On my way to DC yesterday, I picked up a copy of PC Connections, a custom publicaiton of PC Connections, Inc., which is one of the myriad "free" publications available on the shuttle.

A short piece on p.9 discusses workplace blogs and their increasing popularity. A privacy and security expert from Proskauer Rose states that "compan[ies are] liable if an employee posts libelous material. . . " The expert's analysis assumes a traditional analysis of publisher liability. But how would this play out in a "news" context, which one might argue is involved in the use of RSS or XML feeds? In other words, is there liability for simply "reporting" the statement of another? Is this publication? If I don't "report" it but link to it, am I republishing it? Are we all becoming legitimate news sources as we are publishers?