Freedom of Speech, Defamation, and Injunctions

By on February 18, 2013 in Defamation, Internet

As part of the Mary Junck Research Colloquium series, UNC Law Professor David Ardia will give a talk entitled “Freedom of Speech, Defamation, and Injunctions.” He will discuss his research on two centuries of case law surrounding injunctions in defamation cases, and the recent increase in court-ordered injunctions directed at defamatory speech, particularly speech on the Internet.

David  is an assistant professor at the UNC School of Law and a faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.  He also holds a secondary appointment as an assistant professor at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is the faculty co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.  Before joining the UNC faculty, he founded and directed the Berkman Center’s Digital Media Law Project.

The presentation will be on Thursday, February 21 from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the Halls of Fame Room on the first floor of Carroll Hall.   The event is free and open to the public.

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The FCC, Media Ownership and the Tar Heel State

By on February 18, 2013 in FCC, Journalism

This Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m., the Center will be joining with Common Cause to hold a public discussion of the Federal Communication Commission’s media ownership rules and their impact on the media’s ability to meet the information needs of North Carolina communities. The FCC is currently reviewing its rules and is considering scrapping the radio/TV cross-ownership rules, loosening the newspaper/TV cross-ownership rules, and leaving in place the radio and TV local market ownership caps.  These changes could have a profound influence on the media environment in North Carolina.

Former FCC Chair Michael Copps will introduce the topic and a panel of media and academic experts will discuss how the current FCC rules and proposed rule changes affect local accountability journalism.  The panel will be moderated by Teresa Artis, former Vice President & General Counsel, Capitol Broadcasting Company, and will include the following speakers:

  • Penny Abernathy, Knight Professor of Digital Media Economics, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication
  • Michael Copps, former FCC Chair (and UNC Ph.D ’68)
  • Jim Goodmon, President & CEO, Capitol Broadcasting Company
  • Jane Mago, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, National Association of Broadcasters
  • Bob Phillips, Executive Director, Common Cause North Carolina
  • Orage Quarles III, President and Publisher, The News & Observer

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in UNC’s Wilson Library.  If you can’t make it in person, you can watch the discussion streamed live here or follow along (and ask questions) via Twitter with the hashtag #FCCUNC.  Please visit our event page for more information.

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Employment Opportunities at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society

By on February 2, 2013 in Internet, Privacy

berkmanIf you are a lawyer (or law student) looking for a chance to learn about Internet Law, Privacy, Copyright etc., you can’t do better than to spend some time at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society (full disclaimer: I spent 5 years there myself). If you don’t believe me, read Tabitha Messick’s account of  her internship at Berkman last summer.  For those you looking for that kind of experience, I’ve got two announcements to pass along.

First, they are looking for a full-time legal fellow to join the Berkman Center’s Privacy Tools for Sharing Research Data Project:

This project is a collaboration with Harvard’s Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS) and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), generously funded by National Science Foundation.  It aims to develop computational and legal methods, tools, and policies to further the tremendous value can can come from collecting, analyzing, and sharing data while more fully protecting individual privacy.

The fellowship is a great opportunity for experienced legal practitioners who want to serve the public interest, transition to academic pursuits, or work in an intellectually invigorating environment.  The fellow’s primary responsibilities are to provide managerial support and substantive contributions to the Berkman Center’s role project, including but not limited to:

  • working closely with faculty from the Berkman Center to coordinate, oversee, and conduct legal research, written project outputs, and publications;
  • cultivating and supporting relationships between faculty and other experts in law, social science, applied mathematics, computer science, and other fields to understand non-legal substantive issues and objectives, assess needs and capabilities, and collaboratively develop new legal instruments (e.g., contractual agreements, policies, and procedures) to meet the project’s broader goals;
  • planning, communicating, and implementing privacy-related workshops and convenings;
  • managing the selection, oversight, and mentorship of student interns and research assistants;
  • developing plans and timelines to advance project priorities and meet deadlines; and
  • providing additional project support.

In order to most fully and efficiently carry out his or her duties, the candidate will attend workshops and conferences at the Center and at Harvard Law School, and will have frequent opportunities to expand his/her knowledge of technology and law.

More information about the position and the application process is below and at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/getinvolved/fellowships/privacy.

Second, applications are now open for the 2013 summer internship program, which provides an opportunity to work on a more than a dozen “awesome” projects.  If you want to know more about what it’s like to be a law student at Berkman, read Tabitha’s blog post: A UNC Student’s Summer Experience in Media Law.  Act fast, however, as applications are due on Sunday, February 10, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

 

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Symposium Announcement: Defining a Search in the 21st Century

By on January 24, 2013 in Privacy

I’m a little late in getting the word out on this, but tomorrow (January 25) the Center is partnering with the North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology to host a symposium entitled “U.S. v. Jones: Defining a Search in the 21st Century.”  U.S. v. Jones, decided by the United States Supreme Court on January 23, 2012, involved an effort by police to track the whereabouts of a suspect by installing, without a warrant, a GPS device on his car and continuously monitoring the vehicle for 28 days. The Court held that the attachment of the GPS device constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment and therefore (might have) required a warrant.

The case raises all kinds of interesting questions about the limits on the government’s investigatory powers in a time of rapidly changing technology.  The symposium will be held at the Friday Center, which will provide plenty of free parking.  You can read more about the symposium on our events page.

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Interdisciplinary Faculty Lunch: Privacy and Human Subject Research

By on January 12, 2013 in Privacy

Next Friday, January 18, the Center is hosting the first of our spring interdisciplinary faculty lunches on the topic of “Privacy and Human Subject Research” from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. in the Cowell Boardroom (Room 5003) at the UNC School of Law.

The lunch, which is open to all UNC faculty, will focus on how advances in technology have changed the ways human subject research, both biomedical and behavioral, is conducted and the many privacy issues that accompany such research. The discussion will be led by Professors John Conley and Andrew Chin. Our previous lunches, which rotate around the UNC campus, have brought together approximately 30-40 faculty and graduate students from across the University of North Carolina.  For more information — and background on the topic — please see our event page.

Please RSVP to Liz Woolery by January 15, as space will be limited.  The Center will provide lunches and drinks.

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