There is quite a bit of back and forth between Denise and Evan on Jeff Jarvis' idea of a Bloggers' Legal Defense Society.  Evan suggests the AmLaw 250 step up to the plate and contribute some cash to begin a sort of legal defense fund.

While it would be nice for the companies who provide most of the blogging software and services out there (Six Apart, Google, and now Microsoft) to contribute to a blogger defense fund, I think a better idea is to have the blogging companies provide some sort of blogging insurance as part of their service. 

The insurance could provide bloggers in limited circumstances (such as Jason Kottke's) with a defense, even if damages were ultimately to be paid by the blogger.  I can't imagine the cost of the insurance -- spread among thousands (millions?) of bloggers -- would be all that expensive.  And the public relations boost to the blogging service that steps up to the plate first would be immeasurable.  Having such insurance coverage available may even move more bloggers to a paid service from a free one. 

Are there any insurance types out there who would like to work out the details with me on developing blogging insurance?  If the big services won't do it themselves, there may be thousands of bloggers out there who may pony up some of their own cash for a modicum of protection.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.