Volume 8, Number 2
Bulletin Winter 2003
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The War on Terrorism: Balancing National Security and Civil Liberties
The Homeland Security Act: On Nov. 19, 2003, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, H.R. 5005, signed by President Bush on Nov. 25, 2002.
Balancing National Security and Civil Rights: Court Rules Detainees Have No Rights to Hearings
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C. Cir.) ruled on March 11, 2003, that suspected Taliban and al-Qaida fighters now held and interrogated at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have no right to hearings in U.S. Courts to challenge their detention.
Balancing National Security and Civil Rights: Analyst Sentenced For Leaking Information to London Times
Jonathan Clay Randel (not to be confused with the former Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal, see “Qualified Privilege for War Correspondents Recognized by ICTY” on page 11 of this issue of the Silha Bulletin), an intelligence analyst employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was sentenced to a year in federal prison and three years supervised release for leaking U.S. government information to the Times of London from February 1999 until September 1999.
Special to the Bulletin: Guest Ethicist Gary Schwitzer: Cloning Announcement Spawns Ethical Debate
News coverage of the Dec. 27, 2002 announcement by the Clonaid company that a cloned human body had been born raises important ethical questions.
Recent Developments in Internet Law: Court Clears Yahoo!
A Paris criminal court on Feb. 11, 2003, threw out the case against Yahoo! by French human rights activists who claimed that Yahoo! and former Yahoo! chief executive Timothy Koogle should be held legally responsible for the online auctions that offered Nazi paraphernalia.
Recent Developments in Internet Law: North Rhine-Westphalia Blocks Neo-Nazi Web Sites
The Washington Post reported on Dec. 20, 2002, that North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, has required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block two U.S.-based neo-Nazi Web sites.
Recent Developments in Internet Law: China, Vietnam Users Denied Access, Face Censorship
Publisher of Online Democracy Journal Detained in China; Chinese Student Arrested for Critical Essays Online
Recent Developments in Internet Law: Council of Europe Criminalizes Internet Hate Speech
The Council of Europe adopted a measure in November 2002 criminalizing Internet hate speech, including hyperlinks to pages that contain offensive content.
Recent Developments in Internet Law: Cybersquatter Held in Contempt
William Purdy, an anti-abortion activist who initially said he would run the risk of going to jail rather than give up Web site domain names that included such well-known corporate trademarks as The Washington Post, McDonald's, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, did not go to jail on Feb. 5, 2003, but was instead held in contempt of a court order issued by federal District Court Judge Ann Montgomery
Qualified Privilege for War Correspondents Recognized by ICTY
Jonathan Randal, the Washington Post reporter who appealed a court order to testify before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). has won his case for a qualified war correspondent's privilege.
Maryland Court Debates Electronic Access to Court Records
On Jan. 6, 2003, Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals named himself and Judges Lynne A. Battaglia and Alan M. Wilner as the members of a small panel to review and make suggestions to the full court regarding possible changes to the current policies on electronic access to court records, based on recommendations from a previous committee.
Recent Developments in Copyright Law: Recording Industry Association of America v. Verizon Internet Services
On Jan. 21,2003, a federal District Judge for the District of Columbia ordered Verizon Internet Services (Verizon), an Internet Service Provider (lSP), to reveal the identity of a subscriber suspected of illegally downloading over 600 music recordings in a single day.
Recent Developments in Copyright Law: DeCSS Update
New technology that makes it possible to crack the codes used by Hollywood to protect its copyrights has led to the battle of the entertainment industry versus so-called "hackers" and smaller computer software companies.
Recent Developments in Copyright Law: Copyright Term Extension Upheld as Constitutional
Congress sought to extend the term of copyrights in 1998, by passing the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), also known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
Recent Developments in Defamation Law: Dow Jones & Company Inc. v. Gutnick
The High Court of Australia, that country's highest court, unanimously dismissed an appeal by Dow Jones on Dec. 10, 2002, seeking to stop the progress of a defamation suit by Australian mining magnate Joseph Gutnick.
Recent Developments in Defamation Law: Print, Internet Newspapers Wrestle with Questions of Jurisdiction
The U.S. Court ofAppeals (4th Cir.) in Richmond, Va. decided on Dec. 13, 2002, that a Virginia prison warden may not bring a libel suit in Virginia over articles appearing on the Web sites of two Connecticut newspapers.
Recent Developments in Defamation Law: Utah Supreme Court Strikes Down Nineteenth-Century Law
In a unanimous ruling on Nov. 15, 2002, the Utah Supreme Court struck down the state's 1876 criminal libel statute.
Courts Debate Television Broadcasting of Court Proceeding, Jury Deliberations
ABC News has started reviewing cases for a Colorado version of ''State v.," a national television program that offers a behind-the-scenes look at a criminal trial from the prosecution and defense preparation work through the verdict.
Local Governments Stifle the Press: Minneapolis Mayor Muzzles Cops
Although he has declined to specify exactly how the communications system between the police and the media has failed, in early February 2003 Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak ordered police officers to check with city hall before speaking to reporters.
Local Governments Stifle the Press: Buying in Bulk Violates the Constitution
On Jan. 16, 2003 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals (4th Circuit) held in Rossignol v. Voorhaar, 316 F. 3d 516 (4th Cir. 2003), that local law enforcement officials in Maryland may be sued for violating the First Amendment rights of a St. Mary's County, Md. newspaper by purchasing large quantities of the paper with the intent of squelching critical commentary.
Local Governments Stifle the Press: Tape Seizure Permissible, Even Without Warrant
In a per curiam decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals (8th Cir.) found no error in a District Court's ruling in a case involving the seizure of a journalists' videotape of a farewell banquet for city council members.
Sex Offender Registration Ruled Not Punitive
Two separate cases, handed down the same day by the U.S. Supreme Court, both ruled that registration of convicted sex offenders in a publicly-accessible database that collected certain personal information about them did not constitute a punitive measure.
Two Newspapers Lose in Satire, Parody Cases
A Texas appeals court has ruled again that the First Amendment does not protect a weekly newspaper's satirical piece.
Can Press Releases Be Considered Commercial Speech?
On Jan. 10, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a controversial California Supreme Court decision, Nike, Inc. v. Kasky, No. 02-575, involving the shoemaker Nike and a California activist.
International Journalists Face Danger, Censorship
Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF), or Reporters Without Borders, a media advocacy group based in Paris, France, has released its annual report on worldwide freedom of the press.
2003 Silha Center Spring Ethics Forum
Since the September 11 attacks, journalists face new ethical challenges.