I have a lot of respect for the legal system; it makes this world a better place to live. However, I'm really fed up with the attempts of lawyers and other people making a living out of the legal practice to kill the wonderful social interaction that is growing on the internet.
It's definitely a lot worse in the US and the UK then in mainland Europe, but the web is worldwide so we are getting our fair share of legal bullshit here too. Some examples:
- Companies are afraid to start a blog because someone may post something 'illegal' on a webpage that is 'managed' by this company. Illegal? Like "I don't like your competitor" or what?
- A simple 'send to a friend' form is now being packed with disclaimers; in fact the disclaimers are about 5 times the size of the actual message. I even heard somebody suggesting that people should register on their site (you know, a 3-page form with even more disclaimers) before they could send the link to this site to a friend. And they actually expect somebody to do this?
- Anything posted on a site has to be moderated, and even worse, approved by the legal department before being put online. It's like people divorcing talking to one-another through their lawyers, I never heard anyone getting better from that expect the lawyers themselves.
Where has common sense gone?
Dear legal community ...
Do not tell me you are inciting this legal fear just to protect your jobs! Please confirm that it is only because you are clueless and don't understand what the internet as a community and means of communication is about. Because then I know that one day you will get the point and start taking up your responsibility and facilitate the virtual world rather then killing it.
