Posts under ‘Issues’

NY Times: Oprah Calls Defense of Author ‘a Mistake’. In an extraordinary reversal of her strident and angry defense of the author whose book she catapulted to the top of the best-seller list, Oprah Winfrey said today she believed that the author James Frey “betrayed millions of people” by making up elements of his life […]

As usual, my new colleague Rebecca MacKinnon serves up the best round-up and commentary on Google’s cave-in to China’s government. Key quote: At the end of the day, this compromise puts Google a little lower on the evil scale than many other internet companies in China. But is this compromise something Google should be proud […]

Denise Howell has a detailed blog posting about the American Bar Association panel I joined last week in southern California: “Who Owns The News? Attempts by sports organizations and entertainers to control coverage.” My major point was that in the age of bottom-up media, controlling everything is impossible — and a lousy idea in any […]

I’m at the American Bar Association’s Communications Law conference, at a mock Senate hearing about the so-called “Free Flow of Information Act,” a bill that went before Congress last year but went nowhere. Some of the people who testified, including former NY Times reporter Judith Miller, is “testifying” before one former senator, Slade Gorton, and […]

Australian Broadcasting: Frey, Oprah stand by controversial memoir. James Frey says he stands by the “essential truth” of his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, after accusations were levelled that significant parts of the Oprah-approved best-seller were fabricated. Frey chose CNN’s ‘Larry King Live’ show to defend his memoir and at the end of the show, […]

Later this morning I’ll be on a panel at the American Bar Association’s Communications Law conference. The title of the panel: “Who Owns The News? Attempts by sports organizations and entertainers to control coverage.” It refers to the tendency of these industries to lock down journalism on what they do, at all levels — essentially […]

The Guardian has a front-page story, “Spielberg loses out at the push of a button,” about problems British critics are having when they try to view a limited-edition DVD of his new movie, Munich, for an awards contest: Developed by Cinea, a subsidiary of Dolby, the players permit their owners to view encrypted DVD “screeners”, […]

The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida) News Coverage of Speech to Be Limited. When Sean Hannity, the Fox Network commentator, speaks at Southeastern University Friday night, his words won’t reach a wide audience. The news media will be allowed to watch and take pictures of the first few minutes of Hannity’s hourlong speech. After 10 minutes, all […]

UPDATED CNET: Create an e-annoyance, go to jail. Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. It’s no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. Update: Daniel Solove makes a strong case that CNET has […]

Reporters Without Borders, an organization that wants to protect and encourage free speech around the world, asks a big question: “Do Internet companies need to be regulated to ensure they respect free expression?” There’s a surface appeal to this proposal. But it gives me the shivers. The idea is impractical, for one thing. And if […]