European court upholds right to sue Internet publishers in each country

Internet publishers may face a deluge of lawsuits in Europe after the European Court of Justice ruled that individuals can sue for invasion of privacy in each country where the offensive information can be accessed. “Publishers, though, should not be subject to stricter laws than would apply if the court action was taking place in [...]

A&A: Can police use hidden cameras to videotape the public without consent?

Q: Can the police legally use hidden cameras to videotape interactions with the public without the public’s consent? Not just in public–where there may be less of an expectation of privacy–but at an apartment or home entrance? A: You pose an interesting question. A provision of California’s Penal Code imposes penalties for “intentionally and without [...]

Louisiana student sues in federal court after suspended for criticizing teacher on Facebook

A Baton Rouge high school student sued school officials for suspending him and throwing him out of the honors club for criticizing a teacher on Facebook. The student made the comment from his home and removed it before school the next day. The boy’s parents contend that the comment was intended as a joke and [...]

Obama administration makes public database on doctor malpractice private

Health reporters got a kick in the rear recently when the Obama administration withdrew a public database about doctor malpractice, writes Justin Silverman for the Citizens Media Law Project. The move came after a number of reporters used the national database to write stories about how their state regulators were reluctant to discipline doctors for [...]

Federal judge rules for ‘The Hurt Locker’ in suit over use of soldier’s identity

A federal judge in California ruled that writers and producers of  “The Hurt Locker,” a film about bomb-disposal in Iraq, were protected by the First Amendment in presenting important information about a public issue. A soldier sued the film-makers for benefiting from his identity without permission. “The court found, however, that on-screen depictions of the [...]

Police say L.A. Times investigation of pensions could endanger lives

The Los Angeles County police union is fighting the Los Angeles Times over the newspaper’s quest for pension information that the union claims if made public could endanger the lives of retired officers. In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court, the union argued that in pitting the public’s right to know against legitimate safety issues, [...]

San Diego: Dispute over release of wrong documents in public records request

The Tri-City Healthcare District is asking a court to stop the San Diego Union-Tribune from publishing what they say are “privileged and confidential communications.” Tri-City accidentally provided the records in response to a public records request. The contents of the communications are not known, but among other things, Tri-City is upset that the Union Tribune [...]

2nd Circuit: Federal court allows challenge to warrantless surveillance

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for a second time that a suit could proceed that challenged a Congressional law allowing the National Security Agency to electronically spy on citizens without a probable-cause warrant. The case may finally come to trial unless the Obama administration uses the state secrets privilege to kill the [...]

Challenge mounted to removal of public database of doctor discipline and malpractice

Newspaper associations and public interest groups are protesting a move by the Obama administration to withhold a data bank created by Congress in 1986 to assist hospitals and state licensing boards to check doctor’s records for discipline and malpractice. The records had been useful in creating laws to protect the public as reported by Blythe [...]

California: Sonoma County pension board agrees to release pension data

After a state appellate court ruled that the Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Association could not refuse the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s requests under California Public Records Act for pension figures for county government retirees, the pension fund board acceded to the requests. In withholding the information, the pension fund board was complying with a 1937 [...]

Federal appeals decision busts privacy exemption for Freedom of Information Act requests

The Internet era has eroded a Supreme Court decision (Department of Justice v. Reporters’ Committee) allowing governments to deny rap sheets requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Now it is possible to tap into a national database provided by the federal courts to obtain the information. In an opinion a federal judge has even [...]

Superintendent prevents Al Jazeera reporter from interviewing students at football game about 9/11

The Superintendent of a Texas high school denied an Al Jazeera journalist access to students at a high school football game. The reporter wanted to ask students about how 9/11 affected their lives. First Amendment advocates said that the school had the right to control the press at a school function so long as it [...]

Domestic spying pervasive since 9/11

President Barack Obama has done nothing to fulfill his promise to curtail warrantless spying and in fact wants Congress to renew powers given to the federal government to conduct the surveillance. Writing a commentary for Wired, Ryan Singel quotes Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute on the effectiveness of the spying, “We have become so [...]

Justice Department ordered to release case information related to alleged illegal search

A federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice must release case docket information in criminal cases where the government used cellphone location tracking data without a warrant.The American Civil Liberties Union used the Freedom of Information Act starting in 2007 in a bid for the information. The ACLU was concerned that the [...]

