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Slides from the presentation Jan Schaffer of J-Lab gave at the LION Publishers 2015 Summit in Chicago Oct. 1-3.
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Law for Media Startupshttp://towknight.org/research/law-for-media-startups/
Business Formation
Sole proprietorships
LLCs
Nonprofits IRS 4 criteria
Content must be educational
Manner of distribution must be distinguishable from ordinary publishing
Labor Law
Employees v Freelancers
Freelancers dont get min. wage, OT, workers comp, family leave, contributions to social security, medicaid
Interns must meet 6-point test or be paid
Training similar to schooling
For benefit of intern
Doesnt displace an employee
Employer doesnt benefit, may be impeded
Not promised a job
Both boss and intern know its unpaid
Copyright
Must be:
Original Content
Fixed in a medium
Not copyrightable:
Ideas
Facts
News
Copyright Dos and Donts
Linking is OK
Copying a portion of an article w a link may not be OK
Federal Documents not copyrightable, OK to use
Hot News Doctrine News orgs have tried to stake a claim to exclusive news. Courts have not agreed.
Are People Republishing your Content?
Permission? Rules?
ProPublica doesnt allow trimming stories.
Must credit
Tofel: Free is a good price. If it doesnt work for you, you should pass
Fair Use - Complicated
Lots of judgment calls
OK to use if its transformative, ie a parody
News more OK than entertainment
Depends on amount used: Pres. Ford exception-400 words used by The Nation on his pardon of Nixon
Is your use reducing commercial value?
Fair Use Most Common Misconception
Republication of copyrighted content during a breaking news event is NOT fair use
Exclusive photo of a crash or disaster has monetary value, audience value
Fair Use You Tube, Facebook
Can you use YouTube Videos?
Likely OK if the video is embedded w code provided w YouTube clip - YouTube allows video uploader to decide if it can be embedded in other sites
Facebook Photos?
FB requires users to allow 3rd parties to republish photos posted under Public setting.
Native Ads - sponsored, presented, featured, , in partnership with, promoted by
TheAtlantic.com and Church of Scientology
Comments were sponsored too
Apology and new guidelines
Social media issues
Native ads
Tricking consumers into thinking its a news story?
Consumers dont notice the labels.
Often dont understand them
When article looks like a news article, they think it is
Qualcoms Whats inside? series on Mashable new tech in new products. But once sponsorship ended, didnt have to continue to identify itself
When native ads travel thru social media, the origins get lost
Native ads and FTC
Diet pills and fake news stories FTC sued
2013, FTC notified search engine cos that including paid rankings in search results was a form of advertising had to distinguish
FTC updated guidelines on bloggers being paid for reviews. Blogger must disclose any material connection
Email Newletters
Accurate header & subject line identify person/business who is sending
Accurate address
Tell why they are receiving
How to unsubscribe
User-Generated Content
Section 230, Communications Decency Act -- means websites, apps, ISPs not liable for content users post
OK to moderate, edit or delete it
Exception: Roommates.com. Asked users to post profile info could violate fair housing rules, courts ruled that the site was a developer of the info., not just publisher. Therefore liable
UGC
You are liable if user infringes on someones copyright and 3rd party sues you.
Register w US Copyright Office, under DCMA, a copyright owner will be required to first serve you with a take-down notice. If you remove it, you will not be liable.
Open Meetings
Most states have open meeting laws. RCFP summarizes by state
Most have open records laws.
Most consider emails of public officials to be public records
FOIA & Open Records
Only applies to FEDERAL agencies and depts(Congress exempted itelf. But can get correspondence between member and an agency.)
Covers RECORDS not INFORMATION
Have to respond, but not deliver, within 20 days
Can appeal, sue
Write a news story
Access to Information
State shield laws protect some sources
No Federal shield law
But investigators can access your sources electronically track phone calls, emails
Surveillance
Standard email and social media account contains kind of information interrogators used to pull out fingernails to get. Joel Simon, CPJ, 2014.
Take care in using public hot spots: Your cell phone or connecting to the internet in a hotel room can telegraph your location
Current laws allow IR, FBI, others to get stored emails and docs in the cloud w/o a warrant
Subpoenas for Anonymous Commenters
Courts balance strength of defamation claim against comments 1st Amendment rights
Might be ordered to turn over any info. you have on your users.
Other J-Lab Resources KCNN.orgLaunching a Nonprofit News SiteTop 10 Rules for Limiting Legal RiskJournalists Guide to Open Government
Thanks!
Jan Schaffer Jans@j-lab.org
@janjlab
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