Blogger Code of Conduct

From The Guardian:

Nearly half of all internet users would support a voluntary code of conduct for bloggers and online commentators, according to research.

A survey by legal firm DLA Piper said 46% of web users think bloggers should sign up to a code that reflected the laws on defamation, intellectual property and incitement, with 15% ambivalent and 4% strongly opposed.

Around 34% of bloggers opposed the idea but 32% supported it.

Three quarters of web users who have posted comment on blogs and news sites were oblivious to libel law, said the report, even though the person posting the comment, rather than the host site, would be liable for any offence.

The survey highlights the dangers created not only by self-publishing but also by more innocuous user content, such as video, photos and comment posted to media-sharing sites.

The DLA Piper company has 64 offices in 25 countries with 3,700 lawyers. As such, the company has credibility but I wonder about the "web users" who were queried. My guess is that they were all lawyers.

Additionally, I would suggest that a Blogger Code of Conduct is the first step in crafting a law for censoring blogs.