Week of May 7, 2010 [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...
Out of the Lab and Into the Fray, Scientists and Science Writers Talk About the New Media Environment [2] [3]
CMLP Staff has the latest on the Gizmodo brouhaha.
Sam Bayard and Eric Goldman Discuss Gizmodo iPhone Flap on Lawyer2Lawyer [3]
CMLP Staff pats itself and its amicus partners on the back.
New Hampshire Supreme Court Upholds Free Speech Rights for Online News Sites [4]
Sam Bayard reports on a win for free speech up in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Supreme Court Rules Website Covered By State Reporter's Privilege [5]
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Righthaven LLC v. PLAN
[6]Posted May 7, 2009
Righthaven LLC v. Farnham [7]
Posted May 7, 2010
Google/Youtube v. Greg Sandoval [8]
Posted May 7, 2010
Fisher v. Offit [9]
Posted May 6, 2010
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Other citizen media law news...
Online posts that could get you sued; The Law Behind Social Networking Defamation
FOX 25 [10] - 5/6/2010
Should journalists out each other's sources?
The Washington Post [11] - 5/6/2010
Judge Rules Post on Cop-Rating Site is Protected Speech
Wired [12] - 5/5/2010
Troubling Ruling About 47 USC 230 and Moderators--Cornelius v. DeLuca
Technology & Marketing Blog [13] - 5/5/2010
Faisal Shahzad Facebook mixup highlights hazards of Web journalism
Christian Science Monitor [14] - 5/4/2010
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The full(er) Brief...
"Last Friday, the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Science, Technology & Society hosted a conference to discuss science journalism online. Alongside scientists and science journalists, Sam Bayard and Kimberley Isbell from the Citizen Media Law Project discussed the roles and responsibilities of science journalists and scientists who write online. . . . As the day ended, there was a call to arms of sorts for scientists and journalists to collaborate and improve the communication of scientific knowledge and information to the general public. . . . Where the topics have become politicized, like for climate change, evolution, vaccine safety, and healthcare reform, the debates are highly charged. The science journalists and scientists weighing in as experts get caught in the fray. Elbows are thrown. Feelings are bruised. Lawsuits ensue. A recent example of this was the lawsuit filed by Barbara Loe Fisher, an anti-vaccines activist, against Dr. Paul Offit, a prominent pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, Conde Nast Publications and Amy Wallace for an article on the recent debate over vaccine safety. . . ."
Helen Fu, Out of the Lab and Into the Fray, Scientists and Science Writers Talk About the New Media Environment [2]
"The technology and legal world was abuzz over an incident involving a prototype of the iPhone 4G. An Apple engineer allegedly left behind the iPhone, which eventually ended up in the hands of Gizmodo.com, a technology weblog. After pictures surfaced on the Gizmodo site, a search of a Gizmodo editor's home and computer was issued. Attorneys and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Sam Bayard, the Assistant Director of the Citizen Media Law Project and Eric Goldman, Director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, to discuss the legal issues behind this complex debacle. They look at the shield law, the validity of the search warrant and the legal battle that could possibly lie ahead."
CMLP Staff, Sam Bayard and Eric Goldman Discuss Gizmodo iPhone Flap on Lawyer2Lawyer [3]
"The New Hampshire Supreme Court today issued an important decision upholding the First Amendment rights of online publishers. Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic submitted an amicus curiae brief last June on behalf of the Citizen Media Law Project and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in the case, The Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc. The reasoning of today's ruling mirrored arguments in the amicus brief, as the Court concluded that a lower court's injunction preventing a website from posting a leaked document was an unlawful prior restraint on speech. . . ."
CMLP Staff, New Hampshire Supreme Court Upholds Free Speech Rights for Online News Sites [4]
"This morning, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire handed down an important decision holding that a mortgage industry website, The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter, is entitled to protection under the state's reporter's privilege. The case is Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc., which was argued before the New Hampshire Supreme Court last fall. . . . In the part of the decision dealing with the reporter's privilege, the state high court ruled that New Hampshire's qualified reporter's privilege applied to Implode-O-Meter and could protect the identity of the source who provided the loan document. . . . The New Hampshire decision is timely given recent interest in the question of whether online news organizations count as journalists for shield law purposes, an issue raised by the police raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home two weeks ago. . . ."
Sam Bayard, New Hampshire Supreme Court Rules Website Covered By State Reporter's Privilege [5]
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