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
Sam Bayard comments on the JuicyCampus.com investigation.
New Jersey Prosecutors Set Sights on JuicyCampus
iBrattleboro Victorious, Court Dismisses Libel Lawsuit Under Section 230 of Communications Decency Act
Tuna Chatterjee looks at Sunshine Week and your right to know.
It's Sunshine Week!
CMLP Staff highlight the legal challenges in maintaining the confidentiality of sources and source material.
Highlights from the Legal Guide: Protecting Sources and Source Material
Sam Bayard comments on similes, fair use, and Harry Potter.
Rowling v. RDR Books: Fair Use Is Like Gumbo
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Other citizen media law news...
Flurry of FOI advances for Sunshine Week
FOI FYI Blog - Thurs. 3/20/08
Newspaper plans to sue university for violating state records law
RCFP Sidebar - Tues. 3/18/08
The Censors Take Down YouTube and Google News in China. How Will Google Respond?
TechCrunch - Mon. 3/17/08
Patent Blogger and His Company Sued for Defamation
ABA Journal - Mon. 3/17/08
Craigslist Gets Seventh Circuit 230 Win in Fair Housing Act Case
Technology & Marketing Law Blog - Fri. 3/14/08
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Posted March 19th, 2008
GreatSchools, Inc. v. Maura Larkins
Posted March 19th, 2008
Kono v. Meeker
Posted March 19th, 2008
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs v. PURE, Inc.
Posted March 19th, 2008
Floyd v. WBTW
Posted March 19th, 2008
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The full(er) Brief...
"New Jersey prosecutors have subpoenaed the controversial gossip site JuicyCampus as part of an investigation into whether the site is violating the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Reports (here, here, and here)
indicate that prosecutors believe that the website may be running afoul
of the law by suggesting in its Terms & Conditions
that it does not allow the
posting of offensive material but providing no
enforcement of that rule or way for users to report objectionable
content. (New Jersey authorities also subpoenaed AdBrite and Google for
information about how
JuicyCampus represented itself to these advertising services.) Assuming
the investigation moves forward, this case is sure to be a flashpoint
for further debate about section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230)."
Sam Bayard, New Jersey Prosecutors Set Sights on JuicyCampus
"A Vermont judge has dismissed the libel lawsuit filed against Chris Grotke and Lise LePage, co-founders and owners of iBrattleboro.com, a widely acclaimed community journalism site based in Brattleboro, Vermont, ruling that Grotke and LePage are immune from liability under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230). . . . This is a significant victory for community journalism sites, which often rely heavily on user-submitted content. Like many such sites, iBrattleboro edits and removes user comments in order to create 'a forum for information-sharing, discussion and debate in a respectful and friendly atmosphere.' This is the quintessential activity that CDA 230 was meant to immunize, and courts have consistently held that these activities do not make an interactive computer service liable for defamatory material submitted by others that it does publish on its site. . . ."
David Ardia, iBrattleboro Victorious, Court Dismisses Libel Lawsuit Under Section 230 of Communications Decency Act
"It’s March and it’s Sunshine Week. This year, from March 16 - 22, the American Society of Newspaper Editors is holding its annual national initiative to raise public consciousness on the need for open government. . . . Unfortunately, since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government has whittled away at the public’s access to government information in the name of security. According to the Associated Press, legislatures around the country have passed more than 600 laws restricting public access to government information. As a result, you cannot access a variety of information such as the safety plan at your child’s school in Iowa, medication errors at your grandparent’s nursing home in North Carolina, or disciplinary actions against state employees in Indiana. These access restrictions highlight the importance of Sunshine Week and its focus on the need for the public to resist the current trend of secrecy and direct legislative efforts towards a presumption of openness. . . ."
Tuna Chatterjee, It's Sunshine Week!
"This is the sixth in a series of posts calling attention to some of the topics covered in the Citizen Media Legal Guide we began publishing in January. . . . In this post, we highlight the section on Protecting Sources and Source Material, which discusses the legal challenges in maintaining the confidentiality of sources and source material and outlines the federal and state laws that may protect you from forced disclosure of your newsgathering materials. We also provide several practical tips for protecting your sources and source material. . . ."
CMLP Staff, Highlights from the Legal Guide: Protecting Sources and Source Material
"Derek Bambauer at Info/Law has an excellent post on the Harry Potter Lexicon lawsuit, Rowling v. RDR Books. Bambauer analyzes Rowling's copyright claim and RDR Book's fair use defense and concludes that the celebrity author will likely prevail. While reasonable minds differ on this point (see, e.g., Tim Wu's article in Slate), everyone should be able to appreciate Bambauer's use of figurative language: 'Fair use is like gumbo: you dump everything in together, mix it, simmer, and see how it tastes in the end.' . . ."
Sam Bayard, Rowling v. RDR Books: Fair Use Is Like Gumbo
