Illinois case greater threat to bloggers seeking protection of shield laws

The Oregon case denying a blogger protection under the state;’s shield is of minor concern writes Eric P. Robinson for the Citizen Media Law Project. A greater threat lies in a recent decision in Illinois. In that case the Cook County court ruled that an online news source that posted blogs on technology did not [...]

Citizens Media Law Project explains decision in Oregon blogger’s defamation lawsuit

Commentary about the decision a federal judge made in a defamation suit about a blogger not protected by the Oregon shield law is based on an erroneous reading of the decision, writes Eric P. Robinson for the Citizens Media Law Project. “He did not deny Cox the protection of the shield law primarily because she [...]

Opinion: Google and others can perform a great public service by identifying online ‘journalism’

Writing in ZDNet, Sam Diaz says that Google, Facebook and Twitter have the information that could enable them with the help of the analysis of real journalists to identify which blog sites, tweets and news outlets should be labeled “journalism.” Diaz says “news” is different from “journalism” and the latter must be identified and labeled [...]

Ferment of new sportswriting invading web

Writing for the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, Tim Carmody describes current sports reporting on the internet as innovative and exciting. He notes a number of recent aggregations, blogs and other presentations including the literary that allow the reader faster, more convenient access and promise an even richer involvement in the sports scene. Carmody [...]

Discovery Rule for Libel Doesn’t Apply to Blogs, Says Federal Judge

Aviation lawyer and seasoned pilot Arthur Alan Wolk knows quite a bit about the stratosphere and the troposphere, but he may have learned something new this week about the blogosphere when a federal judge tossed out his libel suit against the bloggers at Overlawyered.com. The National Law Journal August 6, 2010 By Shannon P. Duffy [...]

Olympic athletes allowed to twitter

Despite the International Olympic Committee’s confusion about blogs and journalism, it appears that Olympic athletes will be allowed much greater freedom to tweet from the games than previously thought. -db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary February 9, 2010 By Arthur Bright Rejoice, all ye Olympian fans, the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) has said that its athletes [...]

Stifling criticism: Ralph Lauren concedes on attempted copyright takedown

A blog called Boing Boing won a battle against Ralph Lauren that began when it attacked a Ralph Lauren ad that it felt presented distorted images of women’s bodies, reprinting the ad at issue. Lauren countered with accusations that the blog violated copyright in printing the ad which contained a  photo and sent DMCA a [...]

New Defense Department policy may allow troops to tweet and blog

In the face of a raft of military prohibitions against social networks. a new draft policy recognizes the power of the networks and seeks to balance the risks with the gains. -DB Wired Commentary September 29, 2009 By Noah Shachtman The Defense Department may allow troops and military employees to freely access social networks — if [...]

California case: Middle way may create burdens for those trying to unmask anonymous commenters

The Assistant Director of the Citizen Media Law Project writes that it’s difficult to decide whether a judge’s creative solution in a case involving anonymous commenters is praiseworthy and likens the ruling to Solomon’s “splitting the baby.” -DB Citizen Media Law Project Analysis September 16, 2009 By Sam Bayard It’s amazing how many times you [...]

Iran gains edge in diet wars as blogger loses weight in jail

According to the Iranian government, a leading cleric-blogger has attained self-improvement by slimming down in prison. Says CMLP blogger Andrew Moshirnia, this success may cause a stampede in the U.S. to emulate Iranian weight-loss practices. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Commentary September 15, 2009 By Andrew Moshirnia A little while back, I wrote about the [...]

UC Davis case: Judge suggests avenue to determine identity of anonymous bloggers

Although a Sacramento judge ruled substantially in favor of a blog operator who was trying to keep secret the identities of his bloggers, she also said the plaintiff in the case could hire someone to conduct a search for the identities. -DB The Sacramento Bee September 14, 2009 By Hudson Sangree Those anonymous comments you’ve [...]

Student’s blogs prove unpalatable at Stanford’s education school

While professing to adhere to standards of intellectual freedom, Stanford’s School of Education found it difficult to work with one of their older students who is outspoken in opposing the school’s progressive policies. -DB The Washington Post Commentary July 22, 2009 By Jay Mathews Michele Kerr (she tells me it is pronounced “cur”) is a hard-working [...]

Associated Press taking hard line on use of its content

A.P. is adding new software to each of its articles to track how the article is used in an aggressive move to gain more profit from its stories. -DB The New York Times July 24, 2009 By Richard Perez-Pena Taking a new hard line that news articles should not turn up on search engines and Web [...]