Proposal for additional start-up funds

Susan Keith, Ph.D.

Department of Journalism and Media Studies

School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies

      The current offer of extra startup funds is relevant to two areas I study: media law, where security and individual rights are important issues, and media ethics, where questions about privacy in a digital world are key concerns.

Security vs. individual rights in media law

In recent years, great attention has been focused is the United States on both national and corporate security. As a driving force in modern society, the Internet has naturally become a center of this scrutiny. Government has sought to monitor certain types of Internet communication that seem to threaten national security. Corporate interests have sought to protect the security of their investments in products. Law – in the form of legislation, judicial decisions, and administrative rules – has played an important part in these efforts.

Unfortunately, some laws, judicial decisions and rules related to Internet security and the security of data stored on and transferred by computers is flawed because they are:

n Based on legal models that worked well in a pre-digital world but do not demonstrate a good fit with the Internet.

n Formulated by people who have less-than-complete understandings of Internet technology.

n Made without proper counterbalancing attention to individual freedom of speech liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment.

These are themes that emerged in my research into the still-evolving law of Internet hyperlinking, which I am updating for possible publication. In that arena, concerns about the security of data on the part of intellectual property owners (often corporations or large organizations) pits copyright and trademark values against First Amendment concerns, usually those of individuals or small, sometimes “outsider,” groups. Recent federal court rulings in this area, while few in number, hold serious implications for online journalistic reporting on copyright and trademark violations, which have increased in number.

Privacy and security in a digital world as a media ethics concern

I am working with two former colleagues, Carol Schwalbe and B. William Silcock of Arizona State University, on a project that analyzes the ethical responsibilities of editors and producers faced with publishing potentially disturbing photos of war. This project has both security and privacy implications. Some observers of the U.S. war in Iraq have, of course, noted reluctance on the part of the U.S. media to show images of U.S. casualties. Such reluctance can be defended as protecting the privacy of troops and their families and has been seen by some as essential to national security. However, it also can be seen as avoiding truthtelling, journalism’s chief concern.

I would expect to use this grant money in:

n Revising for possible publication my single-author article “Toward a Law of Hyperlinking”

n Continuing to research and write a co-authored article examining the ethics responsibilities of editors and producers faced with potentially disturbing images of war. I would be the first author on this article, which would address privacy and security concerns, among others.

n Developing a seminar in cyberlaw issues related to media studies and information studies that could be offered as an elective to SCILS Ph.D. students. The future of both media and library studies is being written and rewritten in current court decisions, and it would be fascinating to offer our Ph.D. students a chance to explore the key issues in these areas by doing legal research.