I'm not a lawyer, but I play one at work:

What's Libel?

The word libel is probably less well-known than its cousins, slander and defamation. They're related, but there are differences. Libel is written and slander is usually oral. In both cases, if it's unfairly critical of someone, it's defamation.

Another key difference between libel and slander, however, is that it's easier to get dragged into a libel suit, and harder to get out unscathed. In a libel case, the burden of proof falls more on the defendant — that is you, the author. The simple act of publication tends to bias courts against the author, presuming the material is false, malicious, and potentially damaging.

Three Elements of Libel

A libel case requires three elements: Publication, identification, and defamation.

Publication: Here's the deal. If you wrote it, and someone else read it, it's published. This includes password-protected journals and entries, and "secret" entries sent only by e-mail. One reader is all it takes, even if it's your best friend, your mother, or a complete stranger.

Clearly, then, it is pointless to demand that people you know steer clear of your writing. Or to insist that your site is just for you, a "private space." Much as we might romanticise the web, its use brings both untold power and serious responsibilies. If your words leave your computer, it's published. You're a publisher. Deal with it.

Identification: If the person being libeled can be identified — or can identify him or herself in your writing — it's strike two.

People who post under their real names, and talk about and name the people around them, obviously meet this criteria automatically. But watch out. Some things web users to do to protect themselves are laughably ineffective.

Using nicknames for your friends and family, for example, usually accomplishes nothing in the legal department. Why? Because even qualifiers like "my boss" or "my stupid b*tch neighbor" can convert "Farthead" to "Jason Q. Private" under libel law. So too can separate entries taken together. If "Weenie" is described as a coworker in one entry (a category that could otherwise include hundreds of people), as a Jesus freak in another, and as the owner of a butt-ugly green Honda in a third? Congratulations. You might as well put her picture up too.

Posting under a pseudonym? Once again, you may giving yourself a false sense of security. So you don't give your name, or specify the city where you live, or even your gender. Maybe you also assign the people around you one-letter nicknames. Are you covered?

Most likely not. As in the above example, not only can you "out" yourself over time — very likely, unless you don't mention anything about any person or place, ever — once again the "one person" rule applies. If anyone can figure out who you, or they, are from your writing, that's all it takes.

And remember, once legal action is taken, your identity can be established through everything from e-mail accounts to IP logs (ISPs and web hosts won't hesitate to turn over logs when faced with an expensive lawsuit).

Defamation: Textbooks often define it as "a false statement to a person's discredit." Certainly wrongly accusing someone of a criminal act (i.e. saying your mechanic beats his wife) qualifies. Saying something that directly attacks someone's professional standing often does as well (i.e. that your doctor is incompetent). Even just calling a roommate a drunnk or a sl*t, or a teacher an a*shole, might sound to some sufficiently defamatory.

There are loopholes, exceptions, even some protections (see below). After all, your accuser must prove injury, and quantify the damage done. But if it's come to the point of legal action, things have probably already gone too far. After all, the case might stand a snowball's chance in hell in court, but the fact that you've been sued at all is trouble enough. A pending lawsuit can force you off the internet altogether.

Defenses Against Libel

Truth: The granddaddy of escape clauses is truth. If what you say is provably true, then the plaintiff supposedly has no case. But even this can get messy. Is the truth something still being debated? (That is, was your ex actually convicted of DUI, or is the matter still pending?) And, is the truth actually information that should have remained private? (For example, your friend's confessed addiction to internet p*rn.) Finally, there's malice. You might state the truth and nothing else, but if the context makes it clear you're doing so to hurt that person... Bzzt. Just knowing you're right may not be enough.