Many bloggers were disturbed at the conviction of Italian blogger Roberto Mancini for defamation.
The group also said Mancini wrongly was held responsible for comments posted by readers.
Mancini denies writing the incriminating comments, according to his defense lawyer, Caterina Malavenda. She said he would appeal the verdict.
Apparently, he is being punished for bad language and for other’s posted comments on his blog. I am not sure exactly. However, while I do feel that a blogger has some responsibility for the content on the blog, I do not think a blogger should be punished for “name calling”, if that is in essence what Mr. Mancini is being charged with (do you think he is related to Chuck and Howie?).
So, if will now be possible for this type of punishment, what is a blogger to do? What about a disclaimer on the first page of the blog?: “The views and comments which are posted and/or expressed on this site are not necessarily the views of the site owner.”
Maybe a disclaimer like that at the end of each post? Commentators do that sort of thing all the time. Why not bloggers.