Welcome to the Citizen Media Law Brief, a weekly newsletter highlighting recent blog posts, media law news, legal threat entries, and other new content on the Citizen Media Law Project's website. You are receiving this email because you have expressed interest in the CMLP or registered on our site, www.citmedialaw.org. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, you can unsubscribe by following the link at the bottom of this email or by going to http://www.citmedialaw.org/newsletter/subscriptions.

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The latest from the Citizen Media Law Project...

Big news this week! Yesterday we launched the first sections of our Legal Guide. The guide is intended for use by citizen media creators with or without formal legal training, as well as others with an interest in these issues, and addresses the legal issues individuals and organizations may encounter as they gather information and publish online.

The guide, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, covers the 15 most populous U.S. states and the District of Columbia and will focus on the wide range of legal issues online publishers are likely to face, including risks associated with publication, such as defamation and privacy torts; intellectual property; access to government information; newsgathering; and general legal issues involved in setting up a business.

For yesterday's launch we rolled out two major sections of the guide:

Forming a Business and Getting Online, which covers the practical issues to consider in deciding how to carry on your online publishing activities, including forming a for-profit and nonprofit business entity, choosing an online platform, and dealing with critical legal issues relating to the mechanics of online publishing.

Dealing with Online Legal Risks, which covers managing your site and reducing your legal risks, finding insurance, finding legal help, and responding to the different kinds of legal threats you may face as a result of your online publishing activities.

You can read more about the guide and the launch in our announcement post: Citizen Media Law Project Launches Legal Guide.

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The latest from the Citizen Media Law Project Blog...

Sam Bayard comments on the plaintiff's recent filing in the Savage v. CAIR lawsuit.
Savage v. CAIR: The Council for American-Islamic Relations Asks Court to Dismiss Michael Savage's Lawsuit

Sam Bayard recommends a new online resource: "Top 10 Rules for Limiting Legal Risk."
CUNY Journalism School Launches Website to Help Citizen Journalists Avoid Legal Risk

David Ardia comments on user-submitted advertising.
Slandering Sandwiches and User Submitted Content

Mary-Rose Papandrea discusses punishing students based on their online activities.
Students Shown Drinking on Facebook Banned From School Activities

Sam Bayard looks at recent developments in the AutoAdmit case.
Plaintiffs Seek Information to Unmask Pseudonymous Defendants in AutoAdmit Case

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Other citizen media law news...

Myanmar Arrests Blogger, Watchdog Says
New York Times - Thurs. 1/31/08

The Dark Side of "Privacy Protections," Continued
The Volokh Conspiracy - Thurs. 1/31/08

Miami blog postings spark $25 million lawsuit
MiamiHerald.com - Tues. 1/29/08

Academic sentenced over Ataturk
BBC News - Mon. 1/28/08

Copyright vs. Free Speech in Cease and Desist Letters
The Legal Satyricon - Sun. 1/27/08

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Recent pages added to the CMLP legal guide...

(This week we launched the CMLP's legal guide, so we are highlighting some of this new content here.)

Nonprofit Organizations
This section explains what a nonprofit organization is, including questions about formation, ownership of assets, management structure, payment of taxes, and prohibited activities.

Informal Groups
Although doing online publishing as part of an informal group (e.g., a group blog) is common and may seem the natural choice, this section points out some of the problems involved, including lack of a management framework, tax complications, and potentially increased exposure to liability for the acts of co-publishers.

Evaluating Terms of Service
This section discusses and compares the key "terms of use" (or equivalent sections) you are likely to encounter when you are evaluating various online services.

Responding to Correspondance Threatening Legal Action
If you have received a threatening letter or email and have not been sued, review this section to help you formulate a response.

Representing Yourself in Court
Representing yourself in a legal proceeding may hold some initial appeal due to the cost of hiring a lawyer or your interest in taking control of the situation. Before you decide to handle a legal matter yourself, however, review this section to assess whether you are ready to handle the matter and whether you have access to the resources you will need to succeed.

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The full(er) Brief...

"Great news! The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP are representing CAIR [in the Savage v. CAIR lawsuit], and they have filed an answer and moved for 'judgment on the pleadings,' asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit because it is 'simply a camouflaged defamation or disparagement claim dressed as bogus copyright and RICO claims . . . Savage's legal broadside specifically targets CAIR as a civil rights organization and its core political speech responding to and criticizing Savage's inflammatory political rhetoric.'"
Sam Bayard, Savage v. CAIR: The Council for American-Islamic Relations Asks Court to Dismiss Michael Savage's Lawsuit

"In a project headed by Associate Professor Geanne Rosenberg, CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism has launched a new website -- Top 10 Rules for Limiting Legal Risk. The project, which is carried out in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Knight Citizen News Network, aims to provide training to citizen journalists on the legal rights and responsibilities that go along with newsgathering and online publication."
Sam Bayard, CUNY Journalism School Launches Website to Help Citizen Journalists Avoid Legal Risk

"Our very own Sam Bayard popped up today in a New York Times article about the Subway v. Quiznos lawsuit, humorously named: "Can a Sandwich be Slandered?" . . . In late 2006, Quiznos and video-sharing site iFilm co-sponsored a nationwide contest, "Quiznos v. Subway TV Ad Challenge," inviting members of the public to submit videos comparing a Quiznos sandwich to a Subway sandwich using the theme "meat, no meat." . . . This case is significant in that it departs from the majority of cases holding that CDA 230 provides a valid ground for granting a motion to dismiss. Another interesting issue is whether a claim of false advertising under the Lanham Act fits within CDA 230 immunity."
David Ardia, Slandering Sandwiches and User Submitted Content

"School officials at Eden Prairie High School outside of Minneapolis punished 13 students after discovering photographs of them drinking on Facebook.com. As punishment, the students were banned from their sports teams or other extracurricular activities. . . . In the words of one student, the idea of school administrators nosing around social networking websites might be 'creepy,' but it is not necessarily unconstitutional. . . . This is not to say that such a policy should be constitutional, or that it would be a good idea. Banning students entirely from social networking sites in order to crack down on underage drinking and drug use would not prevent students from engaging in the unlawful activities and instead would simply cut them off from an essential forum for communication. And practically speaking, such a policy would be next to impossible to enforce."
Mary-Rose Papandrea, Students Shown Drinking on Facebook Banned From School Activities

"Last Thursday, the plaintiffs in the AutoAdmit case filed a motion for expedited discovery, seeking permission to serve subpoenas on a number of ISPs, universities, and websites demanding information about the identities of the the pseudonymous posters named in the lawsuit. . . . In their memorandum of law in support of the motion, the plaintiffs argue that they have shown "good cause" to allow them to take discovery before serving the defendants and holding the first discovery conference (quite reasonable, because without the subpoenas there will be no service or first meeting). They also argue that First Amendment protection for anonymous speech (and thus the heightened Cahill and Dendrite standards) is not applicable in this case because "the speech at issue in this case does not implicate the First Amendment." This is a circular argument. It seems to me that, in a defamation case or other lawsuit alleging a speech-based cause of action, you have to apply the Cahill and/or Dendrite standard in order to decide whether or not the First Amendment protects the speech at issue in the first place."
Sam Bayard, Plaintiffs Seek Information to Unmask Pseudonymous Defendants in AutoAdmit Case