Title: Citizen Media Law Project

Source/Sponsoring Agency: Citizen Media Law Project; Harvard Law School. Berkman Center for Internet and Society

URL: http://www.citmedialaw.org/

Date Checked: 3/23/2012      Status: Active

Date Annotated: 1/30/2012

Topics: Civil Rights; Communications Law; Constitutional Law; Commercial Law

Other keywords: Censorship; Media Law; Internet Law; Information Law

Contents: The Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) is hosted by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a research center founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. CMLP's mission is to provide assistance, training, research, and other resources for individuals and organizations involved in online and citizen media. The CMLP hopes to facilitate creative thinking about the intersection of law and journalism on the Internet. To this end, the CMLP provides a wealth of resources to those who visit the site. These resources are very easy to find on its clearly laid out home page. Along the left side of the home page you will find the most recent entries to the CMLP Blog and along the right you will find the most recent Threats the organization is following. Both of these resources make it easy for the researcher to see what is currently happening in this area of law. In the middle of the home page the user will find a list of resources to be used as a starting place for his/her research. First is CMLP's Legal Guide. This guide addresses the legal issues people may encounter as they gather information and publish their work on the Internet. It addresses the following topics: Forming A Business and Getting Online, Dealing with Legal Threats and Risks, Newsgathering and Privacy, Access to Government Information, Intellectual Property, Risks Associated with Publication, Unique Content: Special Risks, Guides and Resources. The guide is intended for use by citizen media creators with or without formal legal training, as well as others with an interest in these issues. The guide can be searched by keyword, browsed by state, browsed by section or simply accessed by using its Table of Contents to find the needed information. It should be noted that the compilation of the state- specific material is a work in progress. The CMLP has only compiled information for approximately nineteen states. Next on this list, the researcher will find a link to CMLP's searchable Threats Database. The database contains lawsuits, cease & desist letters, subpoenas, and other legal threats directed at those who engage in online speech. A researcher can view, search, and comment on every entry in the database. The database's advanced search page can be used to sort the entries by any criterion of interest to the researcher and full-text searching of the underlying court documents is also available. Third on this list is CMLP's Online Media Legal Network. The Online Media Legal Network (OMLN) is a pro bono legal referral service based at the Berkman Center that supports promising ventures and innovative thinkers in online and digital media by providing access to legal help that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Prospective clients must meet the network's eligibility criteria and preference is given to journalism ventures and entities whose work is in the public interest. Last on the list is a link to the CMLP forums. This is a place for interested parties to discuss legal and non-legal matters related to citizen media and online speech. The Citizen Media Law Project is an excellent website for anyone interested in the intersection of the law and the Internet, including practicing attorneys, professors teaching in this field and scholars researching in this area. It provides a wealth of primary and secondary legal resources that will enable a researcher to quickly garner an understanding of this area of law yet is sophisticated enough to enable those already engaged in this specialty to remain current in the field.

Author of Annotation: C. Hepler