of national and international publicity this week, and it's not a good thing for either of them. A film studio is suing a popular gossip blog that publicizes the personal details of celebrities' lives for the unauthorized posting of photos of Jennifer Aniston topless. Across the big pond, an Egyptian blogger has been tried and convicted for criticizing an Islamic leader.

This is a posting, of Bloggers Behaving Badly.

Mario Lavandeira, online alias "Perez Hilton", runs the celebrity blog and is being charged with posting stolen footage of Aniston sans shirt taken either during or after production of the 2006 film "The Break-Up." The owner of the film, Universal Studios, isn't too happy about it. They're going so far as requesting of the California court for both monetary damages and trial by jury.

As an aside, I didn't feel that the 'romantic-comedy' was all that great, as both co-stars seemed to be recycling previous work into their performance.

A lawyer for Lavandeira released a statement calling the entire suit "unfortunate" and claiming that the Lavandeira "did nothing wrong." This is in consideration that he removed the content immediately following the learning of it's stolen nature. It also is noted that just last year Aniston sued another photographer for taking pictures of her, get this, topless. Its as if the defense is trying to say that people are lawsuit-happy. But instead they lead me to a new question - what is up with Aniston being caught with her shirt off so often?

Then again, just by looking at his smug mugshot I can clearly see why someone would sue the guy.

A few skips of the stone across the Atlantic and we have Abdel Kareem Soliman facing a four year prison term for using his blog - hope you can read Arabic - to voice his (negative) opinion concerning an Islamic university and it's president, Hosni Mubarak. Just by insulting Mubarak an calling him a dictator earned him one of those years behind bars.

This is a big deal! Soliman's trial lasted a total of five minutes and judgment was passed by a solitary judge and not a jury. Human rights activists are screaming up the wall over this. A website has already been set up to gather attention to his plight, and a recent interview of him can viewed on YouTube.com.

What at worst should have been a slap on the wrist and a removal of the libel from his blog instead results in hard time. A clear contrast can be drawn between an American blogger and an Egyptian blogger existing under different laws in their respective, native countries, yet they post on the same Internet. We are moving inevitably towards a confrontation between nations and universal policy that must result in a new standard of protections and freedoms for all who operate and interact online, because the lines between countries disappear on the Web.

Or let me put the situation this way: This and other cases of bloggers being convicted around the world is just the beginning. Governments, including ours, will continue to seek to control what happens on the Internet, with consequences for all bloggers if they are not wise to fight for their rights.