Apple’s vetting of iPhone apps may be ham-handed, but it’s not illegal

BY PETER SCHEER—In the beginning there was the internet. It was raw, ungovernable and vast in its multiplicity of voices. Then came the Apple iPhone (and more recently, the iPad), offering a curated internet experience, using “apps” vetted by Apple for conformity to company standards for content and quality. Millions of Apple i-device users inhabit [...]

A&A: Can Police Stop Distribution of Advertising Fliers?

Q: I own a small business and was stopped by a police officer while delivering fliers door to door. I was not contacting anyone or selling door to door, I was simply distributing fliers to let people know about my business. The officer told me I could not do this. Isn’t the distribution of fliers [...]

A&A: When Can A Newspaper Publish Documents Meant To Be Private?

Q: I’m a freelance writer pursuing a story about another publication, but I’m concerned because much of the info we have consists of leaked internal company documents from a disgruntled ex-employee (a notice of tax lien, e-mails, bill collection notices). This is a private company, not a public or governmental entity, so I have no [...]

A&A: Public Comment Limits Don’t Allow Time To Make Case

Q: Our Irrigation District Board asks for input from the pubilc on agenda items. However, the Board puts a five-minute limit on each individual. The staff has no limits on discussion time, but members of the audience are limited, even when making a case that disagrees with what staff is recommending. They are not very [...]

A&A: City Denies Critics Access To Information?

Q: I was very concerned about the Dallas Morning News article from May 19, 2010: “JUDGE ORDERS CITY CRITIC TO AVOID OFFICIALS.”  Did the ruling affect any person requesting records? Because elected officials are the stewards of our tax money, I feel their actions should be available to the public. This situation truly concerns me [...]

AT&T claims privacy rights in defending itself against allegations it overcharged government

According to Techdirt writer, Mike Masnick, another court decision giving companies similar legal rights to individuals, including privacy rights, could make it difficult for the public to obtain records including those about mine safety violations, problems at offshore oil rigs or health conditions at food manufacturing plants. -db Techdirt Opinion May 26, 2010 By Mike [...]

Orange County court denies Sierra Club low cost access to parcel map system

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club  that the California Public Records Act (CPRA)  did not require the county to provide its Landbase parcel map system at little or no cost. In a ruling last year a state appeals court ruled in a First Amendment Coalition lawsuit [...]

Civil liberties groups tell Congress Internet censorship no solution to curbing terrorism

Civil liberties advocates testified to a House committee on terrorism that the government should use the Internet to track terrorist threats but that to censor websites would be counterproductive. -db NextGov May 26, 2010 By Jill R. Aitoro Federal authorities should rely on the Internet to identify and track terrorist threats and to launch counterterrorism [...]

Federal government challenges public to solve problems facing country

As part of the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative, the General Services Administration will run contests with cash prizes to involve the public in solving real problems in government. -db Wired May 27, 2010 By Eliot Van Buskirk The government’s prize-based challenge challenge system for crowdsourcing solutions to the government’s problems, announced Thursday, is one [...]

Federal appeals court deals setback to billboard companies in First Amendment case

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Los Angeles in upholding their law against billboards posted without permit. -db Los Angeles Times May 26, 2010 By David Zahniser The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed a major victory to the city of Los Angeles on Wednesday in its fight against the proliferation of unpermitted [...]

Federal appeals court to hear case that could affect online news aggregation

The U.S. Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) will hear a case this summer involving news media who want to protect time-sensitive stories from online aggregators. -db Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press May 26, 2010 By Brian Westley A case before a federal appeals court could have important ramifications for news organizations seeking to [...]

Open government movement seen as way to engage private sector companies to improve government services

Tech book publisher Tim O’Reilly thinks that with greater openness in government, private sector companies will deliver software, services and applications to provide new and improved services at a lower cost to the public and in the process shrink the size of government. -db InformationWeek Opinion May 24, 2010 By John Foley Tim O’Reilly is [...]

Investment bank loses fight to keep criticism off website

A federal judge rejected an investment firm’s claim that remarks posted online critical of their business and in particular their telemarketing calls were not only defamatory but were also trademark dilutions. The judge ruled that the remarks were protected by the First Amendment and that the firm could not hold the website operators, 800Notes and [...]

Bankruptcy lawyer loses free speech challenge

Citing a Supreme Court decision in March, a federal judge overturned a ruling for a bankruptcy lawyer who claimed a law violated his free speech rights in banning him from urging clients to take on more debt before filing for bankruptcy. -db Courthouse News Service May 25, 2010 By Nick McCann (CN) – Citing a [...]

