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 [WI] 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 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.”
[…Assistant law professor] 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.
[…]
“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.
What a bunch of douche-bags. Isn’t the whole point of a web site that it’s viewed by people? There’s no shortage of idiots out there. =P
So a quick posting to digg, once a day for say 30 days with no time off for good behavior, should do it I would think.
a criminal investigation of a web link? $50 says the city’s attorney gets laughed out of court, and this lady walks away a millionaire.
What, so doing this:
http://www.sheboyganpolice.com/
is illegal?
Way to go for wasting tax payer money!
And you guys thought Texas was bad…
http://www.bratcitywebdesign.com/
Hey Dave,
Why the picture of the Garda? I’m flattered your thinking of Ireland even though this story has nothing to do with us. If your coming over let me know and I’ll buy yee a pint.
I would say that I hope “The Man” gets screwed but it is the citizens through their taxes that really pay for it. These kind of officials should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.
I thot aturnees were smart.
She doesn’t have a case.
The city backed down and removed the order. If her attorney continues with the case and takes it to court, she will probably end up paying the city’s legal fees.
Anyone may send a Cease and Desist order and anyone may ignore or obey one too. A Cease and Desist letter is not a Court order and does not have the weight of law behind it.
The police are free to investigate any crime they care to or care not to. Their opening an investigation is neither an offense nor a recoverable action. If they were to disclose the results of their investigation in order to humiliate her without cause or solely used the investigation as a harassment tool, which is not alleged here, she would have a case. Yet apparently there is no evidence that this happened.
The Mayor is wrong to insist and the City Attorney is wrong for sending the letter. But they didn’t break any law.
LOL read the Chief’s message… Seems like that alone could get this thrown out of court.
http://www.sheboyganpolice.com/Chiefs%20Message.htm
Please don’t let Sheboygan represent Wisconsin. Seriously, the weirdest crap happens there. Every other day there are stories stranger than this out of Wisconsin. Just Google:
site:greenbaypressgazette.com +sheboygan
I can’t wait to go home tonight and put a link to the Sheboygan Police Department website on my website.
The mayor was not wise.
As far as a case, this is not just about the cease and desist or about whether the C&D was canceled. According to the article “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.”
Hard to imagine death threats over something like this, or the damage to her website business which another article put at more than 50% loss.
So that is the damage they are looking at and asking $250K (I assume that includes bargain room).
I do not know about other gov site but my own towns site has an agreement you have to click to enter the site. I do not know what it says as it is long and I really do not care. So I just click it and move on.