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 blog...

David Ardia reflects on three recent journalism conferences he has attended.
Carnegie-Knight Conference on the Future of Journalism

Matt Sanchez comments on the Supreme Court's recent decision concerning similar FOIA requests.
Supreme Court Rejects FOIA Restrictions

Arthur Bright follows blogger Nair's legal entanglement with Singapore law.
U.S. Blogger Facing Criminal Libel Charges in Singapore

Jason Crow discusses how politicians are addressing libelous statements on the Internet.
Presidential Candidates Fight Online Defamation

David Ardia evaluates the AP's desire to create guidelines for the "fair use" of its work.
Associated Press Sends DMCA Takedown to Drudge Retort, Backpedals, and Now Seeks to Define Fair Use for Bloggers

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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...

Marvin v. Shell
Posted June 20th, 2008

Ward v. Cisco Systems, Inc.
Posted June 18, 2008

Singapore v. Nair
Posted June 18, 2008

Associated Press v. Drudge Retort
Posted June 16, 2008

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Other citizen media law news...

Castro hits out at Cuban blogger.
The Guardian - Thurs. 6/19/08

Ninth Circuit Upholds Privacy of Text Messages.
EFF - Wed. 6/18/08

Resumes for the new journalism world.
The SPJ Generation J Committee Blog - Wed. 6/18/08

Judge orders IRS to comply with FOIA request filed 30 years ago.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press - Tue. 6/17/08

Blogger arrests hit record high.
BBC News - Mon. 6/16/08

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The full(er) Brief...

"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 in some instances, implemented) to ensure that good journalism survives the transition to new media. . . .  I've got nothing against panels, but in my experience the best insights come from the discussions that follow, or augment, the presentations and panels.  For example, one attendee asked this morning's panel on Working Journalists and the Changing News Environment whether news organizations should start charging a penny or two to everyone who links to newspaper content.  Aside from the complete lack of any legal justification for such a licensing scheme (see the CMLP legal guide's discussion of linking), the idea is preposterous and ignores the essential structure of the link architecture of the web.  This should have sparked vigorous discussion of how the Internet has fundamentally changed the creation and distribution of news, but it didn't. . . ."
David Ardia, Carnegie-Knight Conference on the Future of Journalism

"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. In doing so, the court rejected the legal doctrine of 'virtual representation,' which would have prevented a FOIA requestor from seeking judicial relief if he had a 'close relationship' with a party who had previously litigated the same FOIA request. . . .The decision bodes well for FOIA requestors as it preserves the right of every citizen to have their chance to request a record -- or, in legal terms, to have their day in court. The court's holding allows subsequent requestors to file their own requests, preventing them from being bound by denials that arose because of faults in previous requests. . . ."
Matt Sanchez, Supreme Court Rejects FOIA Restrictions

"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. . . . Despite the charges, Nair has not removed the offending blog entry from his site. He also has been updating his blog regularly with accounts of his legal proceedings. In addition, Nair’s lawyer, Chia Ti Lik, offers his view of the case on his own blog. . . ."
Arthur Bright, U.S. Blogger Facing Criminal Libel Charges in Singapore

"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. . . . So what does a candidate do? . . . [I]nstead of litigating the matter, the Guardian recently ran an article that suggests the candidates are battling back against the deceptive online smear campaigns. The Obama camp has recruited senior staff to focus on the problem and already has a so-called "Fight the Smears" action center. McCain has his own online action center as well that includes a message of the day for bloggers and encourages them to post across 94 liberal blogs. . . ."
Jason Crow, Presidential Candidates Fight Online Defamation

"Last week, the Associated Press ('AP') sent a takedown request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Rogers Cadenhead, the founder of Drudge Retort, a liberal alternative to (and parody of) the well-known Drudge Report, demanding that he remove six user-submitted blog entries and one user comment on the site that contained quotations from AP articles. Today, the New York Times reported that AP was reconsidering its request while it creates a set of guidelines for bloggers and websites that excerpt AP material. . . . I think it's laudable that AP is rethinking its approach and planning to meet with representatives of the Media Bloggers Association and others, but let's be clear here. While AP is entitled to issue a set of guidelines for the use of its articles, these guidelines are not legally enforceable and they cannot narrow the scope of what is permissible under the fair use doctrine. The blogging community needs to be careful not to allow these guidelines to become a de facto set of norms that constrain the permissible uses of news content. . . ."
David Ardia, Associated Press Sends DMCA Takedown to Drudge Retort, Backpedals, and Now Seeks to Define Fair Use for Bloggers