MediaLawDaily April 22, 2015

White House correspondents urge campaigns to be more transparent
Politico
The White House Correspondents’ Association plans to send its newly released declaration of principles and practices to all of the presidential campaigns, with the expectation that the campaigns will follow the protocols for press access, the On Media blog has confirmed.
Practices and Principles of Coverage Access for Independent White House Press

Keeping Track of the US Intelligence Community’s Leakers
Lawfare
It’s getting hard to keep track of the U.S. intelligence community leakers without a scorecard. So here’s an attempt by security expert Bruce Schneier.

As Sony Continues Threatening Reporters, NY Times Reporter Wins Pulitzer For Reporting On Sony’s Emails
Techdirt
It’s notable that one of the winners for investigative journalism went to Eric Lipton of the NY Times for a series of stories that he’s done exposing the influence of lobbyists — and that includes reporting using the leaked Sony emails to detail how the MPAA was trying to bring back SOPA via influencing various State Attorneys General.

Six US senators say Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger should be blocked
Ars Technica
Al Franken and others call on FCC and DOJ to block $45.2 billion cable deal.

Aereo & Broadcasters Reach $950K Settlement Deal
Deadline
A year less a day after the Barry Diller-backed streaming service argued in front of the Supreme Court over the broadcasters’ claims of copyright violation, the now Chapter 11 Aereo hopes its come to the end of the long legal road.

Fox, NBC join ESPN protest over Verizon’s ‘skinny’ bundle
Los Angeles Times
Dispute over Verizon FiOS’ customized offering foreshadows a big battle brewing over breaking the TV bundle.

Republicans Continue Fight Against Net Neutrality With Three New Proposals
TechCrunch
These bills are not aimed specifically at net neutrality, but rather at the transparency of the FCC in three different ways.

Sony Hack Was Not an Inside Job, Says Security Expert Kevin Mandia
Re/code
Last year’s Sony hack was clearly the work of North Korea and not that of a disgruntled insider, according to FireEye president Kevin Mandia.

Computer Attacks Spur Congress to Act on Cybersecurity Bill Years in Making
New York Times
The House is expected to pass a bill pushing companies to share data with federal investigators in the wake of breaches at Sony, Target and the health insurer Anthem.
Protecting Cyber Networks Act

U.S. Secretary Of Homeland Security Warns About The Dangers Of Pervasive Encryption
TechCrunch
His remarks were very similar to President Barack Obama’s in an interview earlier this year. Both spoke about the importance of privacy when facing tech-oriented audiences, but failed to take a strong stance in its defense.

Apple: Mac security flaw fixed. Expert: Wrong
CNN
Without a security patch, the vulnerability could allow hackers to take control of any Macintosh.

‘Aaron’s Law’ is back to fix the ‘worst law in technology’
Daily Dot
Aaron’s Law, a bill to reform how the U.S. prosecutes computer-related crimes, is back in Congress.
Aaron’s Law Act of 2015

D.N.J.: Lawsuit stalls in Sarah Palin’s use of The Record’s iconic 9/11 photo
Bergen Record
Sarah Palin was willing to pay $15,000 to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit over her unauthorized use of The Record’s iconic photograph of firefighters raising an American flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, court documents show. But her demand for a confidentiality clause to keep the details secret — because her political action committee “did not want any hint of compromise associated with her name” — became a roadblock to a final settlement.
North Jersey Media’s Opposition to Enforce Purported Settlement: North Jersey Media Group v. SarahPAC

S.D.N.Y.: In Big Ruling, Sony Beats ‘Iron Man’ Composer’s Lawsuit
Hollywood Reporter
In a dispute over Ghostface Killer songs, a judge rules that Marvel — not Jack Urbont — is the statutory author of the “Iron Man Theme.”
Opinion: Urbont v. Sony Music Entertainment

Katy Perry’s “Left Shark” Design Rejected By Trademark Examiner
Hollywood Reporter
Katy Perry’s performance during halftime at this year’s Super Bowl is still reverberating at the U.S. Trademark Office. On Friday, the pop singer got the bad news that her company’s initial attempts to register a “Left Shark” design had been rejected.