Former FBI employee gets prison term for leaking classified document to blogger

A former FBI linguist was sentenced to twenty months in jail for leaking classified documents to an unidentified blogger. The linguist admitted using poor judgment but said he was not motivated by selfish interests but felt he acted in the best interests of the American people. -db Secrecy News May 25, 2010 By Steven Aftergood [...]

Prop. 8 supporters oppose cameras in court for final arguments

A lawyer for the Prop. 8 campaign committee sent a letter to the federal judge hearing the lawsuit challenging the proposition arguing that a broadcast of the closing arguments set for June 16 would have negative effects on the judge including making him avoid unpopular decisions. -db San Francisco Chronicle May 25, 2010 By Bob [...]

Congresswoman offers key amendment for bill requiring disclosure of corporate and union campaign expenditures

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, Representative Susan Davis has proposed an amendment to strengthen a new law to require disclosure of campaign expenditures by special interests. The amendment would require mandatory disclosure reports to be filed electronically with the Federal Elections Commission so they could be posted expeditiously on their [...]

Student editors in Washington fight prior review

Although students in a Washington school district recently won a censorship ruling in federal court, they are still fighting their district’s media policy that permits the administration powers of prior review and prior restraint. -db Student Press Law Center May 20, 2010 By Josh Moore PUYALLUP, Wash. — Student editors at three Puyallup School District [...]

Laney College student government alleged to have held secret meetings for the last three years

A Laney College administrator is investigating allegations that the student government has held secret meetings in the violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. Some thought that discussion meetings could be closed to the public, but the student body government’s constitution says that it must comply with the Brown Act. -db Laney [...]

Pennsylvania attorney general dropping subpoena of Twitter for critics’ identity

The Pennsylvania attorney general has decided not to subpoena Twitter for the identity of critics of his successful conviction in a recent political corruption investigation. In asking for the subpoena, Attorney General Tom Corbett was attempting to find out if one of the critics was the man convicted of corruption to determine if the man [...]

Federal court rules professor’s racially offensive e-mails protected by First Amendment

A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Arizona community college was not required to curtail a professor’s racially charged e-mails that some said created a hostile work environment since the content of the e-mails caused the furor. The Court said the e-mails, while offensive to colleagues, were protected by the [...]

Federal appeals court dismisses contempt citation over e-mail flood

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that a federal district judge overstepped his authority in issuing a contempt citation to a infomercial pitchman for telling his audience to send e-mails to the judge testifying about how his service had improved their lives. The judge said the barrage of e-mails did not disrupt any trial, [...]

Federal appeals court rules candidates’ First Amendment rights not significantly harmed by Arizona campaign finance law

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of appeals upheld the constitutionality of an Arizona campaign finance law that gives matching funds to candidates facing opposition relying on private fundraising. Those using private funds sued saying that the law curtailed their rights to political speech by punishing them for spending privately secured campaign contributions. -db Metropolitan News-Enterprise [...]

Biography Channel hit by federal lawsuits for airing footage of police ride-alongs

The Biography Channel is being sued in federal court by citizens that claim the company is liable for civil rights violations during police ride-along programs. The channel says media coverage of police arrests are of vital interest to the public and should be protected under the First Amendment. -db Reporters Committee for Freedom of the [...]

New study questions premise that government secrecy promotes better decision-making

A new report challenges the view that government deliberations must be private to achieve candor. The authors of the report say that secrecy actually discourages dissenters from voicing their concerns. -db Secrecy News May 20, 2010 By Steven Aftergood When the Supreme Court ordered the Nixon White House to comply with a subpoena for the [...]

Craigslist critics run ad charging service provides venue for selling sex with underage girls

Human rights advocates claimed that Craigslist  is the choice for selling sex with underage girls and in a newspaper ad called for the company to close down its adult services section that generated $36 million last year. -db San Francisco Chronicle May 20, 2010 By Benny Evangelista Critics of Craigslist’s adult advertisements have taken their [...]

Amador County: Flury of e-mails leads to allegations of open meeting violation

When a director of the Amador Water Agency requested an item be added to a meeting agenda, a flury of e-mails ensued leading a fellow director to charge that the e-mails constituted a “serial meeting,” illegal under the state’s open meetings laws. -db Ledger Dispatch May 21, 2010 By Matthew Hedger Tempers flared at a [...]

