Content Regulation

This section covers government attempts to regulate certain kinds of content, from the Federal Communications Commission's regulation of broadcasting (specifically indecency) to legislative attempts to "rein in" the Internet. It also covers copyright law, and the use of copyrighted works is regulated by law.

Stations forced to broadcast gun-control ad

Content Regulation | Feature | September 14, 1993

Feature

September 14, 1993

NEW JERSEY -- With the onset of another political campaign season, ABC affiliates in New York City and Philadelphia must air a controversial political ad opposing automatic weapons, the New York Times reported.

Maine experiment with cameras in courts ends

Content Regulation | Feature | September 14, 1993

Feature

September 14, 1993

MAINE -- The future of cameras and broadcast equipment in Maine's trial courts will remain undecided until Nov. 30, following a two-year experimental project that ended in August.

Between July 1991 and August 1993, the experiment permitted broadcasters and photographers access to certain proceedings in Bangor and Portland trial courts, except those involving sex and some violent crimes.

Taking content: how much is too much?

Type:

ESSAY

Though copyright law has long protected writers from unwanted reproduction of their material, the Internet has made it simple to cut, paste and link with the click of a mouse. Lawsuits over shared headlines and links in recent years have driven this intensifying debate over the boundaries of the law. And no court has yet definitively set the limits.

Protection for infringing material posted by others: DMCA safe harbor provisions

Type:

ESSAY

Your liability for content posted to your site by third parties is not limited to defamation. Rather, if you publish the expressive works of others without their permission, you could be liable for copyright infringement.

Can I physically remove credit lines attached to photographs I post on my site?

Type:

FAQ

Doing so may expose you to liability under the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the portion of the federal law that prevents people from stripping copyright ownership information from protected works, according to a recent federal appellate ruling on the issue.

From the First Amendment Handbook - Content Regulation

Type:

HANDBOOK

Copyright law gives copyright protection to creative works at the moment of their creation. If someone uses a copyrighted work without permission, the copyright owner can sue for infringement. Journalists need to know both sides of this issue -- how to protect their own works, and how to use someone else's material without infringing their copyright.