Law and News

Libel – Copyright -- Privacy

Laws have not kept up with changes initiated by technology

• Geography (local to global)• Private and public (now mixed)• Fixed media (information can disappear)

What is libel?

• A written statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed.

What is slander?

• A transitory statement (generally spoken) that communicates a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image.

News media

• Employ lawyers and educate editors and reporters to avoid slander and libel

• Still, news organizations are sued regularly; some cases have gone to the Supreme Court

• Libel and slander laws very different in different countries

Which of these statements are libelous in the US? Which in the UK?

• She’s a real jerk and she’s fat. • She embezzled thousands of dollars from her

employer.

Proving libel is different for different kinds of people

• Public figure (coach, politician, celebrity)• Private person (most of us)

Can you libel someone on Facebook?

In the UK, yes.

In the US, maybe.

What is copyright?

• The set of exclusive legal rights authors have over their works for a limited period of time.

• The Constitution of the United States says that its purpose is to promote science and the useful arts. The government believed that those who create an original expression in any medium need protection for their work so they can receive appropriate compensation for their intellectual effort.

What is copyrightable?

• Music• Books• Articles• Photographs• Works of art

What is not copyrightable? (in the US)

• Fashion• Jokes• Recipes• The telephone book

What is fair use?

• Limitations on copyright for the purposes of education, comment and commentary, parody…

• Difficult to judge, it depends on many factors

How does something get copyrighted?

• The moment you create something and ‘publish’ it online, on paper, on a recording, it is copyrighted.

How many of you have violated copyright this week?

Lawrence Lessig on laws that reduce creativity

Creative Commons