Week of May 29, 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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The latest from the Citizen Media Law Project blog...
Arthur Bright reads the tea leaves for Obama's SCOTUS nominee.
A View of Judge Sonia Sotomayor From Cyberspace [2]
David Ardia casts a weary eye on the latest pro se complaint against Google.
Inventor of Vibrating Toilet Seat Sues Google Over Allegedly Defamatory Search Results [3]
Kimberley Isbell worries about Google's lawyers loosing sleep.
It's Time to Update the Lanham Act for the 21st Century [4]
Arthur Bright applauds the New York legislature's latest foray into media shield law territory.
NY Legislature Proactively Considering Whether Shield Law Applies to Bloggers? How Novel! [5]
Sam Bayard gives us the run-down on the latest in the SC AG v. Craigslist embroglio.
South Carolina Attorney General Agrees to Temporary Restraining Order in Craigslist Suit [6]
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Wilson v. McCollum [7]
Posted May 29th, 2009
La Russa v. Twitter, Inc. [8]
Posted May 29th, 2009
Henry v. Google [9]
Posted May 28th, 2009
Doherty Enterprises, Inc. v. Murray [10]
Posted May 26th, 2009
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Other citizen media law news...
Illinois Judge Orders Disclosure of Anonymous Commenters
The Newsroom Law Blog [11] - Wed. 5/27/09
Blogger jailed for contempt in Smith case
Houston Chronicle [12] - Wed. 5/27/09
Texas shield law already getting a workout
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [13] - Wed. 5/27/09
Chinese academic wins court fight over website closed by censors
guardian.co.uk [14] - Mon. 5/25/09
STOP Censorship: Sudan Government tries to issue law on journalism
Mideast Youth [15] - Sun. 5/24/09
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The full(er) Brief...
"With Obama's pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, the press has been snuffling through her record to find out where she stands on all sorts of hot-button topics. Little has been written in the popular press about what she might mean for areas of interest to our readers, such as copyright and online speech (the RCFP just put out a great report summarizing her First Amendment and freedom of information opinions). Still, there's enough to get a sense of how her appointment might ripple through cyberspace, and unfortunately, there are a few red flags. . . . "
Arthur Bright, A View of Judge Sonia Sotomayor From Cyberspace [2]
"From the we-aren't-making-this-up-department: Johnny I. Henry, an inventor of the vibrating toilet seat, filed a lawsuit last week against Google, Inc. and AOL, claiming that search results delivered by Google and hosted by AOL are defamatory. In his pro se complaint, Henry, who is African-American, asserts that Google's search results include links to, and snippets of text from, sites that contain pictures of him with captions containing a racial epithet. According to InformationWeek: 'Had Henry chosen to use Google with the SafeSearch preference set to 'Use strict filtering,' he wouldn't have seen the sites and been offended. That's because the sites in question appear to host sexual content. . . .'"
David Ardia, Inventor of Vibrating Toilet Seat Sues Google Over Allegedly Defamatory Search Results [3]
"Congress has (admirably) made an effort to clarify the legal liability faced by Internet service providers for content posted by users in some areas (see, e.g., Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Yet the so-called 'innocent infringer' provisions of the Lanham Act, codified in Section 32 (which was last amended in 1988), still stop woefully short of providing a sufficient safeharbor for online service providers like Twitter, Google or the Internet Archive. . . . For example, §32(2)(a) provides insulation against monetary damages for those 'engaged solely in the business of printing the mark or violating matter for others.' While this section is clearly aimed at protecting companies that use a mark in commerce only at the direction of a third party, the argument that Twitter or Google are engaged in 'printing the mark' for others is probably, at best, a strained reading of the statutory language. . . ."
Kimberley Isbell, It's Time to Update the Lanham Act for the 21st Century [4]
"As anyone who's been faithfully reading the CMLP blog knows, the law hasn't been particularly good at dealing with the intersection of media shield laws and bloggers. Although there seems to be a modest trend towards application of shield laws to anonymous commenters on news stories, the judiciary's application of shield laws to bloggers has been pretty hit and miss (and sometimes avoided all together). That makes the efforts of a couple New York legislators to proactively address the problem a most welcome change. According to The New York Times, State Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal have submitted a bill that would extend the protections of New York's robust media shield law to bloggers. . . . As the Times notes, the problem with the current law isn't so much the portion cited above, which arguably does protect blogs as a 'medium ... which has as one of its main functions the dissemination of news to the public.' Rather, the problem is that bloggers are not necessarily 'professional journalists.' Section 79-h (a)(6) states that a 'professional journalist' is one who is engaged in news gathering and publication 'for gain or livelihood.' Thus, the many bloggers who don't get paid for their efforts are left out in the cold. . . ."
Arthur Bright, NY Legislature Proactively Considering Whether Shield Law Applies to Bloggers? How Novel! [5]
"Today, a federal district court in South Carolina issued a consent order temporarily restraining South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster from 'initiating or pursuing any prosecution against craigslist or its officers and employees in relation to content posted by third parties on craigslist's website.' The order specifies that it is issued 'by agreement of the parties.' It will remain in place until the court rules on the merits of craigslist's claims. . . ."
Sam Bayard, South Carolina Attorney General Agrees to Temporary Restraining Order in Craigslist Suit [6]
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