MPAA Chief Chris Dodd Pushes ‘Where To Watch’ Anti-Piracy Plan
The Wrap
WhereToWatch.com is the MPAA’s one-stop search tool that makes it easier for consumers to find content online or in theaters, while also supporting the nearly two million workers in the American motion picture and TV industry.

The Abandonware Conundrum: Can you modify games if publisher shuts down the server?
IP Watchdog
The EFF wants an exemption for people who want to modify their purchased games in order to bypass access controls when a publisher shuts down the server.

The Wall Street Journal is playing a game of digital catchup
Nieman Journalism Lab (Ken Doctor)
Its newly launched redesign isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s a chance to look inside the business and strategic thinking at America’s business daily.

With a new design, The Atlantic eschews infinite scroll
Digiday
With its newly designed website, which went live Tuesday evening, the opinion and culture journal abandoned a series of tactics it once used to use to keep people clicking around the site.

Gannett to name broadcast, digital unit Tegna amid spinoff
USA Today
Tegna will operate 46 stations Gannett currently owns or provides services to, as well as its digital unit. Cars.com and CareerBuilder.com generate most of the digital unit’s revenue.

The birth of a new publication
Politico
Editor in chief John F. Harris and executive editor Matthew Kaminski trade thoughts on the new Politico Europe.

Teen Vogue Debuts Condé Nast’s First Sponsored Cover Ad
Adweek
Subscriber copies of the May issue will feature Tresemmé on false cover.

Netflix’s Pursuit of TV Domination Has a New Step: Ownership
Bloomberg Business
Like a major Hollywood studio or competitor HBO, the company will own many of the 20 or more original shows that debut on its streaming service next year, Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in an interview.

Good News for YouTube: YouTube Says People Love Mobile Ads
Re/code
Google’s video site says mobile viewers are 1.4x more likely to watch ads when they’re on phones than when they’re on PCs or watching TV. And it says they are 1.8x more likely to share those ads.

Antitrust Lawsuit Accuses AMC Entertainment of Hurting Hispanic Community By Studio Pacts
Hollywood Reporter
AMC Entertainment, the theater exhibitor giant, has been hit with a new antitrust lawsuit alleging it threatened Hollywood studios, and consequently, a Houston-based theater owner was denied access to popular new releases and went out of business. The twist in this lawsuit is that Viva Cinemas Theaters, the plaintiff, specialized in serving the Hispanic community.

After Years of Declining Revenue, Yahoo Is Finally Growing Across Search, Display
Ad Age

Facebook News Feed Reprioritizes Your Real Friends Above Pages
TechCrunch
No one likes brands more than their friends, so Facebook today announced it’s reconfiguring News Feed to show content from close friends higher up.

See also
“It’s not that we control NewsFeed, you control NewsFeed…” Facebook: please stop with this.
Press Think (Jay Rosen)
Stop treating us like children at a Passover seder who don’t know enough to ask a good question.

Notifications Are The Next Platform
TechCrunch
Our engagement on mobile is now defined by push-driven notifications rather than the traditional pull-driven experience. We’re “hunting and pecking” through our app grid a lot less; the apps that notify us (without over-notifying to the point of uninstall) are rewarded with our engagement (and our dollars).

The Bot Bubble: How Click Farms Have Inflated Social Media Currency
New Republic
Google “buy Facebook likes” and you’ll see how easy it is to purchase black-market influence on the Internet: 1,000 Facebook likes for $29.99; 1,000 Twitter followers for $12; or any other type of fake social media credential, from YouTube views to Pinterest followers to SoundCloud plays.

Google’s “Mobile-Friendly” Update Could Impact Over 40% Of Fortune 500 Websites
TechCrunch
Google is flipping the proverbial switch on a change to its search algorithms which would begin to factor in a website’s “mobile-friendliness” as a ranking signal – something that could potentially affect over 40 percent of Fortune 500 websites.

