Archive for the law Tag

Libel advice for bloggers

Sense About Science – along with a whole raft of other organisations* – have published a libel guide for bloggers: ‘So you’ve had a threatening letter. What can you do?’ Below is the animated button they’ve created that practically begs you to click it and download the PDF. I’m curious why they haven’t published it as a series of webpages
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On publishing – and deleting – allegations online

TechCrunch’s Paul Carr has a thoughtful piece on “cyber-vigilantism” where citizens witness or experience a crime and go online to chase it down, name the alleged perpetrators, or pressure the authorities out of complacency: “[W]hen that naming happens, the case is over before it’s begun: no matter whether the accused is guilty or innocent, they are handed a life sentence.
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Time to talk about legal

As a lone blogger how much legal protection do you have? No more than anyone else, when it comes to libel, contempt of court law and so on, except that people are more likely to pay attention to large media organisations. But there are many instances where bloggers have lost a lot of time and money over legal disputes. Last
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Let us record what happens in our courts – comment call

UPDATE: You can vote to repeal the ban on recording court proceedings here (Thanks to Alistair Kelman in the comments) Heather Brooke is calling for a campaign to allow recording in UK courts. I agree. In the comments below, let’s talk strategy. Meanwhile, here’s some of the background from Brooke’s related blog post: How: “The simple answer is to allow
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Guest post: Why I escaped The Times’ paywall

In a guest post, blogger Tim Kevan explains why he resigned from The Times over the paywall Back in early 2007 I had been practising as a lawyer for some nine years. But I’d always dreamt of living by the sea and the surf and maybe even writing a novel. I just couldn’t quite see how it could be done.When
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How do I hate thee, Digital Economy Bill? Let me count the ways…

1. It’s the economy, stupid Last week’s official advice (Word doc) on the bill ‘would effectively “outlaw open Wi-Fi for small businesses”‘ said Lilian Edwards, professor of internet law at Sheffield University. “This is going to be a very unfortunate measure for small businesses, particularly in a recession, many of whom are using open free Wi-Fi very effectively as a
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Fair use and copyright in the UK – how different is it? (comment call)

There’s a fabulous post over at the Center for Social Media on when using copyrighted material in video comes under fair use. If the work is ‘transformative’ then there’s a strong case for fair use. Examples include: Adding satirical subtitles, fan tributes, parody, critique Using copyright material for illustration of example (e.g. stages in a star’s career) Accidental capture –
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Police pay Seismic Shock blogger a visit over ‘harassment’

This* is worrying on so many levels: a blogger links to evidence linking a reverend in the Anglican church with holocaust denial and antisemitism the reverend complains to Surrey Police, who pass it on to Yorkshire Police, who pay the blogger a visit, during which the blogger agrees to delete one of his blogs. in addition, it appears that the
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Defamation and the internet: a consultation response to the Ministry of Justice

Last month I blogged about the consultation currently taking place on the law of defamation and the multiple publication rule. The deadline for that is today. Below I’ve published my own responses. If you feel I’ve got something wrong or missed something, please let me know. Question 1. Taking into account the arguments set out [in the document], do you
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Presentation: Law for bloggers and journalists (UK)

Yesterday I hosted a session on law for my MA Online Journalism students, which I thought I would embed below. Some background: I teach all my sessions in a coffee shop in central Birmingham – anyone can drop in. This week I specifically invited local bloggers, and so the shape of the presentation was very much flavoured by contributions from The
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