Georgia judge bans Twitter
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- A federal judge in Georgia has banned live tweets from a criminal trial.
A reporter for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer wanted to Twitter updates from the corruption trial of local attorney Mark Shelnutt “directly from the courtroom to his newspaper’s ‘Twitter’ website, says the Volokh Conspiracy.
But, “Defendant objects to this request,” says a court document.
Land wrote
The Court finds that the term “broadcasting” in Rule 53 includes sending electronic messages from a courtroom that contemporaneously describe the trial proceedings and are instantaneously available for public viewing. Although “broadcasting” is typically associated with the dissemination of information via television or radio, its plain meaning is broader than that. The definition of “broadcast” includes “casting or scattering in all directions” and “the act of making widely known.” Webster`s Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) 280 (1993). It cannot be reasonably disputed that “twittering,” as previously described, would result in casting to the general public and thus making widely known the trial proceedings. Moreover, it appears clear that the drafters of Rule 53 intended to extend the Rule’s reach beyond the transmission of trial proceedings via television and radio.
Explains the court document
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that invites its users to answer the question: What are you doing? Twitter`s users can send and read electronic messages known as tweets. A tweet is a short text post (up to 140 characters) delivered through Internet or phone-based text systems to the author`s subscribers. Users can send and receive tweets in several ways, including via the Twitter website.
Now you know. 
Volokh Conspiracy – Federal Rules Interpreted as Barring Twitter Coverage of Trial from Inside Courtroom, November 0, 2009
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November 10th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Anyone who needs to fear public knowledge and accountability fears the ‘net in any form. I wonder if the Judge was afraid of the scrutiny,as well as the defendant.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
There are good reasons to ban broadcasting during the trial. Maintaining fairness, privacy concerns, and the safety of witnesses to name a few. I don’t see how waiting until the days end hurts the public.