Judge agrees LA Times can reveal names of deputies in fatal shootings

A  superior court judge ruled that the Los Angeles Times had the right to identities of sheriff’s deputies involved in fatal shootings. The union for the deputies had contended that the names were private personnel information and to release them would create safety issues. The judge said public interest was paramount and ordered the sheriff’s [...]

Supreme Court to review case on access to State Bar racial data

The California Supreme Court will decide if the State Bar must release racial data of those taking the bar exam. An appellate court ruled in June that the information could be made public so long as no private information were revealed. A UCLA law professor who believes affirmative action may  hurt minorities wants the records [...]

Texas Gov. Perry’s penchant for privacy

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose campaign for president has faulted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for purported failure to open the workings of the Fed to public view, has “adopted policies that shroud his own office in a purposeful opaqueness that confounds prying reporters – or any member of the public questioning his policies,” the [...]

Lohan sues for rap song she claims hurt her reputation

Lindsay Lohan is suing the rapper Pitbull and associates for mentioning her arrest record in his hit, “Give Me Everything.” The song goes “he’s got it locked up, like Lindsay Lohan.” Given her rap sheet, that seems like an innocuous reference, but Lohan claims the song released March 18 has injured her career and caused [...]

Student Press Law Center files amicus in suit challenging secret admissions program at U. of Illinois

With media partners the Student Press Law Center has filed an amicus brief to a federal appeals court arguing that a lower court ruled correctly in granting the Chicago Tribune access to public records about a secret University of Illinois admissions program. The university argued that the records should be withheld on grounds of “student [...]

Bill would expand police power to track your Web activity

Congress is considering legislation that would give police new powers to track Internet pornographers – and possibly millions of others. The bill, HR1981, would require Internet service providers to keep records of all customers’ surfing activity for a year and make them available to police when subpoenaed. Despite its apparently laudable purpose, the bill is [...]

Should there be a right to privacy on the Web?

Europe is pursuing a “right to be forgotten” on the Web as privacy advocates argue that the lifetime of certain postings ought to be curtailed. According to the New York Times, Spain has ordered Google to stop indexing Web files related to 90 people who complained to the country’s Data Protection Agency. Among the complainants: [...]

Free speech: Florida doctors struggle with law banning queries about guns

Florida passed a law in June preventing doctors from asking their patients about guns in their lives. Citizens had complained that such questions as “do you own a gun” were intimidating, intrusive and a violation of their privacy. Doctors say they consider gun ownership a public health issue and ask these questions to obtain information [...]

Florida judge in Casey Anthony trial orders names of jurors be kept secret until late October

The judge who presided over the trial of Casey Anthony, the Florida woman acquitted of murdering her two-tear-old daughter, blasted the media while ordering that the names of jurors be kept from the media until Oct. 25. Writing for Reuters, Barbara Liston paraphrased the judge, Belvin Perry, “Perry lamented what he said was the blurring [...]

Illinois: Feds back university in records dispute

The Justice Department and higher education organizations filed briefs in federal court backing the University of Illinois in its refusal to release student records. The Chicago Tribune is seeking the records of students as part of a series of stories about alleged favoritism shown to some applicants to the university. The Justice Department noted that [...]

Times’ op-ed defends tabloid journalism

Writing in The New York Times, Ryan Linkof, a scholar who has studied tabloid journalism, says that it is “for the better” that tabloids violate privacy in pursuit of the tantillizing scoop. Linkof argues that you don’t have to support illegal activity such as hacking the phones of innocent victims to defend intrusive reporting. Linkof [...]

Federal judge allows National Security Agency to dodge question about ties to Google

A federal judge is allowing the National Security Agency to avoid answering the question about a possible relationship between the agency and Google after the China hacking incident of January 2010. The judge said NSA ruled the agency only had  state it can “neither confirm nor deny” that it has a relationship with Google.-db From [...]

‘News of World’ phone hacks too ‘phreaking’ easy says noted hacker

The British tabloid News of the World has gone extinct following accusations that the editors and reporters hacked the voicemail of celebrities, royalty and even crime victims. In fact, accusations have poured in so fast and furiously that one begins to wonder if the organization’s entire news budget went to hackers.  CNET asked a somewhat [...]

