Personal Liability for the Genetics and Public Health Blog

The Genetics and Public Health Blog exists for you, the reader. My overarching goal in writing this blog is to provide factual information on genetics and health as a resource for people looking for genetic information or wishing to learn more about the genomic revolution of the 21st century.

My real name, contact information, and background are freely available on this site. I hope this will give you greater confidence in the information and opinions I present. But, it may come at a price.

Dr. Stephen Wolniak, professor of cell biology and molecular genetics at the University of Maryland, created a mitosis website in 1997. It ranks #9 on a Google search for mitosis. Because of the site’s popularity, he received some unwanted attention on a Yahoo! Finance message board that eventually led to threats of violence.

After consulting Yahoo! and numerous lawyers, Dr. Wolniak settled the problem two years ago. And he says this about his experience:

What I’ve learned from this experience is that while the Web is a vibrant forum where access to unimaginably large numbers of students is possible, it’s also a gritty place, where information can be used in unexpected ways, for unintended purposes. I was a target for abuse because my Web site created excessive exposure. Displaying authorship, with contact information, is a two-edged sword: On the one hand, it provides the Web site user with an implicit statement about the quality of information presented. That’s important because a student unfamiliar with a topic can unknowingly rely on sites laden with inaccuracies. FAQs (frequently asked questions) don’t go far enough; leaving an E-mail address for questions from users is necessary. But it can expose one to unwanted E-mail, spam, and viruses. Using a separate account for such E-mails will only mask the problem.

I’m left thinking that faculty should construct factual Web sites as extensions of their instructional duties, but that anyone setting up a site should assess the level of personal exposure that Web-site popularity entails. My mitosis site is quite important to me; it remains freely available, and I still answer questions posed by students who seek additional information. My experiences may have been an extreme example of attacks that resulted from the misuse of search information, but are a warning nonetheless.

So while I hope this blog will reach a wide audience, I’m also aware that there may be some drawbacks that come with the territory. I treat blogging seriously and act in good faith. I trust that readers will do so as well.

The Scientist, February 14, 2005