Law and Community Journalism

Recent Issues

March 12, 2009

Copyright and the Web• I found this great photo on the Web –

can I use it?– Most likely not…– Flickr terms & conditions

• I found this great video on the Web – can I put it on my site?– Probably…– YouTube terms & conditions

How much is too much?• Fair use allows newspapers some

leeway in copying some content

• Links to other sites are OK

• What about copy-and-paste?– “scraping”– AP, big newspapers monitoring use and

filing lawsuits– Be careful on blogs – attribute, link and no

more than a short paragraph

Defamation and the Web• Am I protected by the Communications

Decency Act?– Shields ISPs from postings by users

• What about comments on a blog or after a story?– Most likely protected, but…

– Best practices: require log-in so users have user names and can be ID’d later if necessary

Fair Housing Ads• Texas Press Association notes that this

has been a problem for papers recently

• Fair Housing Act has requirements

• Unlawful to publish ads for housing sale or rental that include any discrimination based on:– Race, color, religion, sex, handicap, family

status, national origin– Exception for ads seeking roommates

New legislation• Several bills worth following• Better chance for Free Flow of Information

Act to pass– Would provide shield for reporters from

testifying about confidential sources

• Public Records Act proposal– Uniform data file format, XML, to prevent state

agencies from hiding things in vendor-specific formats