The Washington Post offers new visual storytelling format for Apple Watch
Washington Post

Facebook’s WhatsApp Will Be How the World Makes Phone Calls
Wired
On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by Facebook, released a new version of the app that allows people with iPhones to not only text people, but actually talk to them.

Innovation at International Symposium on Online Journalism: Mobile, Native Ads, Virtual Reality and Data
PBS Mediashift
From mobile to virtual reality to social media and native content, attendees heard innovation strategies from speakers across media platforms – traditional media representatives like Dallas Morning News, New York Times and Washington Post, but also from more recent media upstarts like Vox Media, BuzzFeed and Texas Tribune.

Europe: Geo-blocking and copyright reform outlined in EU document leak
Ars Technica
Two leaked documents provide more information on the European Commission’s intentions, but often lack the all-important specifics.
Digital Single Market Strategy
Digital Single Market: The Evidence

EU data protection reform triggers privacy warning
IDG News Service
Civil rights groups say EU proposals undermine basic privacy protections.

Germany: AdBlock Plus defeats German publishers in court
BBC News
The owners of Germany’s Die Zeit and Handelsblatt had claimed that AdBlock Plus’s product was anti-competitive and threatened their ability to make money. But a court in Hamburg ruled that users do have the right to use the plug-in.

Germany: Random House told it should pay to quote Joseph Goebbels in biography
The Guardian
The estate of Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s minister of propaganda, is taking legal action against the publisher Random House over a new biography, claiming payment for the use of extracts from his diaries.

Thailand’s bookseller given two-year jail term for royal defamation
AFP
A Thai man was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in jail for selling books that allegedly defamed the monarchy, the latest in a string of convictions under the country’s notorious lese majeste law.

UK: Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan confirms second Met Police interview about phone-hacking
Press Gazette
The journalist was previously interviewed under caution at the end of 2013 by officers investigating claims of illegal interception of voicemails by Mirror national newspaper journalists.

UK: Priest guilty of defamation with book alleging sexual misconduct in church
The Herald
A priest who alleged that a “powerful gay Mafia” was behind sexual bullying in the Scottish catholic Church has been found guilty of defaming churchmen and parishioners.

Venezuela: Head of congress sues news outlets for defamation after they link him to drug cartel
Associated Press

Brian Williams wants back in as limbo drags on
CNN
Brian Williams, Lester Holt and NBC News are locked in a lose-lose-lose scenario.

Judith Miller tells her side of The Story
Columbia Journalism Review

How a magazine, a vodka company and an Obama impersonator ticked off the White House Correspondents’ Association
Washington Post
Want to make a bunch of top-flight White House reporters really mad? Here’s a handy how-to guide.

PBS Probes Slave-Owning Issue; Affleck Expresses Regret
Associated Press
PBS is conducting an internal review following revelations that producers of “Finding Your Roots” may have violated the network’s editorial standards after a request by Ben Affleck that the program not reveal he had a slave-owning ancestor.

N.D. Ill.: Lawyer: First Amendment protects teen accused of trying to join terrorists
Sun-Times
“While it is easy to disagree with Mr. Khan’s unpopular religious beliefs and label them misguided simplistic, or even fundamentalist, it cannot be said that [they] were not sincerely held — and that is all that must be shown,” Durkin wrote.

S.D.N.Y.: M.T.A. Must Run Bus Ad From Pro-Israel Group, Judge Says
New York Times
A federal judge said the ad from the American Freedom Defense Initiative qualified as protected free speech; the transit agency had argued it could be seen as a call to violence against Jews.
Opinion: American Freedom Defense Intiative v. Metropolitan Transit Authority
http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/04/21/AFDI.pdf

Mass.: Amicus coalition challenges constitutionality of law criminalizing false political speech
In an amicus brief filed with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the New England First Amendment Coalition and a group of other amici argue that M.G.L. c. 56, § 42, which criminalizes the publication of “any false statement in relation to any candidate for nomination or election to public office, which is designed or tends to aid or to injure or defeat such candidate,” violates the First Amendment and Massachusetts’ Declaration of Rights.
Amicus brief: Commonwealth v. Lucas