city council – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Public Access Channel Tries To Shut Down Use Of Council Meeting Video Clips; Claims They Aren't Fair Use

from the if-we-don't-like-the-context,-it's-unfair-use dept

Apparently enough time has passed since the last episode of (attempted) copyright thuggery that someone feels it’s time to take their IP wheels out for a disastrous spin.

A student-focused political action group is the recipient of a bogus cease-and-desist demand from a local non-profit. BugPAC was formed from the ashes of members’ respect for local politicians and school administrators, as detailed in the origin story at its website.

At the May 4, 2015, meeting, student leaders went to the Borough Council and requested additional street lights in downtown alleyways heavily traveled by students. The proposal was dismissed virtually out of hand. In response to the request, Councilwoman Theresa Lafer implied that if the lights were installed, students would gather around those lights like bugs and cause property damage.

And thus, the BugPAC was born.

The group began advocating for candidates it felt might be more responsive to student issues. It produced a promo video using some footage of public council meetings.

The BugPAC Campaign to reclaim State College released a video on its Facebook page early May 1 explaining the strengths of its endorsed candidates — Michael Black for State College Mayor and Marina Cotarelo, Evan Myers, and Dan Murphy for Borough Council.

The video also highlights anti-student sentiments from current Borough Council members and current State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham using C-NET footage from Borough Council meetings, which is all available for free on the C-Net website.

C-NET, however, apparently doesn’t feel the footage of public meetings belongs to the public in any way, shape, or form. Four days after BugPAC posted its video, it received a threat-o-gram from C-NET. C-NET claims all the video it hosts is “solely” its property, even if it’s only engaged in documenting meetings open to the public.

Even if we grant C-NET this part of its IP assertions, there’s still a little thing called fair use, and that’s very definitely what BugPAC’s use of C-NET clips is. However, C-NET clearly doesn’t think so. It claims in its letter that it “reviewed” the video and proactively determined BugPAC’s use of the clips wasn’t “fair use.” This is a hilarious conclusion to reach as a complainant. C-NET is not just wrong about fair use in the expected way. It’s wrong about fair use in a very novel way — one that involves making very ill-informed decisions on behalf of the accused.

Kevin Horne of BugPAC has not only refused to take down the group’s video, but has fired back with a lengthy explanation of fair use and how the disputed video’s use of C-NET clips is clearly that. If C-NET’s legal representation takes the time to read the entire letter, it may be the first time its lawyers have actually perused the legalities of the right C-NET tried to preemptively deny BugPAC.

Horne’s letter also goes on to attack C-NET’s attempt to limit the public’s use of public meeting recordings.

“BugPAC has reviewed your bald allegation that you “reviewed the Video and determined that [BugPAC’s] use of C-Net material does not qualify as ‘fair use’ under the Copyright Act” and believes, as set forth above, that such a claim lacks merit,” he wrote. “Beyond the legal analysis is the question of morality and proper use of public resources to promote the public welfare and transparency in government. The public has the right not only to access C-Net material, but to make commentary on it. In C-Net’s case, it plays a crucial function in the democratic process by recording and archiving public meetings of great consequence. These are elected officials in a public forum. It is not for C-Net to deny our right to present that information to voters or for the voters to consider it. C-Net’s current policy works against a reasonable definition of the common good.”

This should be enough to shut C-NET up about its unviolated copyright. Then again, it might not. There are other issues possibly at play here. BugPAC endorsed Michael Black for State College Mayor in its video. As BugPAC notes in its post, C-NET’s executive director is married to a competing mayoral candidate. This may be why C-NET was right on top of the alleged infringement within four days of the video’s posting. If so, this attempt to fight unliked speech by threatening the free speech of others (rather than using the less popular “MORE speech” option), C-NET and its apparent favored mayoral candidate could be in for more unscheduled public appearances.

Filed Under: city council, copyright, fair use
Companies: bugpac

City Council Using Open Records Requests To See What Members Are Saying About Them Behind Their Backs

from the all-hail-the-new-transparency dept

El Paso’s (TX) government keeps screwing around with local public records laws… and for some truly unexpected reasons.

First, the normal stuff. A city council member seems to be toying with the idea of limiting public access to records, starting out with those many members the public might agree shouldn’t be allowed to do much of anything.

The El Paso City Council stepped back from a hot and slick slope Tuesday afternoon, killing a proposal to deny open records to people with a felony or a single kind of misdemeanor conviction.

