Doctors uneasy about online complaints attempt to stifle criticism

Writing critical reviews of doctors and dentists online could make you the target of a defamation lawsuit as medical professionals try to stifle negative comments. Some doctors are asking patients to sign gag orders to prevent online comments while the sites are publishing the names of doctors using gag order forms and providing patients with [...]

New Jersey teacher’s job in jeopardy over Facebook post disparaging students

A New Jersey elementary school teacher may lose her job for calling her students “future criminals.” An administrative law judge said she should be fired. The teacher intended that her comments be seen only by  her Facebook friends. -db From a commentary in Mobiledia, November 11, 2011, by Janet Maragioglio. Full story  

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 [...]

Opinion: Complicated student speech case not ideal for U.S. Supreme Court

A columnist for Justia argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should not take the case of Kara Kowalski suing her high school for suspending her for the mean comments she made at home about a fellow student on MySpace. The columnist notes that Kowalski speech involved the bullying of another student so that if the [...]

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, [...]

Arizona: Questions arise over city liability for employees’ online posts

Police employees in Surprise, Arizona are asking the city to stop other police officers from posting anonymous comments on private websites that they say are potentially defamatory. -db The Arizona Republic October 9, 2010 By D.S. Woodfill and Lisa Halverstadt A controversy brewing in Surprise is raising questions about a city’s liability when its employees [...]

China reaffirms online censorship policy

While claiming to safeguard free speech, the Chinese government issued a long list of online speech it considers undesirable. -db CNET AllThingsD Commentary June 9, 2010 By John Paczkowski Though it has given no indication otherwise, China would like the world to know that it has no plans to allow free access to online content–Google’s [...]

Pennsylvania attorney general dropping subpoena of Twitter for critics’ identity

The Pennsylvania attorney general has decided not to subpoena Twitter for the identity of critics of his successful conviction in a recent political corruption investigation. In asking for the subpoena, Attorney General Tom Corbett was attempting to find out if one of the critics was the man convicted of corruption to determine if the man [...]

Pennsylvania online student speech cases slated for June review

In the face of two conflicted rulings in online student speech cases, a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania nullified the rulings pending a hearing in June by the full appeals court panel.  At issue is the standard for the extent to which a school can discipline a student for off-campus speech. -db Student Press Law [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Online debate between candidate’s son and unidentified writer provokes another dispute over anonymous speech

Citizen Media Law Project blogger Marc Randazza says that although a comment made by an adult to a teen-ager in an online debate was malicious and juvenile, it was not defamatory and should enjoy First Amendment  protection given court decisions on the right to speak anonymously. -DB To read Marc’s full comment, go here: Citizen Media [...]

Law center supports student’s right to criticize school policies in off-campus blog

The Student Press Law Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief to support a Connecticut high school student who in a blog criticized her principal about the use of school facilities for a concert. -DB Student Press Law Center Press Release September 4, 2009 The Student Press Law Center (“SPLC”), the nation’s only nonprofit legal-assistance organization serving student journalists, [...]