Study on frequency of jurors using social media disputed

A recent study concluded that use of social media by jurors is infrequent with the implication that the practice is not a growing problem, but Eric P. Robinson, writing for the Citizen Media Law Center, says that the study takes a far too optimistic stance on the issue. Given the rampant use of the social [...]

Supreme Court declines to rule on student free speech on Internet

Despite split rulings in two federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear arguments on whether school officials can regulate the off-campus speech of students on the Internet. Two of the three cases under consideration concerned parodies directed at principals while the third involved cruel words directed at another student. -db From the [...]

Pennsylvania schools want U.S. Supreme Court to clarify issues involving student speech on Internet

Two Pennsylvania school districts have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of decisions holding that the schools violated the First Amendment rights of students by punishing them for criticizing their principals on the social media. There are several issues the school want addressed including whether the schools can regulate off-campus speech including vulgarities [...]

Student appeals case involving online speech to U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide if it will hear a case from West Virginia in which a student was disciplined for making hurtful comments about another student on MySpace. Citing Tinker v. Des Moines, the administration said the comments could cause disruption at school. The student’s petition asks the Court to decide if the [...]

Student free speech takes another pasting in ruling on Internet postings

A federal appeals court ruled that students can be punished at school for their postings on MySpace even if the postings are made off campus in the students’ own time. The court found that the postings were disruptive to the school according to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines. Frank LoMonte, [...]

Internet freedom reaffirmed in recent Chicago case

While the Blockowicz parents suffered greatly from scurrilous posts about their daughter, First Amendment Center’s Douglas Lee says their attempt to force a website to remove the posts was rightly denied in federal court thus making the internet “an even freer environment for speech.” -db First Amendment Center Commentary January 27, 2011 By Douglas Lee [...]

TechCrunch alleges Wall Street Journal withheld articles on MySpace

TechCrunch commentator Michael Arrington says that the Wall Street Journal published some articles recently about an alleged breach of privacy by Facebook but in doing so did not mention their sister company MySpace perhaps because the information might compromise a relaunch of the MySpace site. -db TechCrunch Commentary October 22, 2010 By Michael Arrington A [...]

California appeals court upholds conviction for fake e-mails

A California appeals court showed little sympathy for a woman who sent fake e-mails to herself in an attempt to influence a court proceeding in a family law dispute. -db Technology & Marketing Law Blog August 08, 2010 By Venkat People v. Heeter, B213696 (Cal. Ct. App.) (Aug. 2, 2010) Background: In a criminal prosecution [...]

U.S. appeals court deciding if high school students can parody administrators online

A Pennsylvania federal court is deciding if adolescents can be punished for ridiculing school principals online using lewd and outrageous language. -db The Philadelphia Inquirer June 4, 2010 By Nathan Gorenstein A federal appeals court in Philadelphia is considering whether adolescents with home computers and lewd vocabularies can be punished for ridiculing school principals on [...]

Student First Amendment rights get lost in school’s policing of off-campus postings on social media

A blogger from the Citizen Media Law Project argues that school authorities are over reaching in many instances in punishing students for off-campus speech. In many instances the speech has no disruptive effect on the school or falls short of creating a hostile school environment. -db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary March 17, 2010 By Justin [...]

First Amendment groups petition federal appeals court for favorable ruling on student online speech

Conflicting court rulings have prompted First Amendment groups to ask for clarification about  when students can be disciplined for off -campus online speech that is  not a part of school activities. -db Student Press Law Center Press Release March 9, 2010 The Student Press Law Center, a national non-profit devoted to defending student journalists’ First [...]

Courtroom bans on social media spreading across United States

The U.S. court system is rapidly adopting rules against the use of social media in the courtroom. Jurors are increasingly instructed to stay off Facebook and Twitter and refrain from using the Internet to research cases. -db Online Media Daily March 10, 2010 By Laurie Sullivan No tweeting or status updates in court or deliberation [...]

Appeals panels in Pennsylvania rule in contradictory ways on student on-line speech

Free speech advocates are mulling over the decisions of two three-judge panel in appeals courts for the Third Circuit as the panels ruled separately that a student had the right to speak freely off-campus and that the school had a right to punish students for off-campus speech they deemed disruptive to the school. -db Student Press [...]

Indiana high School students sue after school imposed penalties for posting racy photos on internet

Two sophomores from an Indiana high school were barred from afterschool sports for the 2009-2010 school year when the administration objected to sexually provocative images of themselves the girls posted on MySpace. The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a suit against the school, arguing that the posting was not disruptive and therefore violated the [...]

Judge overturns expulsion of student for online posting

Avoiding the First Amendment issues, a judge ruled that a University of Louisville nursing student could not be expelled for her blog post which the university said had violated the nursing Honor Code and the childbirth course Confidentiality Agreement. -DB Citizen Media Law Project August 12, 2009 By Lee Baker Once again, the powers that [...]