Reporter's Privilege

This section covers the use of subpoenas to force journalists to disclose their confidential news sources and unpublished information. Shield laws exist in forty states; if a reporter isn't covered by a shield law, there may still be a constitutional privilege that helps protect sources and information. This section also covers official attempts to seize journalists' work product and documents without a warrant.

Confronting the electronic surveillance 'legal void'

Secrecy of surveillance orders prevents effective coverage of government monitoring activity
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Stephen W. Smith, a federal magistrate judge in Houston, regularly hears government requests for electronic surveillance, including access to cellular telephone and email records.

Re-examining access to personal digital data

Customer information held by social media companies like Twitter is a popular target for government investigators
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AP Photo by Stephanie Keith

New York police arrest protesters during an Occupy Wall Street march on Oct. 1, 2011. Twitter had to release almost three months’ worth of one protester’s tweets after prosecutors demanded the messages to make a case for his arrest.

McFadyen v. Duke University

November 2, 2012

Book author and blogger Robert David Johnson is appealing a U.S. Magistrate Judge's opinion denying his request to quash a subpoena from Duke University seeking confidential, non-published communications between himself and several former Duke lacrosse players and their attorneys. Johnson began writing a blog concerning the fallout from a spring 2006 incident in which a stripper hired to perform at an off-campus house party accused several of the players of rape. Duke is facing civil suits from the former players.

Activist groups fight subpoenas for data from more than 100 e-mail accounts

Lilly Chapa | Reporter's Privilege | News | October 23, 2012
News
October 23, 2012

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and EarthRights International have filed motions to quash subpoenas issued by Chevron Corp. to three e-mail providers for the data and location information of more than 100 email accounts over the span of nearly a decade.

The subpoenas, which were issued in federal courts to Google and Yahoo in San Franciso and Microsoft in New York City at the beginning of October, represent Chevron’s latest attempt in an ongoing legal battle to prove that an Ecuadorian judge falsified information in an $18 billion lawsuit against the oil giant.

Journalists assert reporter's privilege in whistleblower prosecution

Kristen Rasmussen | Reporter's Privilege | News | October 15, 2012
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October 15, 2012

Update, Oct. 23: Kiriakou pleaded guilty today to one count of disclosing information identifying a covert agent and will likely be sentenced to two and a half years years imprisonment under a plea deal with prosecutors. As part of the agreement, the remaining four counts of the indictment, including three counts of violating the Espionage Act, were dismissed. Kiriakou is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

OWS protester argues that First and Fourth Amendments apply to tweets

Lilly Chapa | Reporter's Privilege | News | October 9, 2012
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October 9, 2012

An Occupy Wall Street protester is challenging a court’s decision requiring his tweets to be handed over to New York prosecutors, arguing that his First and Fourth Amendment rights should apply to tweets like they would to information stored on a personal computer or phone.

Ken Burns team fights for shield law protection over Central Park jogger suit subpoena

Lilly Chapa | Reporter's Privilege | News | October 5, 2012
News
October 5, 2012

Documentary filmmakers are fighting a subpoena that would require them to hand over outtakes and notes, claiming that they are protected under New York's shield law.

Amicus brief in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA

September 24, 2012

A coalition of attorneys, journalists and labor, legal, media and human rights organizations challenged amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that allow federal officials to monitor international electronic communications even if one party is in the United States. The federal trial court in New York found that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated sufficient harm such that they have standing to challenge the amendments. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York (2nd Cir.) reversed that ruling, and the U.S.

Twitter hands over subpoenaed records in Occupy Wall Street prosecution

Lilly Chapa | Reporter's Privilege | News | September 14, 2012
News
September 14, 2012

Twitter complied today with a court order to hand over to New York prosecutors an Occupy Wall Street protester’s tweets and subscriber information.