Most convicts already have diminished rights, depending on their convictions. Denying open records to ex-cons or those in prison denies them access to justice. It doesn’t happen often, but prisoners have been able to have their cases reheard by uncovering prosecutorial misconduct through FOIA requests. And let’s not forget that a man imprisoned for tax fraud blew the lid off law enforcement’s use of Stingray devices while still behind bars, thanks to incessant FOIA requests.

The step back from the slope was one of pure capitulation: council member Emma Acosta never tabled the motion. Apparently she was well-aware the discriminatory suggestion wouldn’t survive a challenge. She instead proposed that telephone numbers of city employees should be redacted and her “no criminals allowed” suggestion was removed from the agenda.

As Watchdog.org points out, this new public records activity follows an outside investigation into the city’s withholding of documents requested by the El Paso Times.

An outside investigator found it “problematic” that the city’s public information officer determined which documents should have been released to the El Paso Times under an open records request the newspaper filed last year.

The public information officer, Juli Lozano, withheld two documents that other city officials had said were responsive to a Times request for records related to projects that were requested by City Council members, according to a report from Austin attorney Ross Fischer that was made public Wednesday.

But the best action of all occurred late last fall. Acosta, who proposed the questionable ban on convicted criminals requesting public records, managed to pass a measure that forces any public official making public records request to publicly disclose what was requested and how much it cost for the city to fulfill. This only sounds like a step towards greater accountability.

While Acosta insisted her measure was designed to increase transparency, opponents said it was designed to inhibit city officials from doing records checks on one another in a toxic climate of internal politics.

The internal toxicity surfaced last month with council members calling one another liars and making records requests to read the text messages between rival council members.

This was solved in the most self-serving fashion, which, coincidentally, also worked out best for the public.

The council decided, unanimously, to solve the problem by prohibiting the mayor and one another from using all electronic devices, including cell phones, during council meetings.

Now, if only they would agree to stop using them at all to conduct official business. The use of personal devices and accounts to keep records from the public is a government favorite. It doesn’t always work, but it does make searching for records more difficult and almost always ensures a lawsuit (or an investigation) will be part of the extremely-protracted request fulfillment.

Filed Under: city council, el paso, open records, texas

San Francisco Legislators Dodging Public Records Requests With Self-Destructing Text Messages

from the 'this-transparency-will-self-destruct-in-5...-4...' dept

You can call it irony. Or bullshit. But what you can’t call it is good government. Cory Weinberg of The Information reports San Francisco legislators [warning: paywalled link] are using one of those infamous tools o’ terrorism — messaging service Telegram — to dodge open records requests. [Link to a non-paywalled story covering the same thing]

In an interview, a San Francisco government staff member said they were encouraged to use the app by colleagues in City Hall who described it as a way to skirt the city’s public records laws. “That is exactly what it’s being used for,” the staff member said. “It’s caught on.”

[…]

April Veneracion, a top aide to Supervisor Jane Kim and a Telegram user, said one reason officials use the app is because it “self destructs.” She also praised the app’s chat room feature that “allows us to be in touch with each other almost instantaneously.”

Yes, messaging apps are great for instant communications. Self-destructing messages, however, are antithetical to public records laws. Also: possibly illegal. Veneracion loves instachat. Keeping up with her obligations to the public? Not so much.

She said she didn’t know if it violated the city or state’s public records laws. “I should find out though!” she wrote in a message.

Unfortunately, those who are on top of public records laws aren’t exactly sure either.

San Francisco’s public records law doesn’t address new forms of electronic communication like encrypted or ephemeral messaging apps, but it “has become an ongoing topic of discussion” on the Board of Supervisors’ Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, said the task force’s administrator Victor Young.

Presumably, these discussions are being preserved. (Not that it matters. Most deliberative discussions fall under public records exemptions.)

Whatever the real reason for using self-destructing messages to conduct government business, it’s clear those using Telegram really don’t want to discuss their actions.

San Francisco supervisor Aaron Peskin, who has been seen by The Information as active on the app, didn’t return requests for comment. One government official said Supervisor Kim also uses Telegram. She didn’t return requests for comment.

Legislators and government employees aren’t allowed to choose which laws to comply with any more than the rest of us. (Theoretically…) Communications between government employees that are subject to open records requests need to be carried out on platforms where they can be searched and archived. This means no use of Telegram, just like it means no setting up your own private email server.

