Guide Through the Legal Jungle

Is News-Reporting Via Twitter More Akin to a Haiku or a Bumper-Sticker?

No television cameras were allowed in the Connecticut murder trial of the men accused of killing the wife and daughters of Dr. William A. Petit, Jr. in Cheshire, Connecticut. Nevertheless, those unable to be present in the packed court room were able to stay completely updated on each trial development as it occurred.

That’s because at least half a dozen mainstream journalists tweeted the trial. One reporter referred to this method as “haiku journalism”. A commenter to a New York Times article on the topic, “A Grisly Murder Trial, in 140-Character Bits”, thought comparison to haiku was much too flattering and referred to this evolving news-reporting method as “bumper sticker journalism”.

Using Twitter for news reporting raises questions about voyeurism as reporters sent out all the grisly details of a horrific crime and the lack of editorial review for a news article sent out in tweets. I’ll add two legal questions to the debate over twitter as a journalism method.

Does Copyright Protect Tweeted News Articles?.

News articles are protected by copyright. Several newspapers have been battling to force bloggers, portals, and others to show proper respect for those copyrights in an online world.

Does news sent out via Twitter enjoy copyright protection? I would say yes. While a single 140-character tweet is likely too short to qualify for copyright protection, a stream of tweets that together comprise one coherent story should qualify for copyright protection.

A related question is how much control over that copyright does the reporter or news organization retain? When you post to Twitter, you retain ownership in your tweets. However, you give Twitter “a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license” to use the tweet in any way Twitter wants. That means Twitter can stream or share the tweeted news story with other online and offline outlets.

Does the Risk of Libel Increase for Tweeted Articles?.

The news stories most likely to be tweeted include those stories that are sensational and controversial. When reporters are tweeting the stories as fast as they can type and there is no editorial overview, twitter-journalism seems to introduce more opportunities for defamation claims as reporters, who are only human, get their facts wrong and “type without thinking”.

Senate Candidate Robin Carnahan’s Legal Battle with Fox

An ad for Robin Carnahan’s U.S. Senate campaign uses about 30 seconds of Fox News Network footage from reporter Christopher Wallace’s interview with Roy Blunt. Blunt is Carnahan’s opponent for the Missouri seat in the U.S. Senate. Fox filed a lawsuit against Robin Carnahan for Senate, Inc. on September 15 with three claims:

Fox Claims that Carnahan Infringed the Copyright in the Fox News Footage

The Carnahan campaign has a credible fair use defense. The commercial provides political commentary, uses under 30 seconds from the interview; and should have little negative impact on Fox’s ability to continue marketing the footage.

Things to Consider Before Sending a Mass Marketing Email

If you do business online, you may wonder if it is legal to compile a list of email addresses of people whom you do not personally know and email them a marketing message about your product or service? Here are a few considerations:

Effect of CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act applies. CAN-SPAM stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act. It is a federal law designed to combat spam, otherwise known as unsolicited commercial email.

However, the CAN-SPAM Act does not prevent you from sending an initial commercial email. Instead, the CAN-SPAM Act requires you to use honest business practices in the email you send. CAN-SPAM requirements include

• using accurate header information,

• using an accurate subject line,

• providing recipients with an opt-out method to future emails from you, and

• including your valid postal address.

I discuss CAN SPAM compliance in The Cyber Citizen’s Guide Through the Legal Jungle.

CAN-SPAM Is Not All You Must Consider

Even though CAN-SPAM doesn’t prohibit sending an initial commercial email, sending a mass email to a list that is not permission-based might still be considered as bad netiquette. Also, sending commercial email to a non-permission-based list may violate the Terms of Service of your website host provider or the service you use to distribute the emails (such as Constant Contact or Vertical Response) and it may get your domain name blacklisted as a spammer.

Collection of Email Addresses

How you plan to obtain the email addresses also matters. Certain forms of email harvesting are criminal under the CAN-SPAM Act as well as other state laws.