[Infowarrior] - Another stupid 'don't link to us' lawsuit

[Richard Forno]

Sheboygan women files landmark case over Web links
By JOHN DIEDRICH
jdiedrich at journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 23, 2008

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=786584

Can a city stop people from posting a link to its Web site?

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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.