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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

Cyber-SLAPPed in the Blogosphere

Jessica Mathewson-Library Media Technical Asst.-jessica.mathewson@law.csuohio.edu | April 11, 2008 - 08:24

Beware Bloggers...You may get Cyber-Slapped...Kathleen Seidel runs a personal blog, neurodiversity.com. On her blog she discusses autism issues, as one of her two children has been diagnosed. Recently, she posted comments on her blog about the drug Thimerosal, a preservative previously found in vaccines, thought to cause autism. While she is somewhat leery of the thimerosa position, she also commented on lawyers that are eager to cash in with lawsuits.

Last month, Ms. Siedel was subpoenaed by one such lawyer. The subpoena requests documents pertaining to her blog, its' financing, research and maintenance. Also any and all communication she has had with the feds, pharmaceutical companies, PACs, and the list goes on. In response, Ms. Siedel filed a motion to quash, citing violation of her First Amendment rights and a ploy to intimidate and harass, amongst other things.

This raises some serious issues concerning blogs, which are everywhere, and the rights of the public individuals who run them. This may just be a case of Ms. Siedel being cyber-SLAPPED (strategic lawsuit against public participation).


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Legistorm-How's Congress Spending Our Money?

Jessica Mathewson-Library Media Technical Asst.-jessica.mathewson@law.csuohio.edu | April 11, 2008 - 07:55

Legistorm is a non-partisan site that tracks how members of Congress are spending public money. Their databases include information on Congressional salaries, travel, financials and information on the latest happenings on the House and Senate floors and committees. For additional information on who is donating to legislators, correlated to their votes, take a look at our previous post..Show 'Em The Money.

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