Week of May 22, 2009 [1]
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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News from the Citizen Media Law Project...
This week, CMLP joined Public Citizen, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in submitting an amicus brief [2] in support of Yahoo!'s petition for rehearing in Barnes v. Yahoo! [3], a case in which the Ninth Circuit recently held that a plaintiff could pursue a promissory estoppel claim against Yahoo! based on an employee's promise to take down a false profile, notwithstanding the immunity for interactive computer services in section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Read more here [4].
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The latest from the Citizen Media Law Project blog...
Eric Robinson investigates the case of the blogging juror.
Web of Justice?: Jurors' Use of Social Media [5]
David Ardia makes it through the entire post without a single tea-bagging joke.
Top Conservative on Twitter Takes Critic to Court [6]
Sam Bayard details how the South Carolina AG got hoisted with his own petard.
Craigslist Sues South Carolina AG Over Threats of Criminal Prosecution [7]
Kimberley Isbell proposes additions to The Cluetrain Manifesto for politicians and their attorneys.
How to Make Your Client Look Bad, in Three Easy Steps [8]
Vanessa Fazio notes that, if Michael Jackson worked in a modern corporation, it might not be a sign of paranoia to always feel like somebody was watching him...
Employee Surveillance: How Big Brother Could Be Your Boss [9]
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Gingrich v. The Truth About EFCA.Org [10]
Posted May 22nd, 2009
Leahy v. Grasmick [11]
Posted May 21st, 2009
Colocation America v. Garga-Richardson (Lawsuit) [12]
Posted May 20th, 2009
Cintas Corp. v. UNITE HERE [13]
Posted May 19th, 2009
David v. Nourallah [14]
Posted May 19th, 2009
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Other citizen media law news...
First Amendment Center [15] - Fri. 05/22/09
Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued
Wall Street Journal [16] - Thurs. 05/21/09
Founding Bloggers prevails over CNN as YouTube restores 'Tea Party' video critique
Copyright & Campaigns [17] - Thurs. 05/21/09
EPA puts status of FOIA requests online
The FOI Advocate [18] - Thurs. 05/21/09
Bill Would Extend Shield Law to Cover Bloggers
New York Times/City Room [19] - Wed. 05/20/09
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The full(er) Brief...
"At the start of a trial, the judge usually reads to jurors general instructions about how the trial will proceed. The instructions also tell jurors how they should behave during the trial, including the admonition that they should not discuss the case with others, including both trial participants and outsiders. But in recent years, several courts have had to deal with jurors using social media -- such as blogs and text messaging -- during trials. Although this has arisen in a surprising number of cases, so far it appears that no court has overturned a jury verdict or ordered a new trial because of such activity. The rationale behind the standard instructions to jurors about not speaking about the case is that they shoud consider only the evidence presented in court, which must meet the rules and standards that courts impose. . . ."
Eric Robinson, Web of Justice?: Jurors' Use of Social Media [5]
"Shortly after the election last November, a call went out within the conservative blogosphere to use Twitter to organize conservatives online. Not long thereafter, Michael Patrick Leahy and Rob Neppell started the website Top Conservatives on Twitter and pushed like-minded conservatives to use the Twitter hashtag #TCOT (the # allows twitterers to tag their tweets so others can easily search for the term on Twitter), which quickly caught on with the Tax Day Tea Party crowd. When internal disagreements forced Leahy and Neppell to go their separate ways, many liberal-leaning sites crowed Top Conservatives on Twitter FAIL. Among the sites that reveled in the conservative breakup was Teablogging.net, an anonymous blog created 'to chronicle the lead-up to the April 15 conservative hysteria Tax Day Tea Parties and to serve as a central repository for low-brow teabag-related sex jokes,' which started referring to the TCOT acronym as 'Teabagger Catfight On Twitter' and labeled Leahy a 'notorious douchenozzle.' (Can you tell this story isn't going to end well?) . . . . Stung by the deluge of criticism, Leahy filed a lawsuit earlier this week against Stephanie Grasmick, claiming that she is the author behind Teablogging, as well as Twitter user "Duke St. Journal" and 25 anonymous Twitter users, alleging libel, false light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference with contract. . . ."
David Ardia, Top Conservative on Twitter Takes Critic to Court [6]
"Tired of being bullied by South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, craigslist is going on the offensive. CEO Jim Buckmaster announced on the craigslist blog today that that craigslist is suing McMaster in South Carolina federal court, seeking 'declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against craigslist and its executives.' In early May, McMaster threatened the website and its executives with 'criminal investigation and prosecution' unless it removed those portions of the site 'containing categories for and functions allowing for the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material' by May 15, 2009. It seems McMaster wasn't placated by craigslist's decision last week to drop its 'erotic services' section after talks with other state AGs. On Friday (the May 15 deadline), he announced that he had 'no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution' because the website 'continues to display advertisements for prostitution and graphic pornographic material.' According to Buckmaster, McMaster made additional remarks on Sunday upping the ante. . . ."
Sam Bayard, Craigslist Sues South Carolina AG Over Threats of Criminal Prosecution [7]
"Courtesy of counsel for Newt Gingrich and Saul Anuzis. (1) Demonstrate a complete failure to understand how the relevant technology works. The whole dustup started when a Twitter user going by the handle EFCANOW tweeted the following tweet: 'Join @newtgingrich @sanuzis in signing the EFCA Freedom Not Fear petition at http://action.americanright... WSJ.' As most Twitter users know, use of the '@' symbol followed by someone's Twitter username is a means of directing a particular comment or reply to that user. This feature enables a Twitter user to draw third parties into the conversation. In a clear case of 'be careful what you wish for,' EFCANOW's tweet not only brought Gingrich and Anuzis into the conversation, but also raised the ire of the pair's lawyer. One week after the original tweet, the pair's lawyer fired off a cease and desist letter directed to the owner of the website linked to in EFCANOW's tweet, as well as Tucows, the registrar of the associated domain name. In a sign of the, um, 'creative lawyering' to come, the letter starts off by demanding the removal of the tweet, 'which falsely purports to be written by our clients.' Technology 1, Lawyer 0. . . ."
Kimberley Isbell, How to Make Your Client Look Bad, in Three Easy Steps [8]
"When it comes to employee surveillance, will your electronic communications be spared from your employer's watchful eye? The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey will soon consider this question in the context of social networks. Two Houston restaurant employees are suing their former employer, alleging their termination was based on their boss improperly accessing personal comments they made outside of work on a private, password-protected social network: MySpace. See Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group, Docket No. 2:06-cv-05754 (D.N.J. 2008). Given the limitations that federal and state laws place on an employer's monitoring authority, it is unlikely the court will hold that Houston's authority includes private online communications on a social network such as MySpace. Employers should be cautious when walking the fine line between authorized employee-monitoring activities and private employee communications, as surveillance on social networks may expose them to potential legal liability. . . ."
Vanessa A. Fazio, Employee Surveillance: How Big Brother Could Be Your Boss [9]
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