Should WordPress.com be Liable for Blog Content?

A Brazilian judge may impose a ban against access to all WordPress.com blogs because a single blogger posted an adult content video. In order to block access to the offending blog, because of the identical IP address, it might be necessary to deny access to all WordPress.com blogs. You can read the details at “Brazil: Bloggers united against Wordpress ban.”

In her post “WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Aren’t You Concerned?”, Lorelle VanFossen raises two issues:

(1) the apparent lack of blogger interest in fighting such bans; and

(2) to what extent WordPress.com as a whole should be responsible for the misconduct of a single blogger.

Let me tackle these issues separately.

1. Free Speech.

From a U.S. citizen’s point of view, an ideal world would have Read more