News Links

I sent this list out to the CMLP's team of intrepid bloggers to pique their interest, but with things being a bit slow around the office today, I figured I'd avoid the middleman. 

Things that caught my eye this past week:

• Who owns the facts? The AP and the "hot news" controversy - We aren't likely to see this issue go away any time soon. For more on "hot news" misappropriation, see this CMLP blog post.


• California Bill Intended To Reduce Libel Tourism and related Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld: California Acts to Stop Libel Tourism - Another topic we've covered in the past, but one that deserves to be kept on the front burner.  We are still waiting for a federal law to address the practice of foreign plaintiffs who pick the jurisdiction with the most draconian libel laws in which to sue.


• Prison Awaiting Hostile Bloggers - Moving from a law we need to one we surely don't need, U.S. Representative Linda Sanchez proposes to criminalize speech that causes substantial emotional distress through "severe, repeated, and hostile" speech.  Unconstitutional?  You betcha.


• U.S. Supreme Court Vacates and Remands "Janet Jackson" Indecency Case to Third Circuit and related Supreme Court remands FCC "nipplegate" case to lower court - Not much to add here, except to note that isn't it time to retire the use of the word "gate"?


• Why the Law and Tech Aren’t Friends on MySpace - A fascinating case involving a bartender and waitress at a restaurant who were fired because of comments they made about their employer in a private MySpace forum.

I also wanted to give a shout out to a new student-run blog that focuses on media law issues: Suffolk Law School's Media and Communications Law Society.  Their thoughtful commentary on issues ranging from online privacy to copyright legislation is well worth a read.