Freedom of the Press

The Obama administration and Congress appear to be moving toward agreement on a federal shield law, which would protect reporters who refuse to reveal confidential sources. The bill that is emerging is not perfect, but it would help ensure that Americans get the information they need about the workings of government, business and other institutions that affect their lives. Do you think this would be good or bad or journalism, the public, sources?
For more info: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03tue2.html

Twitter-like "Ameba-now"

CyberAgent Inc., a company provides media contents and services through the Internet business had announced that they are planning to start mini-blog service named "Ameba-now" which can post short words like "Twitter"during this year. Ameba is one of biggest blog site in Japan that is offered by CyberAgent and they hold many users not only general public but also celebrities and artisits. They have not decided how many words it can tweet nor any other details in this new service.

Similar service 'Twitter," has just started in Japan, but still it is not popular. For this new service, CyberAgent aim to get users from original Ameba blog users so that thay can easily enlarge users to this new service.

CyberAgent is popular media business company in Japan, but what do you feel about this new service? Is it possible for this company to start same service as "twitter"? I hope this will not relate to copyright infringement, but I was interested that Japanese media company started thinking similar system as "Twitter."

Anti-Defamation League on Media's Side

Woody and Rizzuto are two talk show hosts for a morning program on 105.7 The Point. Earlier this week they had a woman from the Missouri/Southern Illinois branch of the Anti-Defemation League (ADL) on air with the guys to discuss the upcoming counter-protest that they are helping to forward against a group called the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an anti-gay hate group located in Topeka, Kansas headed by a man named Fred Phelps. Apparantly the WBC is staging a protest in St. Louis at Northwest High School tomorrow (11/12/09) using their slogan "God Hates Fags" against a memorial service for a fallen soldier and because the school has diversity programs. The counter-protest will be held at a church down the street from the high school, with the slogan "God Hates Douchebags" aimed at the WBC. The woman from the ADL was speaking about how the WBC people are extremely litigation-happy. Apparantly Phelps himself used to be a lawyer until he was disbarred, several of his many children are lawyers, and they use their knowledge of the law to perverse ends, obtaining money for the group by seeking lawsuits for emotional distress against people like and winning. Michael Moore did his own mini protest in his show The Awful Truth, driving a pink bus called the Sodomobile filled with gay men and women to the WBC's protests around the country. It's obvious that the group is just attention hungry, but it will be interesting to see if the counter-protest manages to stay peaceful and non-violent, and if any lawsuits come out of it on either side. For more information, click on the links below:

http://www.adl.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_hates_fags

http://www.1057thepoint.com/WAR/

Teacher Forced to Resign Over Content of her Facebook Page

A former Georgia teacher was forced to resign after the principal of the school she was employed at concluded her Facebook page was inappropriate. To be specific, the two things he was concerned about was the fact that she was holding beer and wine, and the fact that she said the word B****. The "expletive" was used in reference to a restaurant she was going to that featured a game called "Crazy B**** Bingo."

Link

"Family Guy" Case Thrown Out

In March 2009, music publisher, Bourne Co. filed suit against Fox Broadcasting, "Family Guy's" creator, Seth McFarlane, and producers for breach of copyright in 2007. Bourne Co. owns the rights to Disney song, "When You Wish Upon a Star". Bourne Co. felt that the song's image had been damaged when "Family Guy" used the song in a skit with anti-semetic lyrics.

The case was dismissed as the court ruled "Family Guy" did not violate copyright law because they used the song in a parody. Parodies are protected by 1st Amendment rights. "Family Guy" producers did not use the entire song. They used enough of the song so that it was recognizable to its audience. It was, also, clear to the audience that the song was being parodied since the lyrics were altered to differ from the original song.

Do you agree with the ruling? Do you think this damaged the song or Disney's reputation?

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/03/17/family_guy_copyright_case_thrown_out_

Patent law "case of the century"?

The Supreme Court heard a case today concerning what can legally be patented. The case, Bilski and Warsaw v. Kappos, concerns Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw, who were denied a patent for a business method. They are appealing a ruling that patents must be tied to something tangible. Most patents concern tangible inventions, such as a new chemical or product. Bilski and Warsaw's method would have made energy expenditures more predictable for organizations.

Patenting a method? It may sound strange to some, but I think that if you legitimately create something--regardless of what that item is--you should be able to patent it. While nothing is ever absolute, and there always seems to be an exception, I think that the Court needs to strongly consider the potential effects of their ruling.

It will be interesting to see what the Court decides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/business/10patent.html?_r=1&em

Stop or I'll Shoot

Two students at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth have sued the school claiming that the college violated their first amendment rights. The incident started when the students wanted to pass out pamphlets and fliers concerning a campus ban on concealed weapons, and were told that they could only do so at an information table designated by the school. At the same time, the students were also warned that they could not wear empty holsters as a form of protest to the new ban.
Represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the students were at least able to get a temporary restraining order that would allow them to protest the ban without restrictions being placed on the demonstration. The case is scheduled to go to court on November 16th, 2009. Unlike the famous Hazelwood case, were it was determined that the school had the authority and the right to censor information because the school publication was not a public forum; Tarrant County College is in fact a public forum, and may potentially lose the suit on the basis of view-point discrimination. For further information, the article can be viewed at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/us/07brfs-COURTBACKSPR_BRF.html