Shots in the Dark
Friday, 30 November
Victory
by I'm delighted to announce that Judge Douglas Woodlock of Federal District Court in Boston has ruled in favor of 02138 in Facebook's attempt to win an emergency injunction against the magazine and force 02138 to take down documents from the ConnectU v. Facebook trial. The transcript of the judge's ruling will be released tomorrow, and since I'm in Mexico I don't have a complete sense of what happened in court. But I'm told that the judge agreed with our arguments that posting the documents helped show what our article, "Poking Facebook," was based upon, thus promoting greater public knowledge both about journalism and about Facebook.
Again, since my understanding of the decision is based largely on e-mails and quick phone calls, including one from the bow of a boat headed to the reefs of Cozumel, I should say that further and more specific details will emerge soon. I'll post 'em as soon as I've got 'em. (The post below, titled "Breaking News," was not actually written by yours truly.)
But here is the larger point: This is a victory for 02138, yes. I'm delighted and relieved that the judge decided as he did. But beyond that, this is a victory for the ability of the American press to do its job with some assurance of constitutional protections, even when a $15 billion company brings its legal guns to bear on you, forcing you into court 36 hours after notifying you of its discontent.
We're working on the next issue of 02138 now. I hope that there won't be anything in it that lands us in court again. But if there is, and if we believe that we were right to publish it, we'll fight it again.
Thank you for your interest and support.
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