Blogs

Web Restrictions Not The Answer to Juror Online Research

Juror use of the Internet to do research or communicate about trials is a growing and persistent problem. So, what can a judge do? For several years now courts have been giving jurors more detailed admonitions and jury instructions against educating themselves about cases online, to little effect.

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Boston Police Charge Two Journalists With Felonies For Doing Their Jobs

This is a well-known story to DMLP readers, but it bears repeating today. On October 1, 2007, a lawyer named Simon Glik saw members of the Boston Police arresting a suspect on the Boston Common in a way that he thought was excessive, and began recording the police from several feet away. The police didn't notice him at first, but eventually approached him and asked him if his phone was recording audio along with the video.

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Ice Roads and Chilled Speech: ECHR Tags News Portal for Reader Comments

The Chamber of the First Section of the European Court of Human Rights held unanimously on October 10 that making a news portal liable for defamatory comments posted by its readers does not violate article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights protecting free speech.

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DMLP Staff Presenting at CLE Events in New York and Georgia this Week

For the lawyers in our readership, we'd like to let you know that later this week the DMLP will be headed down the East Coast to bar association events in Georgia and New York:

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Cash Cutoff for Mugshot Sites A Dangerous Idea

If you're arrested, your arrest is public information: your name, your address, what you're accused of. Many news organizations publish this information on a daily basis for their communities, as part of their news coverage.

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So Close, Yet So Far: FBI Access to Silk Road Bitcoin Fortune May be Blocked by the Fifth Amendment

bitcoinThe government's quest for a password-protected bitcoin fortune from the Silk Road shutdown may lead to a Fifth Amendment battle over whether a constitutional right against self-incrimination can protect the website's founder from compulsion of data.

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Massachusetts Considers a New, Robust Shield Law

The DMLP would like to highlight a recent post by our friend and colleague Rob Bertsche, a parter at Boston law firm Prince Lobel Tye LLP.

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The Government Responds to the DMLP Amicus Brief in United States v. Auernheimer

On Friday, the Department of Justice filed its appellee brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in United States v. Auernheimer.

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A Click is Worth a Thousand Words: Fourth Circuit Sees the Value of a "Like"

On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its decision in Bland v.

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Senate Shield Bill Is Actually Pretty Broad

An amended bill passed Sept. 12 by the Senate Judiciary Committee to protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources in federal court includes a relatively broad definition of who would be covered by the law; a definition that would include most bloggers.

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Federal Court Finds Stored Communications Act Applies to Facebook Wall Posts

[Ed. note -- We are pleased today to share with you a blog post by attorney Lindsay Burke of Covington & Burling LLP. This post originally appeared at InsidePrivacy.com.]

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Blurred Boundaries: When Copyright and FOIA Collide

Technology has given citizens the ability to interact with government information in a way never before possible. Some exploit this data for commercial gain; others use new analysis techniques to uncover layers of meaning previously unrecognized; still others collate and publish government records to simplify access for everyone else. But what happens when there is an assertion that vital government records are subject to copyright restrictions?

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Vote for the Digital Media Law Project's Section 230 Panel at SXSW!

The SXSW Panel Picker is now live, and the Digital Media Law Project is pleased to announce that we have a session proposal in the mix

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Instagram: Uncharted Territory for Courts and Journalists

As a Los Angeles Superior Court prepares to break new ground concerning defamation on Instagram, journalists look towards the popular smart phone app as an alternative platform from which they can reach new audiences.

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After On-Air Mishaps, Embarrassed Newscasters Turn to Copyright Law

Whether we consider the purpose of copyright to be to protect economic rights or moral rights, copyright is a powerful yet dangerous instrument.

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Real or Fake, It's Protected by the First Amendment: Court Awards Fees in "Storage Wars" Case

StorageA California court recently held that an allegedly fake reality television show can be an expression of free speech that warrants protection under the First Amendment.

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An Increase in Infringement or the Promotion of Censorship? The Growing Tension of VPN Use

In the days of unwarranted government surveillance and elaborate data collection, people increasingly rely on anonymizing services to keep their online activities private, such as proxy servers, encrypted cloud storage, and virtual private networks. Virtual private networks, or VPNs, route online communications through a secure and encrypted private network to a remote server (sometimes in a jurisdiction with greater protection for freedom of speech or weaker law enforcement).

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Adding up to 105: The Charges Against Barrett Brown

In December 2011, hacktivist collective Anonymous (in)famously hacked intelligence analysis firm Stratfor Global Intelligence, collecting over 2.7 million emails, including data for over 50,000 credit card numbers, 80,000 email addresses, and more.

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