Schwarzenegger wants to halt reimbursement to local governments for open government costs

Unable to pay the last $300,000 in a $20 million reimbursement to local governments for the costs of posting agendas and providing copies of documents, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing in his budget that the state no longer require local governments to inform the public but still hold them to providing public access to documents [...]

Federal data warehouse updated for one-year anniversary of Data.gov

The Obama administration announced that they plan to launch a new online depot of downloadable federal stats, equivalent to a YouTube video-sharing website. Observers say that new applications promise to make it easer to use, share and understand government databases. -db NextGov May 19, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein The White House on Friday will unveil [...]

Blogger challenges subpoena ordering Twitter to reveal his identity after critical posts on Pennsylvania politician

A blogger on Twitter is challenging a grand jury subpoena seeking his identity after he posted criticism of Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett. The subpoenas are usually limited to criminal cases, and the grand jury did not say what crime the blogger committed. -db Wired May 19, 2010 By David Kravets An anonymous blogger critical [...]

British Petroleum not divulging test results on worker safety in gulf oil spill

Critics are saying that the federal government is not doing enough to get BP to improve monitoring in the gulf oil spill and to release test results on worker exposure to evaporating oil and burning oil. -db McClatchy Newspapers Commentary May 18, 2010 By Marisa Taylor and Renee Schoof WASHINGTON, D.C. — BP, the company [...]

State high court narrows ‘commercial speech’ to uphold free speech rights on published notice for class action suit

A California Supreme Court decision, in a case over the posting of an appeal for clients in a class action lawsuit, is expected to reaffirm the state’s anti-SLAPP law in protecting free speech in commercial settings. -db Davis Wright Tremaine LLP May 18, 2010 By Thomas R. Burke and Rochelle L. Wilcox The California Supreme [...]

Federal judge suggests internet rights lawyer gave questionable advice to clients on discarding evidence

In handing down a decision in a copyright case pitting the Recording Industry Association of America against file-sharing service LimeWire, a  federal district judge implied that an Electronic Freedom Foundation lawyer may have advised clients to discard incriminating evidence.  -db CNET May 18, 2010 By Greg Sandoval

First Amendment: Federal judge protects anonymity of online critic of Pennsylvania corporation

A federal judge not only scuttled a subpoena to out an online critic of USA Technologies but also ruled that the critic’s charge that the company’s pay packages were “legalized highway robbery” was protected  speech under the First Amendment. -db Electronic Freedom Foundation Press Release May 19, 2010 SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge in [...]

Taft City Council under fire for alleged violation of open meeting act

A Grand Jury report says that a letter by a three person majority of the Taft City Council to one of their fellow councilmen asking him to refrain from commenting publicly about harassment charges against two councilmen could violate the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law. -db The Taft Independent May 19, 2010 The Kern [...]

FAC, media coalition win unsealing of search warrant affidavit in Gizmodo/iPhone matter

The media coalition organized by the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) has been successful in securing disclosure of the search warrant affidavit used to search an online journalist’s home for evidence concerning the Gizmodo/Apple/missing iPhone investigation.  Joining FAC in the unsealing motion were the Associated Press, Wired.com, Bloomberg News, CNET, the LA Times and the California [...]

Chomsky denied entry to Israel

An Israeli news commentator argues that by denying entry to Israel to Noam Chomsky, an American left-wing thinker who has been critical of Israel’s policies, Israel is providing fuel for those favoring an academic boycott of Israeli universities and also moving closer to totalitarianism. -db Haaretz Newspaper (Israel) Opinion May 17, 2010 By Carlo Strenger [...]

Lawsuit filed for names of SEC workers surfing for porn during office hours

The Securities and Exchange Commission porn scandal heated up as a Denver lawyer sued the agency for the names of workers who viewed porn on government computers over the last five years. -db The Washington Post May 12, 2010 By Ed O’Keefe A Denver lawyer is suing the Securities and Exchange Commission for the names [...]

Mississippi community college punishes student for swearing outside of class

Free speech advocates say community college exceeded its authority in policing vulgarity. -db FIRE May 18, 2010 JACKSON, Miss.— Mississippi’s largest community college unconstitutionally bans “cursing and vulgarity” and has barred a student from a course for swearing outside of class. After Hinds Community College (HCC) student Isaac Rosenbloom was forbidden to return to class [...]

Senate climate bill includes provisions for transparency

The newly introduced Senate climate bill includes provisions calling for transparency and public participation. OMB Watch says if the bill is signed into law, the success of emissions reduction may well depend on the openness of the climate change policies. -db OMB Watch Commentary May 18, 2010 Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) [...]

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