The Internet is a powerful tool. It can inform, it can surprise and it can delight. It can also defame, besmirch, libel and kill a person’s reputation.

In a recent online hoax, a fake website claimed that a preacher lost his faith.

Joel Osteen, known as the pastor of the Lakewood Church, and better known as a person who preaches on millions of TV sets across the U.S,. was the target of a recent hoax that attempted to put a different spotlight on him.

Investigators found that a fake site, close to the one that Osteen and his ministry uses, was registered by someone in Wisconsin. Early this morning, ABC reported that a a man from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area named Justin Tribble claimed he built the site to reach out to Osteen, who he called inaccessible. The message on the fake site claimed that the minister was leaving his beliefs.

The fake site stated in part: "I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God. In fact, there is zero evidence 'God' even exists."

Now, when your person and your profession are so close together, like they are in a career based in religion, one could claim libel in an instance like this.

People are quick to say they have a freedom of speech in this country. There is a freedom, that is true. But people all too often don’t know the law, and to steal a line from Spider-man, with great power, comes great responsibility.

There is a freedom of press that I enjoy as a columnist. That freedom doesn’t mean I can just say whatever I wanted to. I’m still open to lawsuit if I knowingly publish something that is false.

For argument, let’s say that Mayor Barrett told me that Milwaukee was changing its name to Little Chicago in an effort to woo more international business. I haven’t talked to the mayor in years, I doubt he could even pick me out in a crowded room. Yet, if he was taken to task, and his livelihood was affected by my writing, I and OnMilwaukee.com could be subject to a lawsuit.

I have the freedom to say Milwaukee would be better if it was called "Little Chicago" and I have the freedom to say that Tom Barrett wants it, too. But I have no protections to say it because I wanted to. I have the freedom to call myself stupid for the idea, and I’d have the freedom to say the mayor was stupid too if it was his opinion. I still don’t have the freedom to claim he said something he didn’t say.

Even if you disagree with what Osteen preaches, a person doesn’t have the freedom to pretend to be him to say something he hasn’t said. I doubt that Osteen will go after our fellow Wisconsinite, Tribble, or whoever it is that built the fake site and fake Twitter account, for this action. Although, Osteen would have every right to a civil case here.

HOOP DREAMS:  Monday night’s NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship game aired by CBS brought in more than 23.4 million viewers. The broadcast with Louisville and Michigan was the largest viewing audience the annual college event has had in 19 years.

Coverage for the entire 2013 NCAA Tournament across Turner Sports and CBS Sports averaged a household rating/share of 6.7/14, up 10 percent from last year’s 6.1/13, and is the highest average NCAA Tournament rating in eight years, CBS reported in a release Tuesday.