Posted on 08/24/2008 1:07:39 PM PDT by sbMKE
Can a city stop people from posting a link to its Web site?
That’s the question at the center of a federal lawsuit brought by a Sheboygan woman against the mayor and other officials there, in what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case, according to an Internet law expert.
Jennifer Reisinger says the Sheboygan city attorney ordered her to remove from her Web site a link to the city’s police department, in what she believes was retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez, according to the suit filed last week.
The city went further, the lawsuit claims, launching a criminal investigation of Reisinger for linking to the department on one of her sites.
The city’s actions torpedoed Reisinger’s Web site marketing business and led to death threats against her, according to the lawsuit.
“The mayor decided to use his office to get back at Jennifer for her efforts in the recall and picked this to do it,” said her attorney, Paul Bucher. “There is more than a mistake here. There have been repercussions.”
The mayor, City Attorney Stephen McLean, the police chief and city clerk are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Perez and McLean did not return calls for comment.
Reisinger alleges her First Amendment rights were violated by the city. She seeks $250,000 in compensatory damages, unspecified punitive damages and unspecified declaratory relief. First of its kind
Bruce Boyden, an assistant law professor at Marquette University who specializes in Internet law and copyright, called the case novel.
“If this goes all the way to trial and produces a decision, I believe this would be a first in United States,” he said.
Boyden said some companies require other Web sites to get permission to link to them, but he knew of no companies, much less a government body, that have tried to enforce violations of that condition if the links didn’t infringe on a copyright or trademark.
Boyden said not all speech is protected, including links. For instance, someone might use a link to communicate a threat or violate a copyright, and that wouldn’t be protected.
The lawsuit doesn’t show how Reisinger used the link to Sheboygan police or the city’s cease-and-desist order, but Boyden said it appeared from the lawsuit to be protected speech.
“Linking to the Web site is no different than listing the street address of the Sheboygan police department,” he said.
Bucher also said the case was a first as far as he knows.
“I have never heard that you can’t link to a government Web site that, by the way, is paid for with taxpayer money,” he said. War over a link
Reisinger ran several Web sites and also was active in an unsuccessful recall effort against the mayor. A recall site she created later showed a Fourth of July parade photograph of Perez with a U.S. flag that had been digitally replaced with a Mexican flag and the caption, “Power to illegals?”
Reisinger told a Journal Sentinel reporter in July 2006 she did not know who put up the altered photo because the Web site allowed anyone to upload to the site.
According to her lawsuit:
Separate from the recall, Reisinger ran the Brat City Web Design site, which featured several links, including one to the Sheboygan police department.
On Oct. 18, 2007, the mayor’s secretary e-mailed McLean, the city attorney, asking if Reisinger could link to a city Web site. McLean answered, “Anyone can create a link to someone else’s Web site very easily without the knowledge or consent of the linked party.”
Nonetheless, McLean said he could issue a “cease and desist” order to Reisinger, and the mayor said to do it.
Reisinger said she felt intimidated by McLean’s letter and removed the link. Then a police lieutenant told Reisinger he was investigating her use of links to city government sites, the suit says.
That is when Reisinger hired Bucher, who told her to put the link back up. In November, the city withdrew its demand that Reisinger not link to city government sites.
Her attorney is a former DA - Paul Bucher.
And the link in question: http://www.sheboyganpolice.com/
Expect to see more of this happening if Obama gets elected.
“Expect to see more of this happening if Obama gets elected.”
naw, he’ll just declare non-govt websites to be unnecessary and order them shut down.
I’d just use an .htaccess file to redirect people to zombo.com
Good stuff, yes...but not Breaking News.
With McCain's penchant for CFR, I'm not so sure it wouldn't happen on either's watch.
I moved this to breaking news. A federal lawsuit regarding no links without permission could directly affect Free Republic.
The police dept link should be public knowledge, I worked for a city and all web sites are open for perusal.
I did a Google search for sheboygan police and the first site up was www.sheboyganpolice.com. Did the Police send a cease and desist to Google? And I certainly hope nobody is silly enough to give anybody the phone number for the Sheboygan Police. I would hate to see how they may react to that kind of craziness.
Big time...
Some other links that might be of interest... http://badgerblogger.com/?p=6158
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/city-sheboygan-v-reisinger
Mayor Juan Perez is,,,,, The Snoid From Sheboygan!
I’m missing your point — I fail to see any situation in which the city can refuse to authorize for a link. What’s next, an unlisted phone number?
From my pov, Badgerblogger is a very respectable site. If that’s her, then they’re really pushing it.
Should be thrown out of court. A web site address is public, not private knowledge and their is no violation of rights nor damage if it is published on another site.
They should be glad I am not the judge. She wins, and those responsible for the city all go to classes on the Constitution.
You decide.
When the police get mad and don’t know what to do, they do what they know best - arrest.
I see no basis on which any entity, especially a public entity, can legally stop anyone from linking to it.
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