Blogs

Paparazzi Need Better Manners, Not More Laws

Submitted by on

In Malibu City, an ocean-side enclave of Los Angeles, local government officials are considering regulations that aim to protect the privacy and safety interests of both celebrities hounded by the paparazzi and local residents, after local surfers went to fisticuffs with photographers trying to capture Matthew McConaughey surfing at Malibu's Little Dume Beach.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Iran Moves One Step Closer to Ratifying Death Penalty for Blogging

Submitted by on

Online free speech has never been well received by the Iranian government, but now Tehran is just one step away from making blogging on certain topics into a capital crime. 

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

New York Legislature Passes Open Records and Open Meetings Reforms

Submitted by on

The New York Legislature recently passed several open records and open meetings reforms, adding New York to the long list of states that have taken steps to revamp their open government laws this year.

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Watchdog Group Counters Attorney General’s View of Improved FOIA Picture

Submitted by on

A recent report by the U.S. Attorney General paints a mixed but generally positive picture of progress by the federal executive agencies in improving their responsiveness to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Center for Social Media Launches Its Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

Submitted by on

Today, the Center for Social Media at American University released its Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video, a publication meant to help online video creators, service providers, and copyright holders to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use.

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Privacy Falls into YouTube's Data Tar Pit

Submitted by on

As a big lawsuit grinds forward, its parties engage in discovery, a wide-ranging search for information "reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence." (FRCP Rule 26(b)) And so Viacom has calculated that scouring YouTube's data dumps would help provide evidence in Viacom's copyright lawsuit.

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

NY Law Would Allow Citizens to Record and Broadcast Government Meetings

Submitted by on

A bill pending in the New York Legislature would allow the public to photograph, videotape, and audio record public meetings in New York, providing better access to government deliberations and information. It would impose two minor conditions: the photographing or recording activity must not be disruptive, and the public body holding the meeting can regulate where equipment and personnel are located in the room.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Miami Judge Drops Hammer on Photojournalist Who Took Cops' Picture

Submitted by on

“Photography is not a crime, it’s a First Amendment right,” proclaims the title of photojournalist Carlos Miller’s blog.  Nonetheless, a jury found Miller guilty of obstructing traffic and resisting arrest without violence during his encounter last year with five Miami police officers that he photographed on a public street.  As a result, Miami County Court Judge Jose Fernandez sentenced him to one year of probation,100 hours of community service, anger management lessons, and over $500 in court fees, well in excess of the three months

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Citing CDA 230, Court Dismisses Defamation Suit Against Wikimedia Foundation

Submitted by on

News reports (here, here) indicate that New Jersey Superior Court Judge Jamie S. Perri dismissed Barbara Bauer's defamation lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation yesterday.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Global Voices Summit 2008

Submitted by on

Last week, Global Voices held a summit in Budapest, Hungary for its members and the wider community of bloggers, activists, technologists, journalists and others from around the world. Called the

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Judge Says Former Congressman Can Get Names of Anonymous Posters from LoHud.com

Submitted by on

LoHud.com, an online news site operated by The Journal News that focuses on New York's Lower Hudson Valley, reported on Friday that a Westchester County judge has ruled that it must turn over the names of three pseudonymous posters to former House Representative Richard Ottinger and his wife, June Ottinger.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Lawyer Attempts End Run Around CDA 230, Finds a Stronger Defense Than He Expected

Submitted by on

Following on the heels of a Virginia lawyer being sanctioned for improperly using a subpoena to silence a critic, we hear about a lawyer in California who is threatening to use a meritless lawsuit to force Julia Forte, who runs a forum for consumer complaints about telemarketers, to remove user-submitted comments that are critical of his client.

Subject Area: 

Holding Government Accountable One Click at a Time

Submitted by on

“Laws are like sausages. You should never watch them being made.” This adage, generally attributed to Otto von Bismarck, rings true to anyone who has had the opportunity to watch Congress make public policy. Just tune into C-SPAN sometime for a taste.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

RI Bill Will Strengthen Citizens' FOI Rights

Submitted by on

After passing state bill H7422 last week, Rhode Island is set to join the growing list of states – including Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Oregon – that have strengthened their

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

WIA Releases Report on Arrests of Bloggers, Does It Overcount?

Submitted by on

According to a new report by the World Information Access (“WIA”) Project, 64 independent bloggers have been arrested since 2003, suggesting governments around the world are growing more aware of blogs and more likely to act to silence bloggers.

Subject Area: 

Judge Sanctions Lawyer for Issuing Subpoena to Blogger Kathleen Seidel

Submitted by on

A federal magistrate judge in New Hampshire has sanctioned Clifford Shoemaker, a Virginia attorney, for abusing the legal process by issuing a subpoena to Kathleen Seidel. Seidel publishes the blog Neurodiversity, where she writes about autism issues.

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Carnegie-Knight Conference on the Future of Journalism

Submitted by on

I am at the Carnegie-Knight Conference on the Future of Journalism hosted by the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, & Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  This is my third conference in three weeks, and I think I have reached my limit on conferences.  These three very different conferences, however, are excellent examples of the various approaches being studied (and

Subject Area: 

Supreme Court Rejects FOIA Restrictions

Submitted by on

In a rare Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) decision, the Supreme Court recently held in Taylor v. Sturgell that an individual's failed FOIA request does not preclude similar requests from related individuals.

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

U.S. Blogger Facing Criminal Libel Charges in Singapore

Submitted by on

Singapore officials Monday amended the charge against blogger Gopalan Nair, a U.S. citizen who blogs from Fremont, California, accusing him of insulting a public official for his criticism of Singaporean Judge Belinda Ang that he published in his blog, Singapore Dissident, last month. The original charge had asserted that Nair insulted Ang in an email.

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Presidential Candidates Fight Online Defamation

Submitted by on

Last week some reporters, politicos, and bloggers may have mourned the end of the endless presidential primary season. But it's not like political mudslinging is now going to end. Indeed, in ancticipation of the focus on the general election battle, in the muddy backwaters of the Internet – in forums, blog comments, email chain letters and listservs – defamatory statements are being bandied about in hopes that some of the reputation damaging misinformation will enter the zeitgeist of the electorate to sway public opinion about the candidates one way or another.

Subject Area: 

Pages