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'''Welcome to the Event Wiki for the April 5th, 2007 Internet Speech panel discussion at Harvard Law School.*'''   
''Please check back for updates.''


'''Panel Sponsored By:''' ''The Dean of Students Office, HLS Student Government, HLS ACLU, Women’s Law Association, Journal of Law and Gender, JOLT, Stop DV'' 


'''*A downloadable recording of the event can be found''' [http://www.esnips.com/doc/9ed308e7-b94c-45c1-8568-4455eea1ec61/Apr_5_2007_Harvard_panel_on_AutoAdmit here].


Open forums with anonymous postings discussing issues relating to law school, such as AutoAdmit, have become more prevalent on the Internet. Do targets of offensive postings have the right to have such material removed? Are these attacks, or are they just expressions of free speech? These questions and more will be discussed by a panel representing a wide range of views from free speech issues to anti-defamation issues, women's issues, and internet capabilities and responsibilities.


== <center>'''Internet Speech Panel'''</center> ==

=== Anonymous Speech on the Internet: Healthy Open Forum or Targeted Attacks? ===


This page is intended to provide information regarding the Internet Speech Panel at Harvard Law School, as well as background information and links pertaining to the recent controversy and debates involving the message board AutoAdmit.com.   


==== '''Moderator:'''==== [http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=48 Professor Charles Nesson], Harvard Law School


==== '''Panelists:''' ====

[http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=534 Professor Mark Tushnet], Harvard Law School

Dina Lassow, National Women's Law Center

Robert Trestan, Anti-Defamation League

[http://www.pbs.org/now/society/kaminer.html Wendy Kaminer], lawyer and social critic

Michael Fertik, HLS '05, CEO of ReputationDefender

==== '''When:''' Thursday, April 5th, 7:00 - 8:30pm ====

==== '''Where:''' Langdell North ====

== <center>'''Background Information'''</center> ==

The panel was meant to focus on broader issues regarding potentially harmful speech on the Internet rather than targeting AutoAdmit alone.  However, recent events related to the AutoAdmit discussion board were the impetus for the the panel and serve as a good illustration of the types of situations giving rise to debate regarding speech and its regulation on the Internet. 


=== <center>'''AutoAdmit and Recent Events: Summary'''</center> ===



[http://www.autoadmit.com Autoadmit.com], alternately known as [http://www.xoxohth.com Xoxohth.com], is an on-line college and graduate school discussion board, with separate forums for discussions relating to [http://www.autoadmit.com college], [http://www.autoadmit.com/main.php?forum_id=2 law school], and [http://www.autoadmit.com/main.php?forum_id=3 graduate school]. The site draws an estimated 100,000 regular readers, and an estimated 5,000 - 6,000 posts are made on the law board each day.


The site was created in 2004, after its predecessor, the [http://discuss.princetonreview.com Princeton Review Discussion Board,] "1) enabled IP tracking; 2) discouraged use of multiple aliases; 3) discouraged abusive language through moderation and banning; and 4) eliminated the 'tree format' and switched to a vBulletin format."
[http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/11/xoxohth_11_the_1.html (1)].  Posters from the Princeton Review Discussion Board soon migrated to Xoxohth.com.  


Until recently, AutoAdmit.com was operated by Jarret Cohen and Penn Law student Anthony Ciolli.  Mr. Ciolli resigned from AutoAdmit on March 12, 2007.


Over the past three years, AutoAdmit has been no stranger to [http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2005/03/penn_law_studen.html criticism], largely due to a number of offensive postings that display racism, anti-semitism, or sexism.  The past several weeks, however, have brought more attention to the law school discussion site as the mainstream media has picked up on stories of individuals who were the targets of offensive postings.  


On February 20, 2007 a poster on Autoadmit created an unaffiliated website to conduct a "Hot Girls of the T14" contest, posting pictures of female law students without their consent and inviting other posters to comment.  On March 1, 2007, after several girls had asked to be removed from the site, the poster turned the T14 Contest site over to AutoAdmit, which promptly shut the site down.


In early March, ABC News and the Washington Post ran stories featuring female law students who claimed their self-esteem and reputations had suffered as a result of postings on AutoAdmit.  One Yale law student suggested that offensive postings targeting her had prevented her from being hired by a law firm.  She, as well as other female law students, hired [http://www.reputationdefender.com/ ReputationDefender], a company whose stated goal is to [http://www.reputationdefender.com/about.php "search and destroy"]information individuals find damaging.  


Shortly thereafter, several law school deans voiced concerns regarding the message board, including the deans of Harvard, Yale, and Penn.  Some students and some commentators have also condemned the offensive postings on AutoAdmit, as well the site administrator's policies and practices.


'''References'''

[http://www.law.temple.edu/servlet/RetrievePage?site=TempleLaw&page=Faculty_Hoffman David Hoffman], [http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/11/xoxohth_11_the_1.html Xoxohth: 1.1 The Past and Present], ''Concurring Opinions'', Nov. 1, 2006.

Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xoxohth#_note-history Autoadmit]

=== '''News Coverage''' ===

[http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/storage/paper609/news/2007/04/12/News/Panelists.Debate.Online.Anonymity-2838272.shtml Panelists Debate Online Anonymity], ''Harvard Law Record'', April 12, 2007.

[http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070406_101803.htm Cleaning Messy Message Boards] and [http://netscape.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_16/b4030068.htm Web Attack], ''BusinessWeek.com'', April 6, 2007.

[http://reclaimthemedia.org/media_justice/virtual_hate_crimes_misogyny_o=5084 Virtual Hate Crimes: Misogyny on the Internet], [http://reclaimthemedia.org/about_rtm ''Reclaim the Media''], April 3, 2007.

[http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20379 Law School Decries Harmful Posts], ''Yale Daily News'', March 27, 2007.

[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=517679 Web Posting Attacks HLS Students], ''The Harvard Crimson'', March 14, 2007.

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030902154.html Law School Deans Speak Out on Website Content], ''Washington Post'', March 10, 2007.

[http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2934146 Beware of the Web], ''ABC News Video'', March 8, 2007.

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602705.html Harsh Words Die Hard on the Web], ''Washington Post'', March 7, 2007.

[http://abcnews.go.com/US/Technology/story?id=2912364&page=3 After Years of Telling All, 20-Somethings Clam Up], ''ABC News'', March 1, 2007.

=== '''Blogosphere Coverage''' ===

Ann Althouse, [http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/03/for-many-people-internet-has-become.html "For Too Many People, the Internet Has Become a Scarlet Letter, an Albatross"], March 7, 2007.

Ann Althouse, [http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/03/lets-talk-about-autoadmit.html Let's Talk About AutoAdmit], March 16, 2007.

[http://www.law.sc.edu/faculty/bartow Ann Bartow], [http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?cat=13 Something About the Timing Gives Me Pause], ''Feminist Law Professors'', March 8, 2007.

Peter L. Brooks, [http://talkbacknorthampton.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-defense-of-trash-talk.html In Defense of Trash Talking], ''TalkBackNorthampton'', March 23, 2007.

Caitlin Hall, [http://ms-jd.org/node/201#comment-90 A Counterpoint to the Very Valid Criticisms of AutoAdmit.com], March 9, 2007.

Caitlin Hall, [http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2007/04/02/Opinions/Sex-Lies.And.Broadband-2817310.shtml Sex, Lies, and Broadband], ''The Arizona Wildcat Online'', April 2, 2007.

David Hoffman, [http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/03/a_law_student_c_1.html A National Law Student Code of Conduct?], March 7, 2007.

Michelle Malkin, [http://michellemalkin.com/archives/007191.htm A Message to the Techblogging Elite], March 29, 2007.

[http://mason.gmu.edu/~isomin/ Ilya Somin], [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_03_11-2007_03_17.shtml#1173598400 Are Derogatory Posts on Anonymous Chat Sites Costing Law Students Jobs?], March 11, 2007.

[http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/ Eugene Volokh], [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_03_06-2005_03_12.shtml#1110478573 More About Online Racism and Anti-Semitism], ''The Volokh Conspiracy'', March 10, 2005.

[http://drumsnwhistles.com/2007/03/30/did-meankidsorg-have-a-right-to-exist/ Does MeanKids.Org Have a Right to Exist?], March 30, 2007.

==='''Additional Relevant Articles'''===

[http://thefire.org/index.php/person/3439.html Harvey Silverglate], [http://www.harveysilverglate.com/NEAJ_Conference_Article.html Harrassment, Parody, Patriotic (& Unpatriotic) Gore: Tensions Between Academic Freedom and Proper Governance of Student & Faculty Speech at Colleges & Universities], ''NEAJ Conference'', Nov. 4, 2005 (discusses heated debates over implementing a sexual harassment policy at Harvard Law School in 1992 and over implementing a racial harassment policy in 2002).

Jarrod Reich, [http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/internet/topic.aspx?topic=online_libel Online Libel], ''First Amendment Center'', Nov. 2006 (addresses issues of anonymity and role of moderators).

Fred von Lohmann, [http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1108389943380 Publius, RIP? Will the recent wave of subpoenas served on ISPs spell the death of anonymous speech?] ''Law.com Legal Technology'', Feb. 22, 2005.

[http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=106 Jonathan Zittrain], [http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v19/19HarvJLTech253.pdf A History of Online Gatekeeping], ''Harvard Journal of Law and Technology'', Vol. 9, No. 2, Spring 2006.

Seth F. Kreimer, [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=948226 Censorship by Proxy: The First Amendment, Internet Intermediaries, and the Problem of the Weakest Link], ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'', November 2006.

David E. Hallett, [http://www.idea.piercelaw.edu/articles/41/41_2/3.Hallett.pdf How to Destroy a Reputation and Get Away with It: The Communication Decency Act Examined: Do the Policies and Standards Set Out in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act Provide a Solution for a Person Defamed Online?] ''IDEA: The Journal of Law and Technology'', 2001.

Mark Gibbs, [http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/3684  DMCA flawed.  Who knew?], Nov. 23, 2005.

==='''Relevant Law'''===

[http://www.casp.net/47usc230.html Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA)]

[http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000512----000-.html Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 512: Limitations on liability relating to material online]

[http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titleix.htm Title IX, 20 U.S.C. 1681 - 88]


'''See Also'''

[http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/faq-230.php EFF FAQ: Section 230 Protections], ''Electronic Frontier Foundation''.

[http://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Defamation:_CDA_Cases Defamation: CDA Cases], ''Electronic Frontier Foundation''.

[http://www.chillingeffects.org/johndoe/faq.cgi FAQ About John Doe Anonymity], ''Chilling Effects Clearinghouse.''

[http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/shguide.pdf Sexual Harrassment Guidance: Harrassment of Students by Employees, Other Students, or Third Parties], Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights.

=== '''Other Relevant Links''' ===

[http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/storage/paper609/news/2007/04/12/Opinion/Free-Expression.On.The.Internet-2838281.shtml Free Expression on the Internet], Jarret Cohen, Op-Ed in the ''Harvard Law Record'', April 12, 2007.

Reputation Defender's [http://www.reputationdefender.com/campaign_home.php Campaign to Clean Up AutoAdmit.com]

AutoAdmit's [http://www.autoadmit.com/challenge.to.reputation.defender.html Challenge to Reputation Defenders], March 15, 2007.
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