Setting themselves up as champions of free speech, the folks at ThreadWatch have launched a campaign to collect money for SEOBook author Aaron Wall’s legal fund as he battles libel allegations from SEO company TrafficPower.

The storm began as TrafficPower filed suit against the author, not for his own words, but for comments made to his weblog by readers. The move has caused a strong reaction in cyberspace, as the result of the legal proceedings could have a huge impact on online citizen journalism.

TrafficPower has since changed its name to 1p, but continues with legal action against Wall. The company’s lawsuit has been called scandalous and an assault on freedom of speech by critics.

“Within the Search industry, [TrafficPower] are regarded as the lowest of the low, and if you dig through some of those Search results, or the links at the bottom of this post, you'll find all the gory details. Suffice to say, they are considered thieves and villains by the overwhelming majority of the Search Marketing community,” reads the ThreadWatch post.

ThreadWatch has set up a fund for interested parties to donate cash to Mr. Wall to help pay for his legal defense.

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