Welcome to the Digital Media Law Brief, a monthly newsletter highlighting recent blog posts, media law news, legal threat entries, and other new content on the Digital Media Law Project's website, as well as upcoming events and other announcements. You are receiving this email because you have expressed interest in the DMLP or registered on our site, www.dmlp.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.dmlp.org/newsletter/subscriptions.
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News from the Digital Media Law Project...
As the students around here are well aware, we are rapidly approaching the end of the academic year and the beginning of the summer. As we do, we want to start this month's brief by sending a warm thank you to our crack DMLP intern, Jillian Stonecipher. Jillian has helped us with countless hours of hard work since she joined our team back in the fall and has made great contributions to our threats database, our legal guide, our amicus brief in the Seaton v. TripAdvisor case, and still found time to write a couple of great blog posts. Jillian's headed off to DC as a summer associate at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher once finals are over, but before she does we wanted to thank her again for all of her excellent work and wish her the best this summer! We'll be welcoming our own class of summer interns in about a month; more about them to follow in next month's brief.
And speaking of joining the DMLP, we'd like to share some great news: the DMLP is delighted to announce that it will soon be looking to hire a new staff attorney! The attorney will join Jeff and Andy on all of the initiatives of the Digital Media Law Project, including our legal guide, threats database, research and response initiatives, and, of course, our Online Media Legal Network. We'll be looking for an attorney with a passion for emerging issues in media law, IP, cyberlaw, and/or business law and a desire to help us ensure that we can provide the best legal resources possible to our independent, online media constituency. (Please note: A listing will appear on Harvard University's jobs site in the near future, and all applications will be handled through that site; we cannot consider application materials sent directly to the DMLP. Look for a blog post from us directing you to the full job description and requirements.)
Finally, if you are in the Cambridge area this weekend, be sure to join the DMLP and our friends at the Cyberlaw Clinic, MIT Center for Civic Media, and Cambridge Community Television, as we host Filling the News Gap in Cambridge and Beyond: Citizen Journalism and the Grassroots Media, a celebration and exploriation into grassroots and civic media in and around our hometown of Cambridge, Mass. The event is on Saturday from 9am to 1:30pm at the Cambridge Public Library, and will feature discussions and presentations from many of our favorite journalists and media thinkers operating in and around the Cambridge area. The event is free and promises to be a lively discussion. For more information, check out our blog post on the event.
As always, much more to follow, so keep an eye on this space!
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The latest from the Digital Media Law Project blog...
Jeff Hermes looks at the law and history around misidentification of terror suspects, in the wake of the Boston
bombings.
Misidentifications Past and
Present: Terror, Suspicion & the Media
Digital First Sale: A U.S. District Court Tackles Used MP3 Sales
Eric Robinson shows how social media is reaching an age of acceptance in the courts.
Social Media Goes Legit
Marie-Andrée Weiss reviews legislative efforts to remove France's criminal offense to the president law.
France Soon to Say 'Get Lost' to
its Criminal Offense to the President Law
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Threats recently added or updated in the DMLP Threats Database...
Tuteur v. Crosley-Corcoran
Posted April 29, 2013
David v. CBS Interactive, Inc.
Posted April 29, 2013
Prenda Law v. Godfread
Updated April 29, 2013
Duffy v. Godfread
Updated April 29, 2013
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Other media law news and commentary...
Nosal Convicted of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Crime Despite His Ninth Circuit Win
Technology & Marketing Law Blog -
4/26/13
A Judge Told Us to Take Down Our Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Post. We Won't.
Gawker - 4/25/13
Defamation Bill passed: 'It will change the landscape of free speech in Britain'
PressGazette - 4/25/13
Breaking News Pragmatically: Some Reflections on Silence and Timing in Networked Journalism
Nieman Lab - 4/23/13
SCOTUSblog: Press Credential
SCOTUSblog - 4/18/13
Newark Police OK with Photographing Trains
First Amendment Center - 4/15/13
IMDb Wins Lawsuit Over Actress Age Revelation
The Hollywood Reporter - 4/11/13
You Can't Stop Universal From Removing Your YouTube Videos
Mashable - 4/9/13
Reporters Say Exxon Is Impeding Spill Coverage in Arkansas
Mother Jones - 4/5/13
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The full(er) Brief...
