February 6, 2007

Briley Back With Second Blog Legislation

State Rep. Rob Briley, who last week filed an unconstitutional bill to make it harder for bloggers to defend against defamation lawsuits brought by public officials, is back with another piece of legislation, filed just today, that "clarifies the procedure requiring the plaintiff in libel action to notify the defendant five days before instituting the action also applies to libel actions based upon publications posted on the Internet." It's House Bill 0420. There's no Senate sponsor yet. Thanks to Donna Locke for the tip. I haven't looked at the legislation but will have more after I have reviewed it.

Update: It's good legislation. Briley has taken the advice Volokh and I gave him. The best part: if it passes, bloggers and other web publishers will be explicitly considered as equals with other media by Tennessee state law.

Update: Er, it's not good legislation. Volokh, whose a constitutional law expert, says it's poorly drafted - and then proposes a better version.