Privacy: Fox wins case after woman sued over ‘Cops’ episode

A woman lost her bid to show Fox Broadcasting Co. violated her privacy when the company unbeknownst to her recorded and broadcast her dealings with police during a traffic stop. A federal court of appeals denied the woman’s allegation that the Fox violated her seclusion because she failed to prove that a public street is [...]

California appeals court finds county pensions are public

A California appeals court ruled that the pension records of retired county employees are public upholding a lower court ruling that supported government accountability. The appeals court said the lower court was correct in finding that the  public’s interest in the records outweighed the privacy of retirees. The association representing the retirees argued that disclosure [...]

Federal judge rules ‘Dirty’ website not libel for inflamatory comments

Even though the operator of the Dirty World website made derogatory comments about a woman, a federal judge in Arizona ruled that the site is not liable for invasion of privacy. The judge applied Missouri privacy law since the woman resided there reasoned that there was no valid claim for public disclosure of private facts [...]

United Nations report calls for states to safeguard online freedom of expression

The United Nations will begin discussion this week about online freedom of expression after hearing a special report that advocates protecting privacy and anonymous speech online. The UN report questions the use of surveillance under the guise of national security or counter-terrorism. The report’s author, Frank La Rue, said surveillance measures “often [take] place for [...]

Federal judge rules secret filming of activist group not protected under First Amendment

A federal district judge ruled that the First Amendment does not protect two conservative investigators who secretly filmed a member of the national activist group, ACORN. After asking if they could speak confidentially, the two filmed and recorded the conversation. The judge rejected the argument that the First Amendment protections for journalists superseded the California [...]

California public universities agree to transparency for foundations

California state universities have opened the door to transparency for campus foundations with a compromise with state Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco. The agreement will protect the privacy of most donors but allow disclosure of other financial details. The foundations and operations such as campus bookstores would operate under the California Public Records Act. The agreement [...]

United Kingdom: Courts battle social media in flap over soccer star’s alleged affair

A British soccer star obtained a court order forbidding the traditional news media from publishing details of his alleged affair with a “Big Brother” contestant, but the effect 0f the injunction waxed small in the wake of some 75,00o weekend postings about the affair on the social media. The judge stubbornly reaffirmed the need for [...]

Techies strive to provide tools to circumvent Internet censorship

EFF’s Seth Schoen says that governments are constantly on the move to censor the web, recently forcing ISPs to censor sites from the DNS. They are counting on the users not realizing censorship is happening and that users will not know how to bypass the censors. Governments are also using the Internet to monitor the [...]

Facebook downplays trashing of Google in planted stories

Facebook hired a PR firm to persuade reporters and privacy advocates to write critical stories about Google’s Social Circle. Facebook denied that they had acted unethically, “No ’smear’ campaign was authorized or intended. Instead, we wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts [...]

Legislator seeks to set privacy rules for Facebook

A state senator from San Leandro has introduced legislation that would require Facebook and other social networking sites to let new users establish privacy settings at the same time they register. State Sen. Ellen Corbett, a Democrat, argues that users shouldn’t have to give up their private information by default. Opponents object to government imposition [...]

California: Sacramento County ordered to turn over pension data

A California appeals court has ordered Sacramento County’s retirement system to release pension data to the Sacramento Bee. The Bee and the First Amendment Coalition had brought a lawsuit to reveal data about the pension benefits ncluding the names and benefits of individual members. Said Joyce Terhaar of The Bee, “It’s part of our mission [...]

Editorial argues for revealing California Legislators’ calendars

In an editorial the San Jose Mercury News argued that current law requires state legislators to open their appointment calendars to public scrutiny. The editorial stated that with 40 percent of legislation introduced in the last two-year session written by special interests, it is essential for the public to know how this happens and the [...]

Challenge mounted against secrecy for California legislators’ calendars

California legislators have rejected a request from media and open government groups to open their appointment calendars to the public. In a letter denying the request, the legislators said they could not provide information on appointments out of “concerns regarding privacy, security and legislative privilege.” The refusal may be challenged in court. The San Jose [...]

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