Sunstein threatens to tweak libel laws for the Internet and make online writers, particularly bloggers, legally responsible for falsehoods and rumors

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Adding to animal rights and cost-benefit analysis is concern over Sunstein's positions on freedom of speech.
News of Sunstein's latest book, "On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done," lit up the blogosphere last week when The New York Post ran a column by a reviewer who received an advance copy.

Writer Kyle Smith suggested Sunstein threatens to tweak libel laws for the Internet and make online writers, particularly bloggers, legally responsible for falsehoods and rumors that get generated in cyberspace.

"Sunstein calls for a 'notice and take down' law that would require bloggers and service providers to 'take down falsehoods upon notice,' even those made by commenters -- but without apparent penalty," Smith wrote. "How long would it take for a court to sort out the truth? (Presidential daughters) Sasha and Malia will be running for president by then. Nobody will care anymore. But it will give politicians the ability to tie up their online critics in court."

Sunstein, a prolific writer who has penned 35 books since 1990, has plowed the issue of rumors and how they are spread, and leaves much of the policy debate in the air.

For instance, in a paper titled, "'She Said What?' 'He Did That?' Believing False Rumors," for Harvard Law School in November 2008, Sunstein wrote: "In discussions of possible restrictions on free speech, it is standard to speak of, and to deplore, the 'chilling effect' that is created by the prospect of civil or criminal sanctions."

"Libel law, for example, might chill speech about public figures and public issues, in a way that could damage democratic debate. And if there is a 'marketplace of ideas,' we should be especially concerned about the risk of chilling effect because it will undermine processes that will ultimately produce the truth," he wrote.

Sunstein, who once taught alongside Obama at the University of Chicago Law School, did not return an interview request from FOXNews.com.