Media Law Prof Blog

Rocky 2008

The City of Los Angeles is doing what viewers might like to do--it's suing the cable company over "shoddy" practices and misleading advertising dating back years, over techs who didn't show up on time to fix cable problems, and over rude customer service people. Said L.A. city attorney Rocky Delgadillo, "The company has broken multiple laws, and harmed countless Los Angeles consumers." Time Warner says it's actually getting fewer complaints from customers than in the past. Read more here.

FCC Chair Hopes To Introduce Plan For Free Wireless Broadband Later This Summer

FCC Chair Kevin Martin says his plan to provide free wireless service won't be presented at this month's FCC meeting, but he isn't abandoning it, and he hopes to bring it up later this summer. Read more here.

Former Members of Band "Busted" Lose Royalty Fight; May Appeal

Two members of the rock band Busted have lost their legal fight over royalties. The pair had sued other members of the group, claiming they had been cheated of payments over songs they had written while with the band. The pair may appeal. Read more here.

Publisher Sues Victoria Gotti Over Terminated Contract, Advance

HarperCollins is suing Victoria Gotti for the return of a $70,000 book advance because she has never delivered the manuscript and has terminated the contract. Ms. Gotti signed the contract with former HarperCollins exec Judith Regan, who left the company last year. Read more here.

U of Washington Report Concludes Innocent Internet Users Can Be Easily Accused of Copyright Infringement

A University of Washington, Department of Computer Science & Engineering report concludes that non-infringing users can easily receive takedown notices from rights holders. "Practically any Internet user can be framed for copyright infringement today." Here's a link to the report.

Red Light, Green Light

The EU is examining whether to regulate advertising more carefully--specifically, automobile advertisements. Read more here.

Many Britons Believe Social Networking Sites Should Be Regulated

Most Britons believe social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook should be regulated, according to a new survey. Yes, they're concerned about potential embarrassment and invasion of privacy, but they're also concerned about larger issues, such as long-term effects on the general population of allowing such information to be widely accessible. Read more here.

Daily Star Admits Story About Ozzy Osbourne's Poor Health Not True

The Daily Star will pay Ozzy Osbourne damages over a story that alleged that the rock star collapsed before the recent Brit Awards show, during which he presented awards, and implied that he was in bad health. The star's lawyer said the article caused Mr. Osbourne "considerable embarrassment and distress." Mr. Osbourne will donate the money to his wife's medical charity. Read more here.

Ofcom Fines MTV For Offensive Language

Ofcom has fined MTV for "persistent breaches" of its code, based on the broadcaster's failure to prevent the use of offensive language on reality TV shows and other programming to which children had access during the "watershed" period. Read more here. Here is a link to the Ofcom ruling.

Analyzing the Law of Modern Electronic Communications

Susan Freiwald, University of San Francisco School of Law, has published "A First Principles Approach to Communications' Privacy," in Stanford Technology Law Review. Here is the abstract.

Under current doctrine, parties to a communication enjoy robust constitutional protection against government surveillance only when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy in those communications. This paper suggests that the surprising dearth of case law applying the reasonable expectations of privacy test to modern electronic communications reflects courts' discomfort with the test's necessarily normative analysis. That discomfort also likely explains courts' use of shortcuts based on Miller v. United States and Smith v. Maryland in those few cases that have considered online surveillance practices. In particular, the government has argued that a broad third party rule deprives electronic mail of Fourth Amendment protection merely because Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may access those e-mails. Similarly, some courts have denied Fourth Amendment protection to information stored on computer systems other than e-mail contents, by over reading Smith to provide a bright line at contents/non-contents. Both analytical shortcuts not only miss the point of the Katz v. United States, which established the reasonable expectations of privacy test, but also dramatically under protect privacy, with pernicious results. This paper articulates a first principles approach to constitutional protection that focuses instead on the reasons electronic surveillance requires significant judicial oversight. In particular, it argues that electronic surveillance that is intrusive, continuous, indiscriminate, and hidden should be subject to the heightened procedural requirements imposed on government wiretappers. Because surveillance of stored e-mail, such as the type at issue in the case of Warshak v. United States, often shares the characteristics of this four factor test, it should be subject to the highest level of constitutional regulation[.]

Download the article from SSRN here.