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After years of battling copyright infringement in the courts, Hollywood, armed with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is trying to turn the enemies' digital devices to its own advantage. NPR's cultural trends correspondent Rick Karr helps OTM make sense of this confusing cross between technology and copyright law.
Australia's high court has ruled that prominent businessman Joseph Gutnick can sue Dow Jones & Company for defamation in an October 2000 article published in Barron's. The decision has left media lawyers in the U.S. in disbelief. Why? Because the Australian court has ruled that Gutnick can sue in his home state of Victoria, Australia…even though Barron's is based in New York. Brooke speaks with Sandy Barron of the Libel Defense Resource Center in New York.
The Internet sparks a wide range of disputes, but it also has the power to resolve them. Right now, the Internet is home to about 40 websites devoted to alternative dispute brokering. Now, the technology is catching the attention of law schools. This month, law students from around the world began "online-international-alternative-dispute-resolution-moot-court." OTM's Susan Kaplan offers a translation of the legal jargon.
Democratic Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps sits on a Republican-dominated panel. The conservative panel is steering the nation toward ever-greater media concentration and less programming diversity. Bob talks with Commissioner Copps about the frustration he feels regarding the deregulatory bent of the current FCC.
Last summer, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved rules requiring broadcasters airing the opinion of securities analysts to also disclose any business interests that the analysts or their firms might have in the stocks being discussed. Now, the SEC is poised to approve a similar rule for the print media. Adam Lashinsky, a columnist for Fortune Magazine, believes the rule acts as a gag order, limiting freedom of press. He speaks with Bob.
The award-winning public television program Frontline is trying to go where no camera has gone before… into a room where a jury is deliberating a capital murder case. Bob speaks with Professor Gerald Treece of the South Texas College of Law in Houston who opposes cameras in the jury room and Michael Sullivan, Frontline's Executive producer for Special Projects who is all for it.
France, in the minds of many, might seem to be the epitome of sexual freedom. But for the last six months, right-wing legislators there have been campaigning to eliminate erotic movies from French television. Earlier this month, the commission proposed to eliminate certain violent or sexual shows from primetime, and to require a new layer of digital codes aimed at blocking children's access. Frank Browning reports on how the new French porn wars touch much deeper fissures in French politics.
