Thanks in advance for any advice — I'm seeking information on creating an anonymous blog and what I need to potentially be careful about in a legal sense.
I want to create a rant-style blog in which I bring up huge issues in a certain industry – education. I have the background knowledge and experience to do this knowledgeably. I'm going to avoid naming specific groups when I can, but there is the possibility that I go after bigger groups and established 'brand names' in education like Lucy Calkins and McGraw Hill. There's a lot of bullshit that needs to be called out. I don't plan on naming or calling out any individual school districts, but it's possible that one could come up.
My questions are as follows:
- If I publish anonymously, what advice do you have when it comes to maintaining utter online anonymity?
- What is the possibility or chance that a McGraw-Hill and Lucy Calkins would litigate if I criticized them? I don't plan on making any outlandish claims – just strong critiques of their negative impacts on educational trends. Should I be worried about lawsuits when it comes to critiquing big names in education industries? There's also a possibility that certain individual players could be named (shady CEOs or boards), but it's unlikely to be common.
- Would an LLC be a good idea for this venture? If lawsuits are potentially a fact of life in this type of endeavor, should I form an LLC to ensure that my personal assets are protected? Would an LLC require me to give up my plans for anonymity?
- Are there other options besides forming an LLC to protect or help a one-person anonymous blog/social media set-up?