Transparency experts advising patience over Obama open government initiative

Federal agencies easily met the first deadline in the Obama open government initiative, but the next steps for improving transparency and getting public feedback will take longer say open government experts. -db

Federal Times
March 10, 2010
By Gregg Calstrom

The first steps were easy: Most agencies met the first deadline of President Obama’s December directive to launch open government [...]

First Amendment groups petition federal appeals court for favorable ruling on student online speech

Conflicting court rulings have prompted First Amendment groups to ask for clarification about  when students can be disciplined for off -campus online speech that is  not a part of school activities. -db
Student Press Law Center
Press Release
March 9, 2010
The Student Press Law Center, a national non-profit devoted to defending student journalists’ First Amendment rights, filed a [...]

UC Berkeley student newspaper reporter gets arrested covering protest over tuition increases

A photojournalist for the Daily Californian, the student newspaper at University of California Berkeley, forgot his press pass and followed student protesters onto the freeway where he was arrested for unlawful assembly and obstructing a public place. -db
Student Press Law Center
March 9, 2010
By Laura Dobler

BERKELEY – A student multimedia journalist was released from [...]

Courtroom bans on social media spreading across United States

The U.S. court system is rapidly adopting rules against the use of social media in the courtroom. Jurors are increasingly instructed to stay off Facebook and Twitter and refrain from using the Internet to research cases. -db
Online Media Daily
March 10, 2010
By Laurie Sullivan
No tweeting or status updates in court or deliberation rooms. Judges have been [...]

Facebook threatens to sue British newspaper over false claim about sex and teen-age girls

Facebook is concerned that its reputation was permanently damaged by a claim in the Daily Mail that seconds after 14-year-old girls posted a profile on Facebook that older men could approach them “who wanted to perform a sex act” in front of them. Daily Mail apologized for the error. -db
Guardian
March 11, 2010
By Charles Arthur
Facebook has [...]

Obama administration wants carrot method to promote open government

The Obama administration announced that it wants to use prizes and challenges to promote open government in federal agencies. -db

Secrrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
March 11, 2010
By Steven Aftergood

Executive branch agencies should “increase the use of prizes and challenges as tools for promoting open government,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a [...]

Congress leads way in promoting world-wide internet freedom

Congressmen have introduced legislation to strengthen the ability of groups and individuals to evade government control of the internet. The legislation would provide grants to universities, private companies and research groups to develop technologies to defeat suppression and censorship. -db

Tech Daily
March 9, 2010
By Juliana Gruenwald

Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and David Wu, D-Ore., announced Tuesday the [...]

State courts find teen-agers’ ‘fighting words’ unprotected

Teen-agers are finding that courts are unsympathetic to their use of “fighting words”, viewing the language as disorderly conduct and affirming lower court decisions in finding the teen-agers delinquent. -db
First Amendment Center
Commentary
March 11, 2010
By David L. Hudson Jr.
Recent court decisions in Arizona and North Dakota demonstrate that kids can face criminal charges and convictions [...]

New access to social media may precipitate change in Iran

After the U.S. Treasury Department decided to exclude social media services from sanctions against Iran, there is hope that these services will help Iranians  effect political change. Iran is a special case in that nearly half of the population uses the internet. -db
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
March 11, 2010
By Arthur Bright

Anyone who followed the Green Movement protests [...]

California governor orders end to shredding of sex offenders’ parole files

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered state officials to make the files of sex offenders available to the press and public. The order comes after a paroled sex offender was arrested for allegedly murdering a 17-year-old girl in San Diego County and the reluctant release of the parole files of the man who allegedly kidnapped a [...]

Transparency: S.F. mayor wants texting banned during city meetings

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wants a ban on text messaging during meetings of the Board of Supervisors and city commissions to limit the influence of  lobbyists texting city officials and to keep the city government more transparent. -db
San Francisco Chronicle
March 10, 2010
By Heather Knight
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wants to push the off button [...]

FAC’s challenge to China’s Internet censorship weighed by US Trade Reps, Google and other Internet providers

Top US trade representative Ron Kirk says U.S. trade officials are in talks with Google and other Internet providers on FAC’s proposal to challenge China’s Internet censorship via the World Trade Organization (WTO). dh
U.S. weighing China Internet censorship case

(Related News: Q+A: Is there a WTO case against Chinese Internet censorship?)
(Reuters) – The United States is [...]

International internet freedom gets boost in latest regulations proposed by Obama administration

The U.S. Treasury Department announced changes in its sanctions against Cuba, Iran and the Sudan which allows internet service to these countries even when they are under U.S. sanctions. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
March 10, 2010
By Danny O’Brien
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Monday key amendments to the regulation of United States sanctions [...]

Los Angeles: Employee union accuses district attorney of libel

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys accused the Los Angeles district attorney of committing libel in a newsletter that criticized the association. The accusation is part of an ongoing dispute over the district attorney’s alleged union-busting tactics. -db

Metropolitan News-Enterprise
March 10, 2010
By Sherri M. Okamoto
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys yesterday sent a missive to its [...]

Federal courts rule out broadcast of closing arguments in California same-sex marriage trial

A federal court will not include California’s same-sex marriage trial in its pilot program to broadcast civil proceedings contrary to recent media reports. -db

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 9, 2010
By Curry Andrews
A federal court in San Francisco announced on Friday that it is not planning to broadcast closing arguments in the trial [...]

Leading gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown need to show voters, by their own actions, that they are committed to transparency in government. Promises won’t cut it.

BY PETER SCHEER—As California voters begin the process of selecting the next  Governor of the ungovernable Golden State, the leading candidates owe them a demonstration of their commitment to government transparency.
All politicians are supportive of open-government “in principle;”  the question is whether they are committed in practice. The best test for that is a candidate’s [...]

California State Assembly Speaker bans texting in session

The new California Assembly Speaker has banned text messaging on the assembly floor prompting skepticism from First Amendment advocates that the ban is enforceable or efficacious. -db

CivSource
Commentary
March 9, 2010
By Bailey McCann

Last week, when John A. Perez became California’s new Assembly Speaker a point in his opening speech caught our eye — a new rule limiting [...]

Proposed national broadband access may lack funding

The Federal Communications Commission’s plan for national broadband access has great potential to speed communication and enhance public access to government information and services but faces obstacles in funding and net neutrality. -db
OMB Watch

March 9, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is gearing up to release its plan for national broadband access on March 17. The [...]

California: Decision in favor of disclosure in kidnapping case adds starch to publics’ right to government records

A Superior Court  judge strengthened the Public Records Act by ruling that the press and the public had the right to access government records to answer questions about why parole officers did not check on registered sex offender Philip Garrido who had kidnapped a 12-year-old girl and held her captive for 18 years. -db
Contra Costa [...]

Anonymous speech: Federal court protects identities of posters on news website

A Pennsylvania federal court will not allow a man suing in an employment discrimination case to discover the identities of those making posts on a new website. The man wanted the identities to discredit the testimony of those who fired him. -db

Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
March 8, 2010
By Sam Bayard

Thomas O’Toole at TechLaw points us to [...]

First Amendment cases: Supreme Court to hear Kansas case of protesters at military funeral

The Supreme Court will hear the case of a Marine father who sued protesters who picketed his son’s funeral with signs reading “God Hates You” land “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” The picketers were from a Baptist church that believes God hates homosexuality and is punishing the U.S. for tolerating it with the death of [...]

Attorney Judy Alexander Joins FAC as Special Access Litigation Counsel

Starting this month, FAC has retained veteran first amendment and access lawyer Judy Alexander as FAC’s Special Access Litigation Counsel. Judy will be representing FAC in access cases across the state as part of FAC’s  expanded litigation initiative.
Alexander, a former FAC Board member, has 25 years experience in first amendment and access matters, including litigation [...]

EFF: Federal law on adult photography poses threat to free speech

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is joining with other free expression advocates in a legal challenge to the federal criminal law that requires anyone producing a visual depiction of sexually explicit expression to maintain extensive records including copies of drivers’ licenses, home addresses, etc. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
March 5th, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – The Electronic Frontier Foundation [...]

Time has come for a federal anti-SLAPP law

A lawyer who earns considerable income from defending citizens from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) says it is time to back a democratic congressman’s bill for a federal anti-SLAPP law to protect citizens’ free speech rights. -db
Citizen Media Law Project
Opinion
March 4, 2010
By Marc J. Randazza

Congressman Steve Cohen, D-TN is our First Amendment Bad Ass of [...]

Editorial calls for Placer County District Attorney to enforce state’s open government law

The Auburn Journal argued for tighter enforcement of the Brown Act, California’s open government law, in light of a $l600 dinner meeting in 2008  in Washington D.C. during which three county supervisors lobbied the local congressman. -db
Auburn Journal
Editorial
March 7, 2010

During these tough economic times, government at every level faces media scrutiny. The public has [...]

Turlock school board finds way to defeat intent of state’s open government law

The editor of the Turlock Journal says the local school board did all the right things in listing the agenda in advance, making the meeting accessible to all and allowing ample time for public comment but still managed to trash the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, by deciding the crucial issues of building renovations [...]

Health board accused of violating California open meeting law in holding closed ‘informational’ sessions

The Del Puerto Health Care board claims that conscientious elected officials are discouraged from serving after they were accused of holding two closed meetings without public notice. -db
Patterson Irrigator
March 4, 2010
By Kendall Wright

In spite of attending training sessions since 2006 about ethics and open-meeting laws, a majority of Del Puerto Health Care board members who were [...]

Former teacher sues D.C. mayor and the public school chancellor for defamation

After the Washington D.C. public schools chancellor said to the media that she got rid of teachers who hit students and had sex with children in reducing the teaching force, she was sued by a teacher who claimed those statements defamed him. -db

Courthouse News Service
March 8, 2010
By Ryan Abbott
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CN) – A teacher says [...]

California legislators for amending U.S. Constitution to overturn Supreme Courts ruling on campaign finance

Two California legislators have introduced a resolution in the state legislature for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC arguing that the court decision wrongly gives corporations the same First Amendment