A San Francisco Chronicle tech writer finds hope that state or federal law will be changed to require warrants when law enforcement seeks individuals’ private emails stored by companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft. James Temple cites legislation in the state Senate and efforts in Congress that would hold government to tougher standards for obtaining emails. Full Story
Stating that “people who do journalism are journalists,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting efforts of government bodies to deny local bloggers, sometimes called “hyperlocals,” the rights and status of other journalists. The EFF’s “Legal Guide for Bloggers” provides information about the right of access to public meetings and records. -db From a commentary in Street Fight Magazine, May 29, 2012, by Brian Dengler. Full story
BY DEBORAH FRUIN–A federal district court in Los Angeles has unsealed records related to a government shutdown of a music blog/website, Dajaz1.com, for suspicion of copyright piracy. The unsealing had been requested by FAC, Wired, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Using a forfeiture authority usually invoked to seize cars and houses in drug cases, federal authorities had seized the hip hop website, then avoided a hearing in the matter and refused to give an explanation
An Oregon blogger was ordered to pay Obsidian Finance Group $2.5 million for accusing the company of tax fraud on the website ObsidianFinanceSucks.com. The judge rejected claims that the founders of Obsidian were public figures. The Electric Frontier Foundation had filed a brief for the blogger arguing that a previous jury verdict was a threat to free speech. -db From the Courthouse News Service, March 29, 2012, by Nick McCann. Full story
When a Nevada federal district court transferred Righthaven’s intellectual property to a court-appointed receiver for auction, it appeared that the copyright enforcer is finally done for. Righthaven had attempted to conduct business by suing small time bloggers and others for posting content from newspapers that Righthaven claimed had sold them the copyrights. -db From a commentary for the Citizens Media Law Project, March 15, 2012, by Arthur Bright. Full story