The story of a woman who blogged about the pregnancy and birth of her terminally ill baby, later for it to be discovered that the whole story was a fabrication, broke last week in the Chicago Tribune.

A naturally emotive subject, it attracted a huge number of visitors who sent messages and gifts to the woman who identified herself as either “B” or “April’s Mom”.

Her blog was linked to by high-profile parenting blogs and, apparently, advertisers were also looking at getting involved on the site. read more

The media can be a bloggers’ friend or foe. In the case of detective constable Richard Horton of Lancashire, England – it’s the latter.

The High Court has ruled that a national newspaper was entitled to reveal the real name of the one-time anonymous blogger. read more

After receiving a lot of feedback two weeks ago regarding the need for new blog*spot template designs, the boys and girls at Google are seeking help for new template designs for Blogger.

(Message via @Blogger)

Google should have very little trouble finding web designers for Blogger/Blog*Spot, as there are plenty of talent out there pumping out blogger templates for free. read more

Say what you want on your blog, just don’t encourage your readers to do bad things. That’s the message sent today when a political blogger was charged and arrested for encouraging his blog’s visitors to “to take up arms” against two Connecticut politicos. read more

One blogger has received some major league attention from baseball player Raul Ibanez after insinuating that the athlete’s stellar start to the season might be a result of steroid abuse. read more

There’s a new site that all bloggers need to go register for – now! (Well, after you read this post)

The site is Scribnia, and it is a community where you can discover new bloggers while you promote your blogs as well. read more

Google has announced that several new features have been added to the Blogger Dashboard to make it easier to post blog entries from mobile devices.

At least for users in the US, the mobile service supports SMS, MMS and email posting from a registered mobile phone. It’s also possible to set up a new blog from the phone.

Of course, some advanced mobile phones (such as the iPhone) make it easy enough to add to Blogger using the standard web interface, but it’s useful to have alternative ways of getting content onto a blog while on the move, and even on smartphones, sending a text or email can be quicker and less fiddly than using the built-in web browser.

Blogger Buzz

Over on the Blogger Buzz, Google provided a quick explanation regarding its Monetize tab which mysteriously appeared late last month upon many Blogger blogs.

(Blogger Buzz) You may have noticed that about a week ago a new tab showed up in Blogger for your blog. The tab is called Monetize, and in case it isn’t clear what that means: it’s now easier than ever to make money with your blog! [...]

The current Monetize tab allows you to apply for an AdSense account (or link your Blogger blog to an existing AdSense account). You can then choose where to place ads on your blog, and once ads start appearing on your blog, review your earnings.

Once a user clicks on the “Monetize link,” Google cleverly presents them with several options as to where they should place ads on their blog, with some extra emphasis on placing ads upon the sidebar and underneath posts. read more

In “The Outing of a Blogger: Social Transparency or Violation?” I started this short series on the outing of a popular Alaska personal blogger, Mudflats (aka AKMuckraker or AKM), unveiled by a state politician.

The question I want to tackle in this article is the issue of the legality of blogger anonymity and what protects bloggers and not. This is a huge topic, so I’m only going to scratch the surface.

In many countries, there are no laws protecting freedom of speech nor journalists or bloggers. There may be protections for journalists, but none for bloggers. In countries where you would expect there to be such laws…it’s amazing how few there are and how flexible those laws can be.

Does a blogger have the right to privacy and anonymity? What rights do others have to expose them and why? read more

We live in an age of transparency. I’d say that “transparency” should have been the word of the year last year, and it’s popularity as a buzz word this year continues. It pops up in most news reports, demanding transparency from banks and financial institutions, politicians, governments, corporations, and individuals.

It also litters our social media interaction. We want our online social interchanges to be with real people who want to know us as real people. We want people leaving comments on our blogs to have names. We want folks on Twitter to have real names, not CD Handles and cute nicknames or keywords. So is it okay to be anonymous any more?

Over the years, there as been an ongoing debate about anonymous bloggers as more and more people take to the Information Highway to have their say. For some, anonymity is a matter of life or death. For others, it’s just wiser. But it isn’t for everyone.

Some use a pseudonym, similar to what writers and artists have been doing for many years, either for protection and security, or because their real name, Hildibob Slibbervitzenson, just isn’t “writerly” or “artistic.” Would women have swooned over Archie Leach? Sang the memorable songs of Barry Alan Pinkus, or sang along to Bohemian Rhapsody with Farrokh Bulsara? Or believed in the sung words of Robert Allen Zimmerman with such fervor? Would Moses have been so memorable if played by John Charles Carter? Would the sexy pottery scene in “Ghost” have been so memorable if performed by Demetria Gene Guynes? Replaces those real names with their pseudonyms of Cary Grant, Barry Manilow, Freddy Mercury, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, and Demi Moore and everything changes.

There are many people who blog under a pseudonym without condemnation, but there are still those who choose to publicly blog anonymously. They use CD Handle style names, making a visible statement about their need to be private and choosing to hide behind a masked name while not hiding their opinion.

And there continues to be a witch hunt on to out them when their opinion doesn’t agree with the government or politicians. read more