Archive | Legal Risk Blog

Question: If I am considering using information from someone’s Facebook profile in my next article or blog post, are there any legal landmines that I need to avoid? Response By → Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz: (Posted on June 19, 2009) There may be, depending upon the circumstances.  Relying on a Facebook profile as a source of information may create a number of legal risks, typically – although not exclusively – concerning the profile owner’s privacy and intellectual property rights. To Read more [...]

Question: What are the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Children’s Internet Protection Act and how might they relate to the work of bloggers, citizen journalists, educational organizations and other online publishers whose subjects, audience and/or participants may include children?  What bright line rules and best practices can help ensure compliance? Response By → Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz: (Posted on March 19, 2009) The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Read more [...]

Question: When using video in connection with blogs, is providing a link to video that may be protected by copyright permissible, or is that unclear, and are there any parameters or useful rules of thumb for bloggers and citizen journalists? Response By → Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz: (Posted on January 10, 2009.) Copyright protection applies to all manner of expression once that expression is captured in a tangible form from which others (with their own senses or with the aid of a device) Read more [...]

Question: Is the proposed federal shield law dead?  If it is ultimately passed, would it be helpful or hurtful to bloggers and citizen journalists? Response By → Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz: (Posted on November 5, 2008.) No, efforts to pass a federal shield law are not dead, but they will likely have to wait until next year and the new Administration to move forward.  It is unclear whether it would help or hurt bloggers and citizen journalists. When discussing the proposed shield Read more [...]

Question: A legal claim that private facts have been wrongfully published generally requires that the facts at issue were not previously public.  Does that mean that if truthful personal information about a private person, such as financial or medical data or an ancient shoplifting arrest is posted in some obscure location on the Internet, perhaps within a database or deep inside a social networking site, that anyone can republish it without worrying about a private facts claim?  In other words, Read more [...]

Question: What is a DMCA takedown notice and what should a blogger or Web site producer do if he/she receives one? Response By → Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz: (Posted on June 26, 2008) A DMCA “takedown notice” is formal notification that content posted on a Web site, blog, or other online forum is in violation of copyright law.  Receipt of such a notice by a “service provider”, such as a Web site operator, blogger, online forum, or other Internet-based host for third-party content, Read more [...]