Blogs

New Hampshire Supreme Court Rules Website Covered By State Reporter's Privilege

This morning, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire handed down an important decision holding that a mortgage industry website, The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter, is entitled to protection under the state's reporter's privilege.

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FTC Endorsement Rules Get Their First Workout

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it has completed its first investigation under the "blog-ola" rules it adopted last year, which require bloggers and other social media posters who receive a free or discounted product or service to disclose the freebie in their reviews or commentary about the product or service, or face the possibility of an FTC enforcement action.  See "Guides Concerning the Use of En

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Government Data: This Data Was Made for You and Me?

In March, Google launched its Public Data Explorer, expanding upon its public data search feature that's been around since last spring.

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Search Warrants in the Sky: FBI Collects Info from Google Docs

If you spend any time at all online, you've probably seen—and, depending on the effectiveness of your spam filters, received in your email—ads extolling the supposed virtues of acai berry, a so-called "super food" that has been a big seller for the past couple of years.

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Police Seize Gizmodo Reporter's Computers Over iPhone 4 Leak

Gizmodo announced this afternoon that California police seized computers and servers from the home of its reporter/

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A Video Recap of CMLP's April 9th Conference, Journalism's Digital Transition

On April 9, 2010, the Citizen Media Law Project and the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School hosted a one-day symposium and CLE program, "Journalism's Digital Transition: Unique Legal Challenges and Opportunities."

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CMLP Updates Legal Guide Pages on Protections for Anonymous Speech

Today, CMLP published extensive updates to its legal guide pages on the legal protections for anonymous and pseudonymous speech on the Internet. We overhauled the general page on First Amendment protections to reflect significant changes in the law over the past few years, and updated the state pages to include many new cases on the topic.

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J-Lab: Exploring a Networked Journalism Collaborative in Philadelphia

Our friends at J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism just released a report analyzing the media landscape in Philadelphia. The William Penn Foundation commissioned J-Lab to conduct the study of Philadelphia's media landscape and the state of public affairs reporting and make recommendations for a possible media investment strategy.

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A Plea for a Tech-Savvy Justice

The United States Supreme Court is, when it comes to technology, almost completely ignorant.

Not exactly a news flash, I know. After all, much was made in the days of Justice Sonia Sotomayor's nomination process about her high level of tech-savvy as compared to her predecessor, Justice Souter, whom Popular Science called a "famous Luddite." But before reading a post on the DC Dicta blog on Monday, I'd always sort of thought that SCOTUS's collective ignorance of common tech was limited to the visibly ancient Justices, like the retiring John Paul Stevens.

Not so, sadly. Judging from the expertise the Court displayed during oral arguments for City of Ontario v. Quon, the majority of the Court appears to be but mewling infants when it comes to technology. From the DC Dicta account:

At one point, Justice Anthony Kennedy asked what would happen if a text message was sent to an officer at the same time he was sending one to someone else.

“Does it say: ‘Your call is important to us, and we will get back to you?’” Kennedy asked.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrangled a bit with the idea of a service provider.

“You mean (the text) doesn’t go right to me?” he asked.

Then he asked whether they can be printed out in hard copy.

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Breaking News: Dow Jones Files "Hot News" Case Against Briefing.com

A Dow Jones press release on BusinessWire announces that the financial media giant filed a lawsuit today against Briefing.com, alleging that the subscription-based financial site misappropriated its headlines and articles.  The complaint, filed in U.S.

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Lost and Found: California Law and the Next Generation iPhone

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past few days, you've heard that a newfangled iPhone mysteriously turned up in a fancy beer bar in Redwood City, California, and photos of it ended up on

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Student Journalists in Virginia Need Strict Enforcement of Privacy Protection Act

James Madison University students celebrate each semester with a large block party in a popular neighborhood near campus.

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Recording Police and Defining 'Plain Sight'

As bicyclist Eli Damon tells the story, a police officer pulled him over on March 20 as he rode his bike in Hadley, Massachusetts.

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Don't Miss It! CMLP's April 9th Conference

Just a quick reminder that there's still time to register for CMLP's spring conference, which is coming up this Friday, April 9.  Entitled "Journalism’s Digital Transition: Unique Legal Challenges and Opportunities," the program will bring together panels of academics, legal practitioners, and journalists. Topics include:

Right for the Wrong Reasons: DC Court of Appeals Vacates 30-Year Computer Ban

Cyanide and Happiness, a daily webcomicIt is hard to know how to feel when a court does the right thing for the wrong reasons.  On April 2, in United States v. Russell, the D.C. Court of Appeals vacated an immutable 30-year computer and Internet ban as a condition for the supervised release of a sex offender.

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Kansas Shield Law Awaits Governor’s Signature: Ripe Fruit From a Bewildering Tree

In an overwhelming vote of support, the Kansas Legislature Tuesday passed a media shield bill that, if signed by Governor Mark Parkinson (D), will protect reporters in most circumstances from having to disclose the identity of anonymous sources and other information obtained in the newsgathering process.

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Keeping 911 Recordings Public and Online

When a grizzly bear mauled bicyclist Petra Davis two years ago in an Anchorage park, she called 911 from her cell phone, barely able to speak: "Please help ... bear," she struggled to say. "I can't talk." A fellow biker quickly came to her rescue, grabbing her cell phone and calling again for help: "I have a young girl here who was mauled by a bear and who is in pretty bad shape," Peter Bassinger told the operator.

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