A Hawaii federal judge will allow live blogging from court next year in what the federal government has called the largest human trafficking case in history.

In a written order filed Thursday, Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway granted requests from Civil Beat and two other news organizations to file live updates from the courtroom during the trial of Global Horizons, a Los Angeles-based labor recruiting company.

Prosecutors allege that the company kept more than 600 Thai immigrants as indentured laborers on farms in Hawaii, Washington and other states.

Mollway’s decision follows several weeks of discussion about whether the media should be allowed to live blog from federal court — and if yes, how it ought to be done.

In August, Civil Beat became the first news organization to live blog from federal court in Hawaii history during the trial of Mike and Alec Sou, owners of Aloun Farms.

In that trial, for which Mollway was also presiding judge, a Civil Beat reporter filed pool reports directly from the courtroom using a laptop and personal Internet connection. Those reports were shared by email with any news organization that asked to receive them before they were published.

After the Aloun Farms trial had finished, Civil Beat on Aug. 12 made a request to blog from the Global Horizons trial. Mollway sought comment from others on Civil Beat’s letter, as well as a four-page document from the judge. We published an earlier article about that discussion.

Two other news organizations — The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and the Hawaii Reporter — filed letters asking to be permitted to blog from the trial.

An attorney for one defendant, Pranee Tubchumpol, had no objections to Civil Beat’s request.

But the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a six-page brief objecting to the request, claiming that live blogging constituted “broadcasting,” which is prohibited in federal court.

Mollway disagreed, writing on Sept. 1: “Live blogging, even if it purports to quote statements made in court, is viewed by this court as a report, not as a judicial proceeding itself.” She noted that federal judges in other circuits had permitted blogging, including the District of Columbia.

News organizations had until Sept. 30 to submit requests to live blog the Global Horizons trial.

The conditions laid out for journalists are nearly identical to those set out during the Aloun Farms trial, namely:

• Reporters will not take photographs or record any audio or video in the courtroom or courthouse.
• Use of the laptop and internet connection not create a distraction in the courtroom, whether for participants in the proceedings or for others.
• Only one reporter from each of the three organizations is permitted to write and transmit on an connection from the courtroom at any given time. The name of each designated reporter shall be provided in writing to the trial judge and to security personnel on the first floor of the courthouse at least 24 hours in advance.

The Global Horizons case is slated for trial in February.

Read our related coverage:

• Controversy Over Request to Live Blog from Hawaii Federal Court Trial
• How Hawaii Federal Court Should Handle Requests to Live Blog From Trial