Search

Categories

Total Results

No Record Found

View All Results
DONATE

First Amendment News

Online free speech: Damages a possibility in Universal Musics takedown of dancing baby

donal brown March 1, 2010

A federal judge ruled that a mother could get compensation from Universal Music for forcing YouTube to remove a 29-second video of her toddler son dancing to a Prince song. -db The Recorder March 1, 2010 By Zusha Elinson Universal Music might have to pay for pulling video of a dancing baby off YouTube. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled late Thursday that Stephanie Lenz can get some limited recompense from the music label for

Read More »

Italian court deals setback to Google and internet freedom

donal brown February 26, 2010

Three Google executives were convicted of violating Italy’s privacy laws and responsible for posts by third parties, a blow to world internet freedom and particularly destructive to Italy’s participation in e-commerce. -db The New York Times February 25, 2010 By Rachel Donadio ROME — Three Google executives were convicted of violating Italian privacy laws on Wednesday, the first case to hold the company’s executives criminally responsible for the content posted on its system. The verdict,

Read More »

Prop. 8 trial could still find the airwaves

donal brown February 26, 2010

San Francisco Bay Area federal judges are again floating a plan to allow cameras in federal courtrooms just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a rare intervention, rejected a similar plan. If approved this time, it is possible that the final arguments in the Prop. 8 could be telecast. -db The San Francisco Chronicle February 26, 2010 By Bob Egelko SAN FRANCISCO — Despite a rebuff from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bay Area’s

Read More »

Drug cartel chief gets 25 years in secret proceeding

donal brown February 25, 2010

A federal district judge sentenced one of the most feared drug lords to 25 years in prison in a proceeding closed to the public, a rare occurrence for a sentencing phase. The judge offered no explanation for the secrecy. -db Houston Chronicle February 24, 2010 By Dane Schiller and Jacquee Petchel Behind armed guards and locked doors — in a secret hearing of judicial privacy not even given to some 9/11 terrorists or East Coast

Read More »

Health board claims secret meeting violated no laws

donal brown February 25, 2010

The Del Puerto Health Care District board met once secretly in 2008 but claims the meeting violated no California open govenment laws. -db Patterson Irrigator February 25, 2010 By Kendall Wright A majority of the Del Puerto Health Care District met once secretly in 2008, but the head of the district claims the meeting violated no laws, an assertion a First Amendment lawyer vehemently disagrees with. Two unannounced meetings were conducted in 2008, one on

Read More »