Courts Confront Changing Attitudes towards Privacy

by on September 14, 2009 · 3 comments

Finally, the courts are starting to take notice of the growing ease with which we all share information online: “Twenty-somethings have a much-reduced sense of personal privacy,” as an NYU law professor put it. Unfortunately, this slow realization of the utterly obvious is happening in the narrow area of legal ethics: Courts are punishing young lawyers who say unkind things about the court on social networking sites or say something inconsistent with what they’ve told the court. It’s a must-read for all young lawyers!

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Berin Szoka / Berin is the founder of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation and Director of PFF's Center for Internet Freedom. He covers Internet and media policy issues including privacy, advertising, neutrality, cybersecurity, free speech, child safety, and various other efforts to regulate the Net. Berin was elected in 2010 to the Steering Committee of the DC Bar Association's Computer & Telecommunications Law Section. Before joining PFF, he practiced communications, Internet and satellite law as an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP. Previously, he practiced at Lawler Metzger, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington and clerked for the late Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. A recognized expert on the legal and regulatory issues associated with space commercialization, Berin is a member of the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC). He is a Director, and former Chairman, of the Space Frontier Foundation, a citizens' advocacy group founded in 1988 and dedicated to opening the space frontier by enabling "NewSpace." He received his Bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Submissions Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law & Technology.

  • MikeRT

    But Mr. Conway is a lawyer. And unlike millions of other online hotheads, he found himself hauled up before the Florida bar, which in April issued a reprimand and a fine for his intemperate blog post.



    Punish a guy for saying some hostile things about a judge, but they wink and nod as prosecutors routinely resort to unethical behavior like using the testilies of jailhouse snitches and withholding exculpatory evidence.

    With priorities like that, it's no wonder why the public believes the system doesn't work.

  • MikeRT

    But Mr. Conway is a lawyer. And unlike millions of other online hotheads, he found himself hauled up before the Florida bar, which in April issued a reprimand and a fine for his intemperate blog post.



    Punish a guy for saying some hostile things about a judge, but they wink and nod as prosecutors routinely resort to unethical behavior like using the testilies of jailhouse snitches and withholding exculpatory evidence.

    With priorities like that, it's no wonder why the public believes the system doesn't work.

  • MikeRT

    But Mr. Conway is a lawyer. And unlike millions of other online hotheads, he found himself hauled up before the Florida bar, which in April issued a reprimand and a fine for his intemperate blog post.



    Punish a guy for saying some hostile things about a judge, but they wink and nod as prosecutors routinely resort to unethical behavior like using the testilies of jailhouse snitches and withholding exculpatory evidence.

    With priorities like that, it's no wonder why the public believes the system doesn't work.

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