Volume 7, Number 4
Bulletin Spring 2002
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Former Washington Post Reporter Subpoenaed by International Criminal Tribunal
Jonathan Randal, who in 1993 wrote a story for The Washington Post containing quotes from an interview with former Bosnian Serb housing minister, Radoslav Brdjanin, was subpoenaed on January 28, 2002 to appear before the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Recent United States Supreme Court Rulings: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York v. Village of Stratton
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a Stratton, Ohio, ordinance requiring solicitors to register with the mayor’s office and obtain a permit before engaging in door-to-door canvassing.
Recent United States Supreme Court Rulings: Gonzaga University v. Doe
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) does not create a judicially enforceable individual right to privacy, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 20, 2002.
Recent United States Supreme Court Rulings: Republican Party v. White
In a 5 to 1 decision issued June 27, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Minnesota legal ethics code prohibiting candidates for judicial office from announcing their views on “disputed legal or political issues.”
Florida Autopsy Records Remain Sealed
On July 12, 2002, a three-judge panel of the Florida appeals court affirmed a ruling by Broward County Fla. Circuit Court Judge Leroy H. Moe that autopsy photos are “presumptively private,” upholding a state law sealing autopsy photos passed following the death of NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt on Feb. 18, 2001.
International Law: Mexico Passes Freedom of Information Act
On June 10, 2002, President Vincente Fox fulfilled his campaign promise to promote an open government by signing Mexico’s first freedom of information act.
International Law: New Romanian Press Law Signed
On June 10, 2002, Romanian president Ion Iliescu said that he would not sign into law proposed legislation that would have required newspaper editors to publish responses to articles readers found offensive.
Boston Newspaper Links to Video of Daniel Pearl
In June 2002, alternative newspaper the Boston Phoenix posted a link on its Web site to the unedited photo showing the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by Pakistani terrorists.
Newspapers Under Siege: British Newspapers Ordered to Return Documents
Five of Britain’s largest news organizations were served court orders on July 12, 2002 by lawyers from Interbrew SA, a Belgian brewing company, directing them to return original copies of leaked and falsified documents about Interbrew’s bid to take over South African Breweries (SAB).
Newspapers Under Siege: Bay Area Newspapers Searched
Palo Alto police served several newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area with search warrants during June 2002.
Freedom of Speech Stifled: Zimbabwe
Twelve journalists have been arrested in Zimbabwe since the March 15, 2002 passage of repressive new press laws.
Freedom of Speech Stifled: Belarus
Two Belarussian journalists, Nikolai Markevich and Pavel Mozheiko, were convicted of libeling Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on June 24, 2002, according to the Associated Press.
Freedom of Speech Stifled: Italy
Two popular Italian television programs whose anchors have been critical of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi were removed from the fall 2002 lineup on state television RAI in late June.
Developments in Internet Law: The Internet and Public Libraries
On May 31, 2002, a federal court special panel in Philadelphia ruled that the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) signed by President Clinton in 2000, is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment.
Developments in Internet Law: Minnesota Supreme Court Rules on Internet Libel Case
The Minnesota Supreme Court Ruled in July 2002 that statements made by a Minnesota resident in an Internet chat room were not sufficiently directed toward readers in the state of Alabama to require Minnesota to confer “full faith and credit” on an Alabama district court decision finding that the statements were libelous (see Griffis v. Luban, 2002 Minn. LEXIS 461 (Minn.2002.)
Developments in Internet Law: New York Rules on Republication
On July 2, 2002, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, unanimously decided that Internet publications are subject to the single publication rule, so that each subsequent viewing of an Internet site is not considered to be a republication.
Developments in Internet Law: House Passes Amendment to Child Pornography Protection Act
In a reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on April 16, 2002, that it is unconstitutional under the First Amendment to ban the production, possession, or distribution of computer-generated child pornography (Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 122 S. Ct. 1389 (2002); see also Spring 2002 Bulletin, “Supreme Court Strikes Down Virtual Child Pornography Law:), the House passed HR 4623, the Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act of 2002, on June 25.
Developments in Internet Law: Internet Use Restricted in China
A “Declaration of Internet Users’ Rights” was published by 18 Chinese dissidents and intellectuals in China on July 29 2002, according to Agence France-Presse.
Developments in Internet Law: The Silha Center Files Brief in Bunner Case
The Silha Center has joined the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California in an amicus brief in DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Bunner (No. S102588), filed in the California Supreme Court on July 11, 2002.
Developments in Internet Law: Cybersquatting
Cybersquatting is defined in Black’s Law Dictionary as “the act of reserving a domain name on the Internet, especially a name that would be associated with a company’s trademark.”
Philadelphia Inquirer Reporters Found in Contempt
Four reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer were found in contempt and sentenced in June 2002 for violating a court order not to “contact or attempt to interview” any member of the jury of the New Jersey murder trial of Rabbi Fred Neulander, who was charged with hiring a hit man to kill his wife, Carol.
Personal Freedoms at Risk: European Union and Web Site Users
Europol, the police and intelligence arm of the European Union, has proposed a plan that will require member states’ telephone operators and Internet Service Providers to retain records regarding telephone and Internet activity for a period of up to five years.
Personal Freedoms at Risk: Homeland Security
President Bush’s proposal for a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security contains provisions for a broad FOIA exemption.
Reporters Subpoenaed, Detained: Attorneys for Lindh Subpoena CNN Reporter
On July 12, 2002, Federal District Judge T.S. Ellis III refused to quash a subpoena issued to Robert Young Pelton, the CNN reporter who interviewed American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh.
Reporters Subpoenaed, Detained: Wally Wakefield Subpoena Update
In mid-June, 2002, a Minnesota Court of Appeals panel reversed a lower court ruling that held Maplewood Reporter Wally Wakefield in contempt for not revealing his sources in a libel suit, releasing Wakefield from contempt charges and a $200 a day fine.
Reporters Subpoenaed, Detained: Reported Held by State Department
Joel Mowbray, a reporter for the National Review, was held for half an hour at the conclusion of a briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2002.