Revealing Undercover Police Officer's Identity Not Privacy Violation in New Mexico

From David Ardia of Citizen Media Law Project...

To keep the police misconduct theme going here at the CMLP, I'll point out a short post I read by Eugene Volokh on the Volokh Conspiracy. Volokh notes:

Revealing an undercover police officer's identity is not tortious in New Mexico, even when the speaker is aware that publicizing these identities may help others commit crimes against police officers; so the Tenth Circuit held last Friday in Alvarado v. KOB-TV.

In the lawsuit, Alvarado v. KOB-TV, 06-2001 (10th Cir. Jul. 13, 2007), the police officers claimed, among other things, that KOB-TV invaded their privacy when it broadcast a story about their alleged involvement in a sexual assault.

What makes this case interesting and unique is that the officers based their privacy claims on the public disclosure of their status as undercover officers.

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For more on the regulation of citizen journalism, visit the Citizen Media Law Project blog.  Also, David was recently interviewed over at Poynter Online, where in a great Q&A he explained the thrust behind the Citizen Media Law Project.