The irony, of course, is that legislators are currently discussing encrypted communications (including encryption bans) and how law enforcement can no longer obtain communications they used to be able to grab with a warrant. Meanwhile, their own communications are being withheld from the public record… using encryption and automatic destruction. Perhaps the public needs to start issuing statements about how they used to get all these text messages with public records requests but can’t anymore, thanks to the efforts of the government.

Filed Under: city council, encryption, public records, record keeping, san francisco, self destructing, transparency
Companies: telegram

Petulant Billionaire NY Mayor Continues To Insist He's Never Wrong; Sues City Council Over Stop-And-Frisk Legislation

from the it's-my-way-or-IT'S-MY-WAY,-dammit! dept

Maybe billionaires are just used to getting their way. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has seen his and Kelly’s precious stop-and-frisk program declared unconstitutional by a federal court and face additional curbs via legislation passed by the New York City Council with a veto-proof vote. (Not that it stopped him from threatening those who voted for it… and vetoing them on sheer principle.)

Despite the number of legal attacks on the program, Bloomberg still feels its an unassailable part of modern policing. And as the opposition has continued to mount, Bloomberg’s defensive actions and statements have taken on a degree of stubborn petulance. Everyone’s wrong but him and his personal army.

At this point, Bloomberg is running short of toys to throw out of his well-appointed crib. However, he still has a few left to hurl at his opponents, and this latest salvo pretty much erases any emaciated notions that Bloomberg cares about New Yorkers more than he cares about being “right.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sued the City Council Tuesday in a bid to overturn a law that aims to curb the police department’s use of its controversial stop-and-frisk policy.

The council’s votes came less than two weeks after a federal judge ruled unconstitutional the department’s stop-and-frisk policy, in which officers stop people in high-crime areas suspected of engaging in criminal activity. The policy was thrown out on the grounds that it disproportionately targets minorities.

The council reaffirmed their passage of the measure 10 days ago, along with another bill creating an independent watchdog to monitor the New York Police Department, overriding the mayor’s veto, despite his warnings that the legislation would threaten public safety.

For a man who constantly claims his first concern is public safety when defending stop-and-frisk, he sure doesn’t seem to care much for them otherwise. Bloomberg gives every appearance that he believes he owns the city he’s supposed to be serving — and that what he says goes, no matter how many people object.

By filing this lawsuit, he’s basically attacking the city’s own governing body (another set of servants who represent the public) for daring to undercut his decrees. The suit’s success rests on an assertion Bloomberg certainly finds appealing — that state criminal procedure laws trump a city’s attempt to undercut his unconstitutional program.

The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, asserted the bill was invalid because it is superseded by the state’s criminal procedure law, or CPL, which governs the standards and procedures that police officers must follow.

“The CPL preempts the field of criminal procedure legislation and prevents local legislatures, including the council, from passing local laws in this area,” the lawsuit said.

This is a very interesting tactic. Well, “interesting” isn’t really the best word. Perhaps “disingenuous” or “hypocritical” or “transparently self-serving” would be better substitutes. Whether or not the mayor’s legal argument has any weight remains to be seen but, in plain English, using the mayor’s own assertions, this is what he’s arguing.

The city council cannot pass local laws that address areas covered by state criminal procedure laws — and he’s using this argument to defend a local program. Stop-and-frisk is not used statewide. It is solely a NYPD program. If that’s the case, it could reasonably be argued that the city council does indeed have the power to pass laws affecting purely local police programs, such as stop-and-frisk.

But as the city’s counsel states here, Bloomberg can make a pretty strong case otherwise:

Michael Cardozo, the city’s top lawyer, said in a statement that the lawsuit was necessary to ensure the council did not overstep its authority.

“Local legislative bodies should not be passing laws affecting the regulation of law enforcement activity in this way,” he said. “This is a matter governed by the state legislature.”

Cardozo calls the council’s bill “regulation of law enforcement activity.” Utilizing this broad term, the council would be overstepping its limits.The way the council’s legislation is written doesn’t specifically target the program itself, but rather the methods deployed for the stops and searches, and even those aren’t addressed directly. It’s more of a tangential approach that broadens the recourse options for citizens who feel they’ve been unfairly treated by these tactics.

Bloomberg is likely relying on the inherent vagueness of the council’s legislation to work against it in this lawsuit, a vagueness that was likely intentional as the broader wording helped trim down the number of potential loopholes the NYPD could exploit in order to escape filed lawsuits.

If this lawsuit goes Bloomberg’s way, it hardly looks like the end of the attacks on stop-and-frisk, but it does perhaps signal the end of its rigorous defense from the mayor’s office. Two mayoral candidates have stated their displeasure with the program.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a leading Democratic mayoral candidate:

“Mayor Bloomberg can sue all he wants, but at the end of the day, we will successfully beat back this ill-advised litigation and ensure the prerogative of the city council to reform stop & frisk…”

Bill de Blasio, another Democratic frontrunner stated that “racial profiling is not good policing,” adding later that, “we will not continue stop-and-frisk the way Ray Kelly’s had it.”

Bloomberg’s third and final term ends this year but it appears he’s going to do everything he can before then to ensure his legacy of unconstitutional stops lives on.

Filed Under: city council, michael bloomberg, nyc, nypd, ray kelly, stop and frisk

We’ve pointed out how copyright is a tool for censorship before, and we’re seeing more and more clearcut examples of that every day. The latest, via Boing Boing, involves a town Councillor in Brighton, England named Jason Kitcat, who had the rather useful idea of filming town meetings and posting the clips to YouTube. Democracy and transparency in action, and all that. Not so much according to the rest of the Council. They’re claiming copyright infringement, and using it as an attempt to get him kicked off the council.

The reasoning is so ridiculous that I had to read it a few times to understand. It’s not just a straight charge of copyright infringement. They’re claiming that the Council meetings are the intellectual property of the Council… and thus “belong” to the Council as a “resource.” They then highlight a point in the Council’s code of conduct that “prohibits the use of resources (such as IT equipment) improperly for political purposes.” The clear purpose behind that clause in the code of conduct is to prevent Councillors from using Council phones and computers for campaigning. But that’s entirely different than posting video clips on a website for accountability and transparency purposes.

But, of course, this is the kind of end result that happens when you confuse copyright with property. And, the end result, either way, certainly appears to be pretty blatant censorship.

Filed Under: brighton, city council, copyright, jason kitcat, uk

Philly City Council Members Want To Sue Facebook And Twitter Over Flash Mob Snowball Fight

from the section-230 dept

And here we go again. Apparently there was recently a “flash mob” snowball fight in Philadephia that got a bit out of control, resulting in a “rampage” through a Macy’s department store. Nobody was hurt, but 16 people were arrested. So how are Philly officials dealing with it? They’re threatening to sue Twitter and Facebook. Seriously. Two city council members say that those companies deserve some of the blame and a lawsuit is an option:

“While [the kids] certainly owe this city an apology and deserve to be punished under the fullest extent of the law, we believe that social media outlets should also bear some of the blame.” The letter, written by council members Frank DiCicco and James F. Kenney, explains that this is the second such time a band of mischievous teens has formed via social media and went on to destroy property. “We believe that the lack of monitoring of these sites allows for mass, organized riots to occur.”

Hopefully someone explains to these two council members that both sites are certainly protected from liability under Section 230 of the CDA. But, more importantly, beyond just invoking those safe harbors, can someone explain to them how silly it is to blame a communication tool for how it’s used? Do they want to sue the phone company when criminals use phones to plan their crimes? Do they threaten to sue the car companies when a car is used in a crime? Furthermore, if their complaint is that these sites failed to “monitor” what people were planning, then isn’t the city council actually even more to blame? The content of Twitter is available to the public, and these days much of Facebook is as well (and info on such a flashmob would almost certainly be public). Then shouldn’t Philadelphia officials be aware of what’s being planned in their own city? Based on the reasoning of DiCicco and Kenney, perhaps they should be suing themselves for failing to monitor what kids in their city were planning on some very public forums.

Filed Under: city council, flash mob, frank dicicco, james f. kenney, liability, philadelphia, section 230, snowball fight
Companies: facebook, twitter

But Who Will Cover City Council Meetings?

from the if-there's-demand dept

One of the points we’ve tried to make over and over again is that if there’s a demand for reporting on something, models will get created to cover it. This doesn’t mean that participatory journalism will flat-out replace the legacy media. Instead, we believe that the two will just blend together, with roles for the pros alongside everyone else. But, one of the key points made by folks who insist that newspapers are the last bastion between the world and widespread corruption is the question: “but who would cover city council meetings if newspapers don’t send reporters?” The idea is that no one really cares enough to cover such things. Except, that’s not necessarily true. As Jay Rosen notes, it appears that when concerned citizens are interested in what’s happening in their local governments, they appear to do an amazingly thorough job covering city council meetings — perhaps much more thoroughly than the bored reporter using the gig as a stepping stone to a more exciting beat.

Filed Under: city council, journalism