Rapper responds to Lohan defamation lawsuit

Through his lawyers the Rapper Pitbull struck back at Lindsay Lohan who sued him for defamation for a hit song that mentioned Lohan’s incarceration. Providing a detailed account of her encounters with the law to prove Lohan is a California resident, the lawyers said she did not have standing to sue in Long Island. Lohan’s [...]

Chinese protesters use comic subterfuge to evade government censors

With the Chinese government employing more than 50,000 censors to monitor the Internet for politically deviant opinion, bloggers are using humor and satire to get their message across before the censors close in. There is always a strong element of fear and uncertainty for the bloggers as they never know where the line is between [...]

Federal judge finds First Amendment violation in search of home of blogger’s mother

A federal district judge ruled that a Colorado prosecutor could not order the police to search the home of the mother of a blogger who a professor said had libeled him in satirical online postings. The court noted that since the postings were satirical it was not reasonable that people would see them as truth [...]

California state senator proposes law to outlaw malicious online impersonation

In the wake of a disturbing e-mail falsely attributed to a Silicon Valley leader, A California state senator is introducing a law to make malicious e-mail impersonations a misdemeanor. -db San Francisco Chronicle August 9, 2010 By Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera Two months ago, a San Jose Mercury News reporter received a profanity-laced e-mail critical of one [...]

Political speech: Federal court rules satirical ads violated copyright law

An Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer finds fault with judges’ downgrading satire as a form of protected speech as in Henley v. DeVore in which a senatorial candidate attacked his opponent by setting his own words to two songs, “The Boys of Summer” (The Hope of November”) and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” (“All [...]

Free speech: Federal judge rules for comic for onstage jokes about in-laws

A First Amendment Center director says that the First Amendment, properly understood, protects a wide range of humor, from satire and parody to editorial cartoons. -db First Amendment Center Opinion May 16, 2010 By Gene Policinski What is it about humor that all too often results in situations that decidedly are not a laughing matter? [...]

Censorship: Apple’s muddy policies on apps confusing to those creating content

A commentary in Wired argues that Apple needs to clarify its policy on content allowed in the App Store as serious free speech issues emerge. -db Wired Commentary April 26, 2010 By Brian X. Chen The iTunes App Store is nearly two years old, and Apple still has not published a clear set of guidelines [...]