Kill Switches, Smart Mobs, and Freedom of Speech

As part of the Mary Junck Research Colloquium series, Elon University School of Law Professor Enrique Armijo will give a talk at UNC entitled “Recent Developments in Digital Communications Law and Policy:
Kill Switches, Smart Mobs, and Freedom of Speech.”  He will share his current research on the ways in which government control over communications infrastructure can pose a threat to free speech and discuss the tension between regulation of social media and freedom of expression both domestically and abroad.  He will talk about his work on international media law reform projects in Africa and the Middle East and discuss his approaches for developing research interests into projects.

Armijo is a graduate of the UNC School of Law.  You can read more about him at http://www.elon.edu/e-web/law/faculty/armijo_enrique.xhtml.

The presentation will be from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the Freedom Forum Conference Center on the third floor of Carroll Hall.   The event is free and open to the public.

0

Interdisciplinary Lunch: Wikipedia as an Example of The Promises and Pitfalls of Peer-Produced Media

On Friday, Oct. 26, 2012, we will host an “interdisciplinary lunch” open to faculty and graduate students from across the UNC system. The topic will be “Wikipedia as an Example of The Promises and Pitfalls of Peer-Produced Media.” Launched in January 2001, Wikipedia today is the world’s sixth-most-popular website, visited monthly by approximately 12 percent of all Internet users. Wikipedia wields enormous influence as a primary information source, but it is often subject to criticism because of the mutable nature of its content and its policies on “reliable sources” and “neutral point of view.” Issues surrounding Wikipedia include but certainly are not limited to the degree to which it advances the goals of free speech and the marketplace of ideas, how its content and editing policies affect the openness of the site, and whether academics should contribute more to Wikipedia.

The lunch will be held from noon to 1:15 p.m. on Friday, October 26 in the Halls of Fame Room on the first floor of Carroll Hall.  We will provide box lunches and drinks for those who register. All you need to bring is an inquiring mind.

To register to attend and receive a lunch, please go to our event listing.

Special thanks to Victoria “Tori” Ekstrand and Daren C. Brabham, assistant professors in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication for the topic description and reading list.

 

 

0

First Amendment Day

UNC will celebrate its fourth-annual First Amendment Day on Tuesday, Oct. 2.  The celebration is organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy with generous funding from Time Warner Cable.  Activities range from a reading of banned books, including Chancellor Holden Thorp reading from The Catcher in the Rye, to a First Amendment trivia contest at Linda’s Bar & Grill.  The full schedule of events is here:  http://firstamendmentday.unc.edu.

Come out and join in the fun!

 

0

Law School for Digital Journalists: Wrapup

Last week, the Center for Media Law and Policy joined with the Online News AssociationStanford Center for Internet and Society, and Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism to present a full-day of legal training for ONA members at the Online News Association’s 2012 conference in San Francisco.  The sessions, which we’ve been calling “Law School for Digital Journalists,” covered everything from launching a news business to dealing with defamation risks (a full list of the sessions is here).  Audio recordings, slides, and some video recordings are available here.

While we (Jon Hart, ONA’s general counsel, and I are the primary organizers) try to not to make it too much of a slog for the journalists who come, it’s a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time.  This year the attendance numbers were a bit lower than last year’s sessions at Harvard Law School and we noticed a thinning of the crowd as the day wore on (which meant that some people missed the fantastic plenary panel at the end of the day).  Because we had an amazing faculty for the sessions, including Anthony Falzone, deputy general counsel at Pinterest, Deirdre Sullivan, senior counsel at the New York Times, Karlene Goller, deputy general counsel at the Los Angeles Times, and Stuart Karle, chief operating officer for news at Thompson Reuters, I’m thinking that we simply tried to cover too much in one day.

So, if we do this again next year at ONA13 in Atlanta, what topics should we cover?  What do you think should be part of the essential legal training for digital journalists?

0

Twitter and Free Speech

Today’s New York Times has a very flattering (but well deserved) profile of Alexander Macgillivray, Twitter’s “chief lawyer.”  It notes Twitter’s efforts to protect Free Speech and remarks that the company thinks this will give it an edge over its rivals.  That’s one of the reasons I use Twitter — and stay away from Facebook, as much as I can — but this competitive advantage argument only works if companies are transparent about what they are doing (re: subpoenas, etc.) and people actually care enough to make that a factor in choosing an online service. I’m not quite so sanguine that either is the case today.

In any event, the profile is worth a read.

0