Free legal assistance for bloggers and online media creators

The Online Media Legal Network is a project from Harvard's cyberlaw center the Berkman Clinic that works with partners to hook up bloggers and other creates who are under legal threat with lawyers who can help them solve their problems.

The Online Media Legal Network (OMLN) is a network of law firms, law school clinics, in-house counsel, and individual lawyers throughout the United States willing to provide pro bono legal assistance to qualifying online journalism ventures and other digital media creators.

Online Media Legal Network (via JoHo)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: harvard

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

the_headless_rabbit

I’m sad that this has been up here for hours, and not a single reply so far. This is important!

This is a freedom of expression issue. when your right to express your thoughts is challenged, where can you turn? Fair dealing might be the case, but it can be expensive to prove it, and in the end, all you get is two pieces of paper: one that says “you’re right” and another with a very large number that you owe your lawyer.

Is there a service like this in Canada? if not, I would very much like to see one set up.
pra

Does this legal advice stretch as far as intellectual property? I’ve been writing my blog for years, publishing an invention every day http://iotd.patrickandrews.com.

This is partly a protest against the patents system which makes it way too costly for any independent inventor to get a patent. Instead of spurring creativity, it stamps it out.

I’m currently working with a UK patent attorney to provide more cost-effective IP services via our new social entreprise: InventorCentre.
Jonathan

Maybe not enough people here have been hit with SLAPPs to see how important such a service is.

You go, Citizen Media Law Project. This is teh wonderful.