A blogger at iQuestionAuthority.com is being sued for citing an article from the Pulitzer Prize winning Las Vegas Sun.
On his site http://iquestionauthority.com/ the blogger in question says "The paper never sent me a cease and desist or any type of complaint about me using their story. If they did not want me to share their article I would have gladly removed it instantly.I gave all credit to the writer and linked the story back to the papers original site as I always do. I never take credit for something that someone else put their hard work in to."
Describing his first notification of the suit--which he received July 15, 2010--he says, "I had an email from a reporter out of Las Vegas asking me if I had any comment on a copyright infringement lawsuit that was filed against me by XXXXXXXX for a story that was posted on my website!"
This individual is not alone, as Las Vegas Sun's corporately affiliated Las Vegas Review-Journal has apparently been busy with plenty of anti-blogging lawsuits of its own.
According to June 9th online issue of the LA Times, "roughly three dozen other websites and blogs face litigation for using Review-Journal stories without permission." The article also seems to imply that things are going to get much worse for bloggers.
Read the rest of the LA Times article for yourself here:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-onthemedia-20100609,0,7911613.column
Threatening individuals with costly legal battles is the Old School Coward's way to silence free speech. Even when the legal case brought doesn't have a legal leg to stand on, the cost of defending yourself in court can bankrupt the individual sued.
Not only that, but the threat of possible costly litigation can deter even the most conscientious citizen blogger.
And now for some classic speculative investigation:
The Las Vegas Sun is owned by Greenspun Media Group. Wikipedia, as usual, is not solid fact and requires further source verification, and these articles in particular are lacking in citation, but a cursory glance is intriguing.
These publications' pages say that Stephens Media LLC, the owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "has been expanding its interactive Internet business, where it operates online sites for its newspapers and portal sites like LasVegas.com, which is licensed to Greenspun Media Group."
Likewise, the Las Vegas Sun's page notes that "editor and president Brian Greenspun, Hank's son, is a personal friend of former president Bill Clinton. While in office, Greenspun welcomed Clinton as a house guest while Clinton was fund raising in southern Nevada."
Hmm.
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