This is a disgusting issue of a company suing a blogger over his point of view. Support needed from the entire blogosphere! - Svetlana Gladkova

Yes it is disgusting but on the other hand it show how blogging become a real media source. - doruk tokçabalaban

I don't really think the price is worth it. I would not want to prove anyone I'm worth reading by going to jail - Svetlana Gladkova from twhirl

I don't think it would cause a jail time, at least i hope, but there is a lot of people who are in jail because they are defending free speech and freedom. This is all about do we support them enough to push governments back or not! - doruk tokçabalaban from twhirl

If I'm not mistaken, it isn't even the blogger's own posts that are at the crux of this one, but the comments on his posts. - Cyndy

@Cyndy: You are not mistaken, of course - it just started from a blog post (paid one) where he reviewed the company and then the relationships evolved. - Svetlana Gladkova from twhirl

@Doruk: I hope it will not end with jail, of course, and in general I would prefer people not to be sent to jail or face huge fines because of telling what they think. I just would not want to be the one proving blogging is a serious media business by facing such situations myself - Svetlana Gladkova from twhirl

this isn't a technology or blogging issue, this sounds to me like an old fashioned defamation of character case. Let's not blow this out of proportion, nothing here makes this a landmark issue. I wouldn't give opinions on the case unless you are involved in hearing all the details. I'm not saying one side is right or the other side is wrong... but we all have people out there who don't like us if we are on the internet farting away with our public persona. - Noah David Simon

@Noah You are quite right stating that we should not make judgements until we know all the details - in fact, this is why I prefer to only comment on the issues I am at least pretty well familiar with. But after following Vlad's blog I can't help but want to spread the word of a difficult situation a fellow blogger is in because of his dedication to blogging exactly what he thinks. - Svetlana Gladkova

Actually something does make this a landmark issue - as far as I am aware, this is the first time a blogger has been taken to court after having been contracted to write a paid blog review about a company. Admittedly the defamation claims have been made on what might be looked at as an unconnected matter, until you examine the IP addresses being used, the name used for email correspondence - S Jaffar - when blocking a commenter who was thought to be shilling, and then the name used again on Yahoo - Andy Beard

Andy nice to see you commenting on FF. Others, if you have not yet, Digg this http://digg.com/tech_ne... the more people we have the better! Digg is not just about getting to a front page, there is more to it! It is a show of solidarity, where other Global Intern Users can see who stands together for what issue. If we going to have a chance against abuse by corporations, we need to join forces on issues. Forget the front page crap! - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

@andybeard with HUNDREDS of thousands of drone PCs in hacker botnets, value of IP addresses and email as evidence is next zero in court - A.T.

The only value there is, is if we as advocates stand together on an issue. - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

We want to fight this abuse? We need to set up a Website about ePerks and tell the world of the wrongs they are doing. Get into their face. Get into their business. So they know who they F**KING with! We stand together they Lose. We play, "Why you doing this!" they win! Fight Fire with Fire! Organize! United we Strong, divided we Fall. - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

I been fighting abuse for years now! And Andy knows it. I am in their face! They are freaking scared and just do not want to deal with me! For them it is better to walk away than deal with someone who acts like a "Mad Man". - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

@Воплі Відоплясова - it depends on your goal - I am not a lawyer, but based on my limited understanding, it might be sufficient evidence in a libel case to show a genuine suspicion - enough in this situation to remove any question of malice - Andy Beard

In addition, we have email sales pitches which can be proven to have originated from ePerks using the exact same IP range as the shill comments, and email correspondence with S Jaffar coming from the same IP range - it should be noted that Vlad only provided anecdotal evidence for his audience with no specific claims to origin. Proof probably lies on servers belonging to 3rd parties - Andy Beard

Igor, regarding discussion, I would much prefer it on the blog where everyone can read it - this is just one of many discussions, in this case on a SU bookmark. - Andy Beard

?Andy, best place to advocate is where the people are! When they ready the y will come to your blog where the discussion has originally started. We can have discussions on your blog, Digg, Friend Feed, StubmdleUpon and other places happening at the same time. Why limit to one place? Their are native groups that feel native in one area but not another! Let's build interest in sub groups and them direct the interested parties to your blog. That is group aggregation. - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

One member of a group may belong to different groups at the same time. The objective is to consolidate the members to one strategic point. We as human beings like to belong to different groups at the same time. Another point, let's be welcome to everybody, be it they are from SEO community, Social Media community, gadgets community, and even games community. Andy, let's network for a common cause! - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

@andybeard I'm not lawyer either... back in 2006 I was at presentation on sec conference where specialized company (half lawyers, half engineers) were entitled to present interesting slides - they were showing real case only with names/faces withdrawn. One major corporation (from top 500 list) vs relatively poor family. Corporation lost - with all their power, money, herds of lawyers, and CEO pronouncing to world via media that they will be first corp fighting phishing to nowhere. They were being NOT able to prove that requests from particular IP address were caused by human sitting behind computer as defense lawyers with technical help were able to show that innocent human behind computer have no means to detect "nesting" of PC with rootkit-alike stuff. - A.T.

what is even worth - this will not be publicized too much unless bloggers like us step up and let it be known. Good of Andy to get it rolling. - Alex Sysoef

Well go Digg the story! http://digg.com/tech_ne... Go write a post about it. - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

@Воплі Відоплясова you really need to reverse the roles - this looks like a corporate block of IPs - Andy Beard