Report on Petitions for Certiorari to the Supreme Court 2008
Download PDF The Supreme Court denied 11 petitions in libel and privacy cases this past Term. Among the notable media cases, the Supreme Court declined to review the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Hatfill v. The New York Times Company,[1]affirming summary judgment on libel and related claims over a series of op-ed columns discussing suspicions that…
Lawsuits Against Bloggers: MLRC’s Data on Blog Suits
Download Publication By Eric P. Robinson* INTRODUCTION In 2005, MLRC held a symposium on “Blogs, Bloggers, and the Changing Media Business.” The panel discussed the myriad of new legal issues that arise out of the context of blogging (e.g., Are bloggers journalists? Who is liable for reporters’ blogs: the individual reporters, or their employers? How…
Standards for Protecting Anonymous Speech on the Internet
By Stefanie Shaffer* Beginning with the Federalist Papers in 1787, anonymous speech has been a valued part of political and literary discourse in America. In the past decade, courts have faced the challenge of applying a First Amendment right to anonymous speech to the burgeoning online world. While reflecting the origins of First Amendment protection…
When Anonymity Is Denied: What Defending A (Formerly) Anonymous Blogger Teaches About the Standards for Protecting Anonymous Speech
Download PDF By Henry R. Kaufman and Michael K. Cantwell* I. Introduction It is estimated that there are close to thirty million bloggers in the United States[1] who publish some 1.5 million posts every week[2] accessible to third parties. Those posts introduce a vast gamut of information, some of it of public significance, some of…
Fringe Publishers Test the Limits of Prior Restraints
Download PDF By Katherine Vogele Griffin* I. Introduction In the past few years, the Internet has continued to test courts’ commitment to First Amendment principles. The most famous of these cases, Wikileaks, is by far the most egregious – the site was intended as an outlet for whistle-blowers, yet a federal judge quickly approved a…
MLRC Bulletin 2009 Issue 2 – The First Amendment Online & MLRC Supreme Court Report
Download Publication PART 1. THE FIRST AMENDMENT ONLINE Public Figures and the Internet: Applying Traditional Rules in the New Media WorldBy Michael Kovaka Fringe Publishers Test The Limits of the First AmendmentBy Katherine Vogele Griffin When Anonymity is Denied: What Defending a (Formerly) Anonymous Blogger TeachesAbout the Standards for Protecting Anoymous SpeechBy Henry R. Kaufman…
Public Figures and the Internet: Applying Traditional Rules in the New Media World
Download PDF By Michael Kovaka I. Introduction As Chief Judge Lawrence of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia famously observed, trying to define who is and who is not a public figure can be “much like trying to nail a jellyfish to the wall.”[1] It is fair to say the…