Featured Articles

Supreme Court Rejects FOIA Restrictions

June 19, 2008 20:39

In a rare Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) decision, the Supreme Court recently held in Taylor v. Sturgell that an individual's failed FOIA request does not preclude similar requests from related individuals. In doing so, the court rejected the legal doctrine of "virtual...

The Role of Internet Intermediaries in Censoring Online Speech

December 01, 2008 17:48

Today I came across two excellent pieces touching on the role of intermediaries in censorship/regulation of online speech internationally: The first is Rebecca MacKinnon's detailed blog post on her research on censorship of Chinese blogs.  She looked at Chinese blog-hosting services, including ...

Recent Articles

Preliminary Thoughts on GateHouse Media v. New York Times Company

December 23, 2008 23:32

Like a storm coming over the horizon, the recent lawsuit filed by GateHouse Media against the New York Times Company, which operates Boston.com, has thrown the CMLP into disarray just as we were preparing to depart to warmer climes for the holidays. For those who haven't yet heard about this...

GateHouse v NY Times Co.: Not So Simple After All

December 23, 2008 20:04

One of the most intriguing current media legal cases pits GateHouse Media, which owns a pile of newspapers in New England (and elsewhere) against the New York Times Co., owner of the Boston Globe and Boston.com. I’ve been looking at this from both sides’ perspectives, and this is not as simple as i...

You Aren't as Free as You Think - Your Private Emails Can Land You in Jail

December 23, 2008 14:15

In the latest case involving the absurd and unconstitutional obscenity statutes, the Fourth Circuit has upheld a conviction of a man for mere private possession of allegedly obscene material. See United States v. Whorley, __F.3d__ (4th Cir. 2008). While the facts may not fit any conduct in which...

Huffington Post Criticized For Copying Content

December 22, 2008 20:15

Wired/Epicenter alerts us to the controversy swirling around the Huffington Post's new Chicago edition.  Last week, Whet Moser of the Chicago Reader caught the Huffington Post using an entire Reader concert preview without permission. Later in the day, he discovered that the Huffington Post's ...

News and Information as Digital Media Come of Age

December 18, 2008 18:13

After a year of study, countless meetings, and at least two conferences, a team of researchers at the Berkman Center have released a series of papers exploring the potential and challenges of the emerging networked digital media environment (note: I played a small role in this work).  If you are ...

Cybersquatter Makes Good

December 17, 2008 17:33

The Bush library team seems as incompetent as . . . well, as incompetent as you would imagine anyone involved with such a project would be. They procured the domain name www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com, then they forgot to renew the registration. It got picked up by a cybersquatter, Illuminati...

Patriot Act’s National Security Letter Gag Provisions Choke on First Amendment Grounds

December 17, 2008 05:26

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals struck down one of the most constitutionally repugnant provisions of the PATRIOT Act -- the portions of the Act that place recipients of so-called "national security letters" (NSLs) under a permanent, unreviewed, lifetime gag order. See Doe v....

Blogger Pleads Guilty to Copyright Infringement for Leaking Songs from Guns N' Roses Album

December 16, 2008 22:27

Kevin Cogill, a blogger on Antiquiet, which provides "uncensored music reviews and interviews," pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles to one count of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement after he allegedly posted nine songs from the then unreleased Guns N' Roses...