1. Law and Community Journalism Recent Issues March 12, 2009

2. Copyright and the Web I found this great photo on the Web – can I use it? –Most likely not… –Flickr terms & conditionsFlickr I found this great video on the Web – can I put it on my site? –Probably… –YouTube terms & conditionsYouTube

3. How much is too much? Fair use allows newspapers some leeway in copying some content Links to other sites are OK What about copy-and-paste? –“scraping”“scraping” –AP, big newspapers monitoring use and filing lawsuits –Be careful on blogs – attribute, link and no more than a short paragraph

4. Defamation and the Web Am I protected by the Communications Decency Act? –Shields ISPs from postings by users What about comments on a blog or after a story? –Most likely protected, but… –Best practices: require log-in so users have user names and can be ID’d later if necessary

5. Fair Housing Ads Texas Press Association notes that this has been a problem for papers recentlyrecently Fair Housing Act has requirementsrequirements Unlawful to publish ads for housing sale or rental that include any discrimination based on: –Race, color, religion, sex, handicap, family status, national origin –Exception for ads seeking roommates

6. New legislation Several bills worth followingbills Better chance for Free Flow of Information Act to pass –Would provide shield for reporters from testifying about confidential sources Public Records Act proposal –Uniform data file format, XML, to prevent state agencies from hiding things in vendor-specific formatsUniform data file format