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...
Mary-Rose Papandrea analyzes the power schools have under the First Amendment to discipline students for speech online.
Schools Lack Authority to Punish Online Student Speech
Sam Bayard
updates readers on the MySpace hoax suicide case.
Lori Drew Trial To Start Next Week
Sam Bayard
reports on recent developments in a lawsuit against the Mortgage Lender Impode-O-Meter.
Court Rejects Bid to Silence Mortgage Watchdog Website
Dan Gillmor presciently warns that anonymous attacks on Palin are not credible.
These Anonymous Critics ARE Cowards
David Ardia announces CMLP's effort to ensure that the Massachusetts anti-SLAPP law applies to online speech.
CMLP and Leading Online News Organizations File Amici Curiae Brief in Cape Cod Defamation Case
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Posted Nov. 14, 2008
Certain Approval Programs v. Xcentric Ventures
Posted Nov. 14, 2008
Cambridge Who's Who Publishing v. Xcentric Ventures
Posted Nov. 12, 2008
Saadi v. Maroun
Posted Nov. 12, 2008
Gatelli v. Does
Posted Nov. 10, 2008
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Other citizen media law news...
Writers sue NYC over press-pass policy
The First Amendment Center - Fri. 11/14/08
Brilliant New York Times Parody: Legal?
Info/Law - Thurs. 11/13/08
A brewing media battle in Newton
Media Nation - Wed. 11/12/08
Guns n' Roses uploader to plead guilty; may not enter jungle
Ars Technica - Tues. 11/11/08
Libel case against county watchdog group dismissed
NJ.com - Mon. 11/10/08
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The full(er) Brief...
"One of the major issues facing schools is whether they have authority to discipline their students for speech on the Internet. In an article I wrote that will appear in the December 2008 issue of the Florida Law Review, I argue that public secondary schools have virtually no authority under the First Amendment to punish students for online speech. I decided to write this article after hearing about cases all over the country where schools punished their students for creating parody websites mocking their teachers or school administrators or for making offensive comments about school officials or fellow students on the Internet. One of the more interesting cases arose in Connecticut, where the court upheld a school's decision to punish a student for calling school officials 'douchebags' on livejournal.com. Doninger v. Niehoff, 527 F.3d 41 (2d Cir. 2008). . . . While schools have limited authority under the First Amendment to punish student speech on the Internet, this does not mean that they are helpless to act. . . ."
Mary-Rose Papandrea, Schools Lack Authority to Punish Online Student Speech
"Believe it or not, the criminal case against Lori Drew heads to trial next Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles indicted Drew last May for her alleged role in a hoax on MySpace directed at Megan Meier, a 13-year-old neighbor of Drew's who committed suicide in October 2006. Prosecutors claim that Drew violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, by accessing MySpace servers 'without authorization' or 'in excess of authorization' because she violated the social networking site's terms of service by creating an account with inaccurate registration information and engaging in hurtful speech. . . . As bad (and hopefully unusual) as Ms. Drew's conduct is alleged to have been, this case has important implications for all Internet users. If applied beyond the confines of this prosecution, the government's theory would impose criminal penalties for ignoring or violating a website's terms of service, something that probably millions of Internet users do every day, often without even knowing it. . . ."
Sam Bayard, Lori Drew Trial To Start Next Week
"The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter, a mortgage watchdog website, announced on Friday that a federal judge denied a motion for a preliminary injunction against it filed by Global Direct Sales, LLC, the Penobscot Indian Nation, Christopher Russell, and Ryan Hill. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit operate the Grant America Program, a seller-financed down payment assistance program for low- to moderate-income homebuyers. The requested injunction would have barred the Implode-O-Meter and others from 'disseminating untrue, false and/or misleading statements regarding Plaintiffs, their business and their business dealings.' Ruling from the bench, federal judge Deborah Chasanow found that the plaintiffs had failed to satisfy the ordinary requirements for issuance of a preliminary injunction, including a probability of success on the merits of their defamation claim and a showing of irreparable harm without the injunction. . . ."
Sam Bayard, Court Rejects Bid to Silence Mortgage Watchdog Website
"The AP reports, 'Palin derides anonymous critics on Fox as cowards,' a reference to a recent Fox News segment in which a correspondent relayed a variety of negative attacks from, he said, members of the McCain campaign staff against Sarah Palin. No matter what you think about Palin in general, she's right in this case. It's a perfect example of why anonymous critics should not be taken seriously -- in fact why they should often be flatly disbelieved. . . . This isn't precisely like an anonymous comment on a blog, where we don't know anything about the person posting it. In this case we know -- or, rather, we've been told by a news organization that itself is often untrustworthy -- that the comments came from a dishonest political campaign. The anonymous comment on a blog or news article deserves less than no credibility. The Palin attacks, given the source, deserve about as much trust: zero at most. . . ."
Dan Gillmor, These Anonymous Critics ARE Cowards
"On Friday, the Citizen Media Law Project joined with the Online News Association, Media Bloggers Association, New England Press Association, and Globe Newspaper Company, publisher of The Boston Globe and Boston.com, to submit an amici curiae brief that argues that the Massachusetts anti-SLAPP statute applies to all parties, including members of the news media and professional bloggers, who engage in petitioning activities. The case involves a defamation lawsuit filed against Peter Robbins, author of the Robbins Report, a blog that appears on the popular community website Cape Cod Today, and an anonymous commenter on that blog. . . . The fact that Robbins receives compensation for his publishing activities also does not preclude application of the anti-SLAPP law. Under the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's holding in Kobrin v. Gastfriend, a blogger who is compensated for his work can still have a personal interest in an issue under governmental consideration sufficient to qualify for protection under the statute. He or she can have a direct interest in a matter under governmental consideration; an interest in an issue as a member of the community directly affected by that issue; or an interest in informing the public and engendering discussion about issues of public concern. . . ."
David Ardia, CMLP and Leading Online News Organizations File Amici Curiae Brief in Cape Cod Defamation Case
