Twitter and Free Speech

By on September 3, 2012 in First Amendment

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.

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Interdisciplinary Lunch: Who Owns Research Data?

By on August 29, 2012 in Copyright, Privacy

Last year, the Center began hosting a bi-monthly gathering of faculty and graduate students from across UNC-CH to discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by new communication technologies, including social media, mobile platforms, and the Internet, and the impact they are having on governments, the economy, and cultural and social values throughout the world.

Our first lunch of the fall will address the question, “Who owns research data?”  There are many stakeholders who may have a legitimate interest in determining what happens to data that are collected and generated as part of scholarly research. “Ownership” can be seen as a right to control the data but also as having the responsibility to responsibly care for the data over time. Data ownership issues touch on legal constraints and commitments (e.g. FERPA, intellectual property, human subjects protections, open records laws), requirements of funding agencies (e.g. data management plans), and social norms and behaviors. Perceptions of ownership often do not align well with formal, institutional mandates. And those responsible for creation of data are not always well positioned to provide for long-term access.

The September lunch will be held from noon to 1:15 p.m. on Friday, September 14 in room 208 in Manning Hall. We will provide box lunches and drinks for those who register. All you need to bring is an inquiring mind.

To RSVP for the lunch and to see the list of suggested background readings, please go to our events listing.

And a big thank you to Christopher “Cal” Lee, an associate professor in the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), for taking the lead on this topic and to SILS for hosting the lunch!

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Call for Papers: The Evolving Role of the Internet in Politics and Political Campaigns

By on July 13, 2012 in Internet

As the incoming treasurer for the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Mass Communications, I’m excited to announce that we’ll be hosting a joint program with the Internet and Computer Law section at our annual meeting in New Orleans.  Here is the announcement with a call for papers:

The AALS Section on Internet and Computer Law and the Section on Mass Communications are hosting a joint program entitled “The Evolving Role of the Internet in Politics and Political Campaigns” at the AALS Annual Meeting to be held in New Orleans, LA from January 4-7, 2013.  Both sections invite submissions of papers on the program’s topic; one paper will be selected for presentation at the conference.

As the Supreme Court recognized in ACLU v. Reno, “the Internet is ‘a unique and wholly new medium of worldwide human communication.'” Among its unique features is that the Internet democratizes the opportunity to engage in political speech by offering ready access to any speaker with an Internet connection to large potential audiences at the local, state, national or global levels.  This program assesses the impact the Internet has had to date on the relationship between the media and public officials or political candidates.  Traditional newspapers are struggling to find a sustainable business model and appear to be losing some influence over the policy agenda or public officials’ conduct.  Internet-only publications and other forms of political speech on the Internet have a complicated relationship with traditional media organizations, which, of course, also rely on the Internet to interact with their audiences.  To what extent are these changes fostering or inhibiting democracy?  Is law reform necessary in response to these changes?

Abstracts for papers on any topic within this broad scope are welcome and should be submitted to Michael Carroll, mcarroll@wcl.american.edu, and Anuj Desai, acdesai@wisc.edu, by August 15, 2012.

I should also add that UNC’s very own Daniel Kreiss will be on the panel, talking about his new book from Oxford University Press: “Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama.”

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Call for Papers: Geek Law Workshop

By on July 4, 2012 in Internet

On September 17-18, 2012, our friends at the University of East Anglia are hosting the 7th annual Geek Law workshop in London. From the announcement:

It’s harder than it used to be to write a Call for Papers for GikII, the so-cool-it-hurts blue skies workshop for papers exploring the interstices between law, technology and popular culture. Back in the day,  you could dazzle the noobs just by mentioning past glories like the first paper on Facebook and privacy, Harry Potter and the Surveillance of Doom, regulation of autonomous agents according to the Roman law of slavery, edible technologies and copyright in Dalek knitting patterns. But nowadays we live in a world where we routinely encounter unmanned surveillance drones used to deliver tacos, incommercial asteroid mining with Richard Branson, 3d printers used to create human organs and the fact that Jeremy Hunt still has a job. Still, if any of these or the other many phenomena of the digital age in desperate need of legal attention are digging a tunnel out of your brain, then send us an abstract for the 7th Gikii workshop!  Maybe this year it will be your paper which contributes the seminal GikII meme following in the honoured footsteps of LOLcats, flying penises, and knitted Daleks. . . .

Abstracts of no longer than 500 words should be sent to lilian.edwards@strath.ac.uk and “Karen Mc Cullagh (LAW)” K.Mccullagh@uea.ac.uk  by August 13th 2012. A limited number of places will be available for participants not giving papers, and preference will be given for these to scholars (including postgraduate students) who have not previously attended GikII. Registration for these places will open at gikii.com when acceptance of abstracts is notified.

More info here.

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Media Workshop at FCC on June 26th

By on June 15, 2012 in FCC

Should be interesting:

On June 26, 2012 from 9:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities will host a public meeting to review a draft report prepared by a coalition of scholars brought together by University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. The researched was commissioned to examine existing research into the critical information needs of the American public and market-entry barriers into participation in the communication industry. The research will inform the Commission’s 2012 Report to Congress about barriers to participation in the communications industry, also known as the Section 257 Report. At this public meeting the USC-Annenberg Coalition will present their draft findings to the Commission and an independent panel of scholars and industry representatives, this will be followed by an opportunity for public feedback and to inquire about the research results.

More info on the FCC’s website.

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