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Expert Doubts Sony Legal Team Can Prevent Publishing Of Leaked Emails

(CBS) -- A forensic investigator says he doubts a high powered legal team will be able to stop news outlets from publishing embarrassing Sony emails which have been leaked by unknown hackers.

Governors State Professor William Kresse says auctioning off, say stolen office equipment, is different from publishing a stolen e-mail which is protected by the First Amendment.

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"The email itself might be stolen, but it's the content of the email, the information of the email, which generally gets some protection under the First Amendment," he said.

Kresse says attorneys can ask or threaten, but he doubts they can stop publication of the internal emails. He says prior censorship efforts are not uncommon and are rarely successful.

Professor Kresse teaches, accounting, business and fraud prevention at Governor's State University.

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