Second Circuit rules: Making ‘hot news’ does not give right to control distribution

Online news aggregators can breath a little easier after yesterday’s ruling by Judge Robert D. Sack who authored the opinion in Barclays Capital v theflyonthewall.com.  The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that the flyonthewall.com blog  can report on the securities brokerages’ stock recommendations as soon as it learns of them, as [...]

Facebook Fights Privacy Concerns

The launch of Facebook Inc.’s Places location service this week sparked new privacy concerns about the popular social network. But the company’s efforts to mollify critics before the launch stemmed some of the blowback. August 25, 2010 The Wall Street Journal By Geoffrey A. Fowler Places is a feature that lets users share their physical [...]

Google ignites debate about privacy

Internet giant Google has sparked a fiery privacy debate this week by claiming future teenagers will need to change their names when they reach adulthood to escape embarrassing online pasts. The Courier Mail August 20, 2010 By Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson In a warning experts have labelled hypocritical, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company knew “roughly [...]

Google CEO: Online Anonymity Is Dangerous

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said anonymity on the Internet is dangerous, according to a report in the Huffington Post. August 11, 2010 By International Business Times In an interview with CNBC conducted at the Techonomy conference earlier this month, Schmidt offered an additional look at his views on online privacy and  anonymity, says the [...]

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 [...]

Lawmakers Seek Answers on Online Tracking

U.S. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, are seeking information about the privacy practice of the 15 websites that the Wall Street Journal has identified as installing the most tracking technology on their visitors’ computers. The Wall Street Journal Blog August 5, 2010 By Julia Angwin The representatives, who co-chair the House Bi-Partisan [...]

Franken: Net neutrality is foremost free speech issue of our time

Commentary from Sen. Al Franken, elected to the Senate as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from Minnesota. CNN Opinion August 5, 2010 CNN Editor’s note: He was sworn in July 2009 after a statewide hand recount. Before he joined the Senate, he spent 37 years as a comedy writer, author and radio talk show [...]

New Law Shields Online Media from Foreign Judgments

With passage of the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act, or theSPEECH Act, media companies will be protected against U.S. enforcement of foreign libel judgments when such judgments would conflict with First Amendment protections. Television and Broadcast August 5, 2010 WASHINGTON: The bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) [...]

Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age

At Rhode Island College, a freshman copied and pasted from a Web site’s frequently asked questions page about homelessness — and did not think he needed to credit a source in his assignment because the page did not include author information. The New York Times News August 2, 2010 By Trip Gabriel At DePaul University, [...]

N.C. court won’t force newspaper to I.D. online commentator

A North Carolina judge has ruled that news organizations do not have to release the identities of people who make comments on their online news articles. News August 2, 2010 By The Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gaston County Superior Court Judge Calvin Murphy ruled the Gaston Gazette did not have to tell the attorney [...]

White House unveils system to create online identities

A new White House Campaign aims to streamline online transaction processes by creating online identities for the public. The system is focused on combating identity theft. But access groups are watching to see if system circumvents public access to information, including government-held records. -SMD Internet News July 2, 2010 By Mara Zimmerman The White House [...]