Media & Communications Law

Online Journalists Sue H-P

Internet-based reporters caught up in the Hewlett-Packard pretexting scandal have filed suit against the computer maker claiming invasion of privacy. One Associated Press reporter and three CNet.com reporters, all of whose phone records were scrutinized by HP investigators, filed suit in state court in San Francisco on Wednesday, reports the…

Aug 16, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

Paris Hilton & Mel Gibson Protection Act?

A bill being considered in the California legislature attempts to regulate checkbook journalism and private investigators who pay for confidential information. The legislation, AB 920, would make it a misdemeanor for law enforcement personnel and court employees to profit by releasing confidential information or permitting photographs of a person in…

Aug 16, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Secret-Case Strategy: Guess US Argument

In 27 years of practice, Jon Eisenberg has never had a more difficult case than Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. George W. Bush. One reason why is the extraordinary secrecy imposed on the litigation process because of terrorism-related national security concerns. When it came time to file one brief in his…

Aug 15, 2007 3:12 PM CDT

Rutgers Player Accuses Imus of Libel

A Rutgers women’s basketball player has filed suit against radio personality Don Imus, accusing him of libel, slander and defamation for comments he made on air about the team in April. The comments cost Imus his job at CBS and resulted in a contract settlement that was reported this week.…

Aug 15, 2007 3:03 PM CDT

OJ Simpson Book to be Published

A book by O.J. Simpson that reportedly contains a hypothetical account of how he might have murdered his former wife, Nicole, if he had actually done so, will soon be in bookstores nationwide after all. Withdrawn from publication last year, following a firestorm of criticism, it has been accepted anew…

Aug 13, 2007 8:18 PM CDT

Records Proposal Pulled After Protests

A controversial proposal to limit access to criminal records to make it easier for convicts to find jobs and housing is being withdrawn by the entities that intended to bring it before the ABA’s policymaking body next week. ABA’s Commission on Effective Judicial Sanctions and the Criminal Justice Section were…

Aug 11, 2007 10:57 PM CDT

Anna Nicole Breast Surgery Video Banned

A Southern California judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing a Texas plastic surgeon from selling, distributing or disseminating a 1994 videotape of breast augmentation surgery he performed on Anna Nicole Smith. The former stripper and Playboy playmate of the Year, perhaps best-known for her marriage to a Houston…

Aug 9, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Google Maps Make Life Less Private

It isn’t illegal. But an ambitious Google Inc. project to map metropolitan areas throughout the country is reducing the limited amount of privacy that used to apply, as a practical matter, on public streets. “The law allows you to take a picture of anything you can see as long as…

Aug 7, 2007 6:50 PM CDT

Agent’s CIA Years Top Secret

It’s well known that Valerie Wilson worked for the CIA; the information was published in a newspaper column and led to a high-level prosecution. And her length of service was published in the Congressional Record. But Wilson’s length of service is classified information, as is a court filing explaining why…

Aug 3, 2007 1:06 PM CDT

Murdoch Can Thank Lawyers for WSJ Deal

The cost of outside advisers–including some of the biggest names in law–may have persuaded reluctant members of the Bancroft family to approve the sale of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch, CNBC is reporting. Fees to legal and financial advisers could amount to at least $30…

Jul 31, 2007 5:57 PM CDT

29,000 Sex Offenders Using MySpace

The estimated number of registered sex offenders among some 180 million people using the social networking site MySpace to post personal profiles has quadrupled. Several months ago, operators of the site said they thought some 7,000 registered sex offenders had posted on MySpace. But now they have upped that estimate…

Jul 25, 2007 11:54 PM CDT

IRS E-Mail Advice to Be Disclosed

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Internal Revenue Service must release e-mail advice prepared by the Office of Chief Counsel for field personnel. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit disagreed with the IRS, which contended that e-mails prepared in less than two hours…

Jul 25, 2007 7:52 PM CDT

Broker Wins $1.6 M in Merrill Arbitration

An NASD securities arbitration panel has awarded $1.6 million to a broker of Iranian descent, saying that Merrill Lynch & Co. first set him up to be fired and then lied about him in an industry regulatory form, making him unemployable. The panel issued an unusually detailed eight-page decision explaining…

Jul 24, 2007 12:30 AM CDT

Dow Jones Director Faces SEC Action

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a member of the newspaper’s corporate board has been notified he will likely be sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. David Li, a Dow Jones & Co. board member, has received a “Wells notice” informing him that the SEC plans to file…

Jul 19, 2007 4:29 PM CDT

Suit Says New Harry Potter Book Heisted

The new Harry Potter book doesn’t officially debut until Saturday. But lawyers are already in court over what appears to be a bootlegged copy whizzing around on the Internet. Photos of what appear to be actual pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—with someone’s fingers visibly holding the book…

Jul 17, 2007 10:27 PM CDT