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While you may not have any legal exposure related to a basic WordPress site, the more you publish the more likely legal issues are to come up.
Harvard’s Digital Media Law Project is a great resource. For example, check out Forming a Business and Getting Online and Dealing with Legal Threats and Risks. In addition, they have a number of state by state guides.
Web developer Darin Reid suggests Docracy, another open collection of legal documents.
Key issues that you may want to consider include:
- Contracts with non-disclosure agreements for contractors and consultants that you hire
- Copyright and trademark issues related to your intellectual property; and refraining from violating other people’s copyrights and trademarks
- Keeping up with your bookkeeping, city, state and federal taxes and 1099’s for independent contractors
- Addressing your website ownership and maintenance in your will
The Creative Commons public domain sharing licenses can be quite helpful as well. For example, Flickr has a variety of Creative Commons photos that you can use on your site as stock photos with the appropriate attributions.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is also a great resource worth supporting.
