California Passes “Limited” Revenge Porn Legislation

By on October 8, 2013 in Journalism

Screen Shot 2013-10-06 at 12.51.42 PMA new California law may cause potential revenge porn posters to think twice before exploiting ex-lovers online.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill No. 255 on October 1. The new law will aid potential victims of “revenge porn” — those individuals whose sexually explicit photos and videos are posted online by (typically) ex-lovers — by making it a misdemeanor to post such graphic images or video “with the intent to cause serious emotional distress.” Defendants who violate the law could land a place in jail for up for 6 months or be fined up to $1,000.

The newly-passed law is already receiving criticism about its limited scope of protection. Critics argue that because the law does not protect against the posting of photos that were self-shot by the victims, a large number of individuals who submit revenge porn posts will remain protected. Rather, the law targets only those photos posted which were taken by the poster.

One of the fundamental cornerstones of copyright law holds that copyright rights are given to the author of the work. One possible remedy for those who have been exposed due to revenge porn is filing a takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The takedown notice requires that the owner of a website remove some content due to a copyright claim made by the owner of that content.

The American Civil Liberties Union also opposed the bill, citing concerns that the bill was overly vague.

Samantha Scheller is a 2L at UNC Law.

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A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Berkman Center’s Digital Media Law Project

By on October 7, 2013 in First Amendment, Internet, Journalism

IMG_4639This summer, I was fortunate enough to intern for the Digital Media Law Project (DMLP) at the Berkman Center in Cambridge, MA. Our office facility — fondly referred to as the “big yellow house” — was home to a large number of Berkman Center projects, of which the DMLP was one.

The Berkman Center is a wonderful place to work, as the house is constantly filled to the brim with scholars in a variety of fields. It seemed that wherever you went, from the front porch to the kitchen, you were welcomed in eavesdropping on a conversation about an interesting new research project or developing body of law. Berkman also houses a number of fascinating software development projects.

My day-to-day life as a DMLP intern was filled with media law — a complex world of legal issues like defamation, copyright, trademark, anti-SLAPP motions, Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, DMCA takedown notices, shield laws for reporters, first amendment issues, and more.

I worked on a number of projects for the DMLP throughout the summer. In my legal threat research, my supervisors, Jeff Hermes and Andy Sellars, encouraged me to delve into complex litigation procedures while analyzing court documents for recent media law cases. Through this research, I gained an understanding of how pervasive media law issues are in our court system and in our lives.

On another project, I researched and wrote detailed legal guides on issues such as how to form a journalism cooperative in Pennsylvania and how to operate under Tennessee’s recording laws. The legal guide work is essential for reporters and citizen journalists who need to understand in non-legalese the legal implications of publishing within their state.

IMG_4737Finally, every two weeks, I was encouraged to develop a blog post on my topic of choice. The DMLP blogs provided me the freedom to delve into specific areas of media law including a patent on podcasts, the federal shield law, and how journalist organizations are using Instagram.

My research at the DMLP wasn’t all that Berkman had to offer. One week, my supervisors, my fellow DMLP interns, and I were invited to attend a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education course at which our supervisor, Jeff Hermes, was presenting. This experience was certainly one of the highlights of my summer as I was able to hear first-hand about the most recent issues and case law in this field.

Each week, my fellow “Berkterns” and I were invited to attend lunchtime and afternoon seminars on a variety of topics, legal and otherwise, given by scholars at the top of their fields. These presentations were followed by intellectually stimulating discussions which often challenged me to consider new ideas and viewpoints. (Another summer highlight: at one such lunchtime presentation, representatives from Google Glass came by and let us try on Glass(es)! The demo led to a great discussion about the legal, social, and privacy implications of the new technology.)

IMG_6199I would highly recommend an internship at the Digital Media Law Project to anyone interested in studying recent media law cases and understanding the protections needed to prevent chilling effects. I made great friends, had a wonderful time traveling around Boston and Cambridge, and embraced everything the area had to offer. Through the DMLP’s collaborative work environment, I was able to learn so much about media law and witness first-hand how this relatively new area of law is influencing a wide range of people across the country.

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NPR and AP Limit Use of “Obamacare” Language

By on October 4, 2013 in Internet, Journalism

obamacare-logo_fullAs the government shutdown continues, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Associated Press (AP) have decided to cut back on their usage of the term “Obamacare.”

NPR’s managing editor, Stuart Seidel, issued the editing order last Tuesday, asking that NPR staff members vary their wording when discussing the new health care system, saying that the politically divisive term was no longer neutral.

Meanwhile, the AP is also limiting its use of the term “Obamacare” as well as declining to refer to the health care law as the “Affordable Care Act.” The AP’s deputy managing editor and standards editor, Tom Kent, says the phrase is inherently promotional by its use of the word “affordable.” Alternatively, the AP plans to refer to the act as the “health care overhaul,” “the nation’s new health insurance system,” or simply “the new health care law.”

Such a shift in wording by two of the nation’s largest news outlets may aid Americans who remain unclear about the lack of distinction between Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act, as exhibited on a recent Jimmy Kimmel Live! show segment.

Samantha Scheller is a 2L at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

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Government Shutdown Affects FOIA Requests

By on October 2, 2013 in Internet, Journalism, Privacy, Transparency

nsaThe government shutdown is having an impact on every “nonessential” federal service, including Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) requests under the NSA.

According to the NSA’s website, all FOIA and PA requests or inquiries submitted to the FOIA/PA office “will not be addressed until the office reopens.” The NSA’s homepage also cites the government shutdown as responsible for its inability to update the NSA website.

Many of the NSA’s other programs will continue to operate during the government shutdown. In a memo released last Friday from the Department of Defense,  the Deputy Secretary said that while a “large number of [] civilian employees [will] be temporarily furloughed[,]” the shutdown will not affect military personnel who will “continue in a normal duty status.”

Samantha Scheller is a 2L at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

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FTC investigates patent trolls

By on September 30, 2013 in Journalism

The Federal Trade Commission will investigate what it calls Patent Assertion Entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls,” companies whose primary business model is buying patents and suing people for infringement.

The FTC has proposed a series of questions that it will ask the 25 most controversial PAEs to gather information on how the companies conduct their businesses and litigation.

The practice of patent trolling has grown alongside technology. Some PAEs purchase software patents from cash strapped companies and send infringement letters to small developers, who often agree to settle or pay a licensing fee to avoid the cost of litigation.

The executive branch has recently taken up the issue of patent trolling. This summer, the White House published several blog posts, tweets and graphics to raise awareness of the problem.

Earlier this year, a company called Personal Audio LLC claimed to have a patent on podcasting and filed lawsuits against several podcasts, including the Adam Corolla Show and HowStuffWorks.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched “Trolling Effects,” a resource for those who have been targeted by patent trolls.

Natasha Duarte is a 2L at the University of North Carolina School of Law and a first-year master’s student at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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