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! On Tuesday, we launched another major section of our Citizen Media Legal Guide. The guide is intended for use by citizen media creators with or without formal legal training 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 focuses 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 Tuesday's launch, we rolled out the section on Access to Government Information,
which highlights the extensive amount of information available through government sources and explains how both traditional and non-traditional journalists can use various public access laws to gather and make effective use of this information. Here is a quick rundown of the subsections we've just published:
Access to Government Records describes federal and state freedom of information laws and provides practical advice on how to use these laws to acquire government records.
Access to Government Meetings provides an overview of federal and state open meetings laws and explains how to assert your right to attend meetings held by federal, state, and local agencies, boards, committees, and other government bodies.
Access to Congress and the President outlines the special set of rules that govern access to Congress and Presidential records.
Access to Courts and Court Records provides an overview of federal and state laws that grant you the right to access federal and state court records and court proceedings.
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Sam Bayard evaluates the Ninth Circuit's impact on CDA 230.
Roommates.com - Just How Big A Hole Did The Ninth Circuit Poke in CDA 230
Sam Bayard comments on T-Mobile's C&D letter to Engadget.
T-Mobile Asks Engadget to Stop Using the Color Magenta
Tuna Chatterjee looks at the upcoming Berkman@10 Conference.
Berkman@10 Conference: The Future of the Internet
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Other citizen media law news...
Going undercover in North Korea
BBC News - Thurs. 4/3/08
School District Didn't Violate First Amendment for Reassigning Teacher Who Blogged
Technology & Marketing Law Blog - Wed. 4/2/08
Indonesia Seeks to Block YouTube Over Anti-Koran Film
New York Times - Wed. 4/2/08
Massachusetts Judge in Hot Water over Letters in Libel Case
Wall Street Journal Law Blog - Wed. 4/2/08
New York `Borat' lawsuit is dismissed
Business Week - Wed. 4/2/08
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The full(er) Brief...
"By now you've heard that the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, reaffirmed the previous Roommates.com decision. There's lots of excellent coverage out there -- some notable examples include the Online Liability Blog, Info/Law, Internet Cases, and Eric Goldman's Law & Technology Blog.
The new decision, written by Judge Kozinski, may have exploded forever the longstanding assumption (among Internet lawyers, at least) that website operators would always be immune under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230) for publishing and organizing content provided by their users, so long as the
underlying claim didn't involve intellectual property, federal criminal law, or the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
Nevertheless, we can read the case narrowly, and its impact could be inconsequential if limited to its facts. Unfortunately, aspects of the opinion make a more expansive reading possible. . . ."
Sam Bayard, Roommates.com - Just How Big A Hole Did The Ninth Circuit Poke in CDA 230
Sam Bayard, T-Mobile Asks Engadget to Stop Using the Color Magenta
"Save the date! On May 15-16, 2008, the Berkman Center will cap off its 10th anniversary celebration with a conference on “The Future of the Internet.” The Center has been in full celebratory mode for the 2007-08 academic year and has hosted many events including a distinguished speaker series and book releases by Berkman projects and people. . . ."
Tuna Chatterjee, Berkman@10 Conference: The Future of the Internet