"For many in the Boston area, platforms such as Twitter and Reddit became a key way for the community to share
its experiences and reactions, anger, fear, and prayers. Last Friday in the Watertown area, social media took on
another aspect as the way in which many of us who sat locked in our houses reached out to one another for news and
support. However, there was also controversy around social media, in particular concerns about 'witch hunts' among
social media users while the suspects were still unknown. ... As we all try to gain perspective on the events of last
week, it is helpful to remember that this far from the first time that reporting on acts of terror has generated
mistakes and misidentifications. To the contrary, the natural impulse to identify the perpetrators of horrific acts
as quickly as possible has often led to reporting of law enforcement efforts that swept up individuals later
cleared of any wrongdoing. Examination of these situations, and the legal cases that resulted, may reveal whether
there are unique issues that can be laid at the feet of social media or if these issues appear generally in
reporting after terrorist attacks."
Jeff Hermes, Misidentifications
Past and Present: Terror, Suspicion & the Media
"As many of us clear out our CD collections and move to digital music, more and more used CDs are making their
way to garage sales, used music stores, eBay, Goodwill, and more. We don't worry about being sued for copyright
infringement, because the first sale doctrine protects this resale. Should the sale of used mp3s be treated any
differently? In other words, should the medium matter? The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
York recently decided just that, holding that the first sale doctrine does not extend to the sale of used mp3s. In
this case [Capitol Records and its owner, Vivendi] sued ReDigi for copyright infringement, alleging that ReDigi
makes and assists in making unauthorized reproductions and distributions of copyrighted works. This holding comes
at an interesting time - just a month after the USPTO granted Amazon.com a patent for a system supporting a
'secondary market for digital objects.' ... In an order from March 30th, Judge Sullivan found that in the process
of transferring the music file from the user's computer to ReDigi's Cloud Locker, an unauthorized reproduction
occurs, and the online database and sales infringe Capitol Record's distribution rights."
Kristin Bergman, Digital First
Sale: A U.S. District Court Tackles Used MP3 Sales
"There have several recent developments which mark a milestone in the evolution of social media platforms:
their acceptance as mainstream forms of communication, on equal footing with older forms of communicating official
or 'important' messages. In late February, a bill was introduced in the Texas legislature . . . which would allow
service of process -- sending initial notice of a lawsuit to the defendant -- via a message sent through a social
media site. . . . Social media as a medium of legal notices received another boost this week when the Securities
and Exchange Commission issued a report (summary) clarifying that public companies can fulfill public disclosure
requirements via social media, as long as investors are made aware of where the information is available. . . .
Other types of required legal notices would move online under bills proposed in several states. Such bills, which
would allow legal notices to be published online rather than in local newspapers, are pending in Arizona,
California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. Facebook and other social media have
infiltrated our daily lives, often taking the place of older forms of communication. So it is not surprising that
the government processes are taking these new media into account as legitimate substitutes for traditional ways of
doing things."
Eric Robinson, Social Media Goes Legit
"The Legal Committee of France's Chamber of Representatives voted unanimously on March 27 to propose to repeal
the offense of insulting the President of the Republic, which is still a crime under article 26 of the French Press
law. French Representatives will now vote on April 18 to adopt the proposal to repeal article 26, then will send
the proposal to the Senate. I wrote earlier about that odd remnant in French law of the Ancien Régime belief that
the Head of State must not be insulted, and talked about the judicial saga of Hervé Eon, a French citizen, arrested
and fined in August 2008 for having held a placard which read "casse toi pauvre con" ("get lost you a$$...") on the
side of a road where Nicolas Sarkozy, then President of France, was scheduled to pass by. Eon was found guilty of
having offended the French President, and was sentenced 30 Euros, while the maximum sentence can be as high as
45,000 Euros. He filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and he won. On March 14,
2013, the European Court of Justice held in Eon v. France that France had violated article 10 of the European
Convention of Human Rights protecting the right to freedom of expression."
Marie-Andrée Weiss, France Soon to
Say 'Get Lost' to its Criminal Offense to the President Law
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