Federal judge dismisses ‘cyber libel’ suit

A federal district court judge ruled that the federal Communications Decency Act protected a news station from charges of libel after it allowed readers to post comments about a news anchor’s arrest for cocaine possession. A grand jury subsequently voted not to indict her. -db
Online Media Daily
September 1, 2010
By Wendy Davis
A federal court [...]

Juror fined for premature Facebook posting that defendant guilty

A juror who had posted that a defendant was guilty before the jury announced a verdict will have to pay a $250 fine and write an essay on the right to a fair trial. -db
The Detroit News
September 2, 2010
By Candice Williams
MOUNT CLEMONS, Mich. — A woman who was removed from a jury for [...]

First Amendment Kiss-Off** to Craigslist

A First Amendment kiss-off**  to Craigslist, which is resisting the demands of seventeen state attorneys general (but not including California’s Jerry Brown) that it shut down the website’s “adult services” section because, claim the AGs, it continues to promote prostitution and child-trafficking despite the site owners’ introduction of vetting (by lawyers, no less!) of sexually-oriented [...]

California: Lawsuit against Facebook alleges violation of law forbidding use of minor’s names and faces

A 1971 California law forbids publication of minors’ names and photos in ads without consent of parents, bringing into question Facebook’s use of the “like” button that turns minors into endorsers of brands or ads. -db
Onlne Media Daily
August 30, 2010
By Wendy Davis
A new lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly violating a California law banning the use [...]

Instruction in social media essential in journalism education

According to an online news pioneer, modern journalism students do not naturally see the social media as an important aspect of their professional repertoire. -db
MediaShift
August 30, 2010
By Alfred Hermida
Social media is such a new phenomenon that it is easy for someone to claim to be an expert in the subject. A search on Twitter [...]

Federal government seems set to appeal ruling that indecency rules unconstitutional

The Federal Communications Commission wants the 2nd circuit appeals court to put off a decision of a fine for nudity against ABC for a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue to give it time to decide whether to appeal an earlier 2nd circuit ruling that its indecency standard was unconstitutionally vague. -db
Broadcasting & Cable
August 24, 2010
[...]

Former Alaska Airlines employee loses whistleblower suit

In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court of California rejected a whistleblower suit on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to request an administrative hearing recommended by the U.S. Department of Labor. -db
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
August 24, 2010f
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A former airline employee whose whistleblower complaint was rejected in federal administrative proceedings, and who [...]

A&A: The same agenda items on regular and “special meeting” agendas held minutes apart

Q: We had our regular agenda posted 72 hours before our city council meeting. The Mayor then called for a special meeting and moved several of the items on the regular agenda to the special meeting agenda. One of the items was an a sales tax increase which required an unanimous vote.
I never opened the [...]

Security researcher in India arrested for refusing to reveal anonymous source

An Indian computer scientist was arrested for refusing to disclose an anonymous source who gave an electronic voting machine to a team of security researchers who discovered that despite the Election Commission’s denials were prone to compromise. -db
Electronic Freedom Foundation
Commentary
August 22, 2010
By Marcia Hofmann
An Indian computer scientist was arrested this weekend when he refused to [...]

Porterville City Council rejects proposal to limit public comments

The Porterville City Council decided not to restrict public comments to those items on the agenda even though members of the community wanted to comment on the agenda would have to wait their turn.
California’s open meeting law says the public has a right to comment on issues before government agencies make decisions. -db
The Porterville Recorder
August [...]

Experts have reservations but say social media helps journalists

Experts agree that among other things social media can help journalists to develop stronger relationships with their readers, find sources quickly, reach a wider audience and do on-the-spot  reporting more effectively. -db
MediaShift
August 16, 2010
By Sandra Ordonez
OurBlook.com has been conducting an ongoing interview series on the current and future role of journalism and social media. [...]

Pulitzer winner Point Reyes Light trailblazes new financial plan

The Point Reyes Light, a small community newspaper in rural Northern California, is trying a new ownership model which they hope will allow them to operate as if they were for-profit but accept tax-deductible donations and foundation money. -db
Editor & Publisher
Analysis
August 12, 2010
By Mark Fitzgerald
CHICAGO – For the past couple of years there’s been a [...]

Lawsuit Filed Over Airport Scanner Privacy, Health Concerns

A public interest group has filed a lawsuit against the federal government demanding the suspension of the full-body scanners increasingly being used in airports nationwide.
TechNews Daily
August 6, 2010
By Samantha Murphy
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, D.C., which filed the lawsuit last month against the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) [...]

BlackBerry CEO says government intrusion would hurt growth of electronic commerce

Research In Motion CEO Michael Lazaridis says government who want to ban BlackBerry smartphones says his company will not allow government access to customer data and that attempts to invade privacy of users will undermine electronic commerce. -db
Wall Street Journal
August 4, 2010
By Spencer E. Ante and Phred Dvorak
Research In Motion Ltd. co-CEO Michael [...]

Warrantless surveillance: Law project blogger challenges cozy cooperation between FBI and internet providers

A Citizen Media Law Project blogger argues that the FBI is using National Security letters to obtain Internet records of various individuals to skirt the need for a warrant and that ISPs are all too willing to forego challenging the requests. -db
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
August 2nd, 2010
By Andrew Moshirnia
I love reading Shel Silverstein’s The Giving [...]

Apps Unchained: Copyright ruling legalizes smartphone ‘jailbreaks’

How smart is your smartphone?  Until yesterday your phone’s IQ was decided by the manufacturer (i.e., Apple) and/or wireless service provider (i.e., AT&T).  Monday the Library of Congress, responsible for making copyright decisions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, made it legal to break the restrictions coded into smartphones–such as which apps you’re [...]

British Petroleum caught doctoring oil spill photos

BP admits it ‘Photoshopped’ official images as oil spill ‘cut and paste’ row escalates
British Petroleum caught doctoring oil spill photos
To try to recoup some vestige of public confidence, BP has ordered their staff to stop photoshopping images of the gulf of Mexico oil spill. db
London Telegraph
July 22, 2010
By Andrew Hough
BP has ordered staff to stop [...]

No Supreme Court ruling against patenting business methods

The Supreme Court failed to reach a majority decision ending the practice of patenting business methods claimed by some to hurt commerce and academic pursuits. -db
Cnet News
Guest Column
June 28, 2010
By Larry Downes

Those who hoped the Supreme Court today would finally end the scourge of so-called business method patents will have to wait a little longer.
In [...]

A&A: Shining A Light on Secretive Golf-Course Committee

Q: In our California community a golf course authority has been set up with a board of directors that is composed of city staff members (subordinates of the city manager), the city manager, an appointee of the city manager, and an appointee of the development company that developed the area around [...]

YouTube plans clandestine citizen video journalism project

YouTube is developing a journalism project in San Francisco using citizen journalists with smart phones to link with professional journalists to get the news out through video. -db

Online Media Daily
June 18, 2010
By Gavin O’Malley
YouTube is working on some clandestine journalism project in San Francisco, according SFWeekly, citing a report bySFAppeal blogger Eve Batey.
Batey herself [...]

Apple v. New York Times on removing iPad app

Wired writer Ryan Singel says the New York Times is acting unreasonably in asking Apple to remove a news reader iPad app from its online store. -db
Wired
Commentary
June 10, 2010
By Ryan Singel

The New York Times tried this week to get Apple to remove a news reader iPad app from its online store, and Apple seems to [...]

Army arrests intelligence analyst for feeding Wikileaks videos of attacks killing civilians

Army investigators have arrested a 22-year-old intelligence analyst based in Iraq for providing Wikileaks with classified combat video and thousands of classified State Department diplomatic cables. -db
Wired
June 6, 2010
By Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter

Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of [...]

Site allows public comment on new airline rule

A site launched at Cornell University allows the public to use Web 2.0 to comment on a rule announced this week requiring airlines to increase compensation to passengers bumped from flights, end fees for canceling reservations within 24 hours and disclose baggage fees fully. -db

NextGov
June 2, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
Cornell University launched an interactive website [...]

Media claims BP blocking access to gulf oil slick

News photographers are saying that government officials working with British Petroleum are denying them access to both the oil disaster area and the beaches and marches affected by the spreading oil. -db

PR Watch.org
May 27, 2010
News photographers are saying that their efforts to document the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are being [...]

Apple’s vetting of iPhone apps may be ham-handed, but it’s not illegal

BY PETER SCHEER—In the beginning there was the internet. It was raw, ungovernable and vast in its multiplicity of voices. Then came the Apple iPhone (and more recently, the iPad), offering a curated internet experience, using “apps” vetted by Apple for conformity to company standards for content and quality.
Millions of Apple i-device users [...]

Federal government challenges public to solve problems facing country

As part of the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative, the General Services Administration will run contests with cash prizes to involve the public in solving real problems in government. -db
Wired
May 27, 2010
By Eliot Van Buskirk
The government’s prize-based challenge challenge system for crowdsourcing solutions to the government’s problems, announced Thursday, is one of several recent [...]

FAC, media coalition win unsealing of search warrant affidavit in Gizmodo/iPhone matter

The media coalition organized by the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) has been successful in securing disclosure of the search warrant affidavit used to search an online journalist’s home for evidence concerning the Gizmodo/Apple/missing iPhone investigation.  Joining FAC in the unsealing motion were the Associated Press, Wired.com, Bloomberg News, CNET, the LA Times and the California [...]

Transparency survey ranks NASA on top and the Department of Justice on the bottom

An independent audit of the open government plans of  federal government agencies showed that NASA, HUD and EPA had performed well and DOJ and OMB poorly. The performance of the Office of Management and Budget disappointed the auditors since the agency is spearheading Obama’s transparency initiative. -db

OMB Watch
Press Release
May 3, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A ranking [...]

Electronic Frontier Foundation says Gizmodo editor protected by California law and First Amendment

The Civil Liberties Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation says regardless of suspicions that Gizmodo editor Jason Chen was in possession of a stolen iPhone, under the California shield law and the federal Privacy Protection Act, the police search of his home and seizure of his computers was illegal. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Legal Analysis
April 28 2010
By [...]

Washington jury finds for high school newspaper in privacy case over oral sex practices

A jury ruled 10-2 that there was a degree of newsworthiness in a news story on oral sex practices in a high school so that there was no violation of students’ privacy. -db

Student Press Law Center
April 22, 2010
By Katie Maloney
WASHINGTON — A Pierce County jury found in favor of the Puyallup School District on Wednesday, [...]

Open government advocates sue California State University campus over lack of transparency on Palin contract

Californians Aware is suing Cal State Stanislaus over their failure to provide documents about the fee they are paying Sarah Palin to speak at a June 25 fundraiser. They claim that the public’s right to know outweighs privacy concerns. -db

San Francisco Chronicle
April 17, 2010
By Nanette Asimov
In the latest salvo in the brouhaha over Sarah Palin’s [...]

City says names of finalists for city job are exempt from the CPRA

Q: I have always been told that the identities of the finalists for a city job are off-limits because it is a personnel matter that is protected. Is that correct, and if so, what can we know about in these types of proceedings?
A: Identities of applicants for public employment might be [...]

Federal Court rules Virginia can ban alcohol ads in college publications

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Virginia’s law restricting ads for alcoholic drinks in college publications did not unfairly violate free press rights of students in that the law was tailored to achieve the legitimate object of fighting underage and abusive drinking on campuses. -db
Student Press Law Center
April 9, 2010
By Nicole Ocran
VIRGINIA– The [...]

Law school opens web site to solicit public comment on new laws

Cornell Law School has established a new experimental web site to generate citizen participation. In its first case, it is soliciting public input on a proposal to ban texting by interstate commercial truck and bus drivers. -db

NextGov
April 1, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood praised the program for promoting “more effective citizen participation.”

The Transportation [...]

California: Transparency issue surfaces over Palin’s speaking fee at state university

A California state senator is protesting the lack of disclosure over former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s speaking fee at California State University Stanislaus in June. Her fee will be paid by a public university foundation that raises money to support education at the campus. -db
San Francisco Chronicle
March 30, 2010
By Nanette Asimov
Sarah Palin is expected to [...]

Privacy: Internet freedom advocates want more protections for cell phone users

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined a broad coalition of groups  recommending the strengthening  of the federal law regulating government access to private phone and Internet communication. The law upholding privacy rights was written 25 years ago, and among other things the coalition wants it to take into consideration the huge surge in cell phone [...]

Big Brother challenge: Foundation presses for protections after school webcam surveillance scandal

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week to argue for new privacy protections after a Pennsylvania school allegedly conducted secret video surveillance of their students while they were at home. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
March 25, 2010
PHILADELPHIA – On Monday, March 29, at 10 a.m., the Subcommittee on Crime and [...]

Google leaves China over differences on censorship

As expected, Google closed its Internet search service in China and began directing its users to the as yet uncensored service in Hong Kong. -db
The New York Times
March 22, 2010
By Miguel Helft and David Barboza

SAN FRANCISCO — Just over two months after threatening to leave China because of censorship and intrusions from hackers, Google on [...]

Free speech: Supreme Court reaffirms ban on death row interviews

The Supreme Court will not hear the case of a death row inmate who claimed his First Amendment rights were violated by a federal policy that banned interviews with death row inmates. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 8, 2010
By Curry Andrews
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear the [...]

Survey shows online news supplanting print media as third most popular news venue

A survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 61 percent of readers get news online compared to 50 percent who regularly read newspapers. Seventy-eight perent view local news channels and 71 percent get news from national TV networks. -db
BBC News
March 1, 2010

Online news has become more popular than reading newspapers in the US, according [...]

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