Opening Statements

Risky Blogness

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Got a blog? Then you just might want to think about getting insurance for it. According to data from the Citizen Media Law Project, the number of lawsuits filed against bloggers over the last 10 years has increased exponentially, from 4 in 1997 to 89 last year.


While some homeowners or renters policies may cover online activities, most do not—especially if they can be considered a business (anything with advertising might be). But for the typical blogger, liability insurance is too costly.

Now the Media Bloggers Association is offering BlogInsure, a first-of-its-kind liability insurance for bloggers with premiums starting at $540 a year (the MBA will offer a discounted price of $450 under an accredited member program early next year). The policy will provide coverage for defamation, in­vasion of privacy, copyright infringement and other troubles plaguing bloggers these days.

The catch? Bloggers first must take the MBA’s media law course to qualify for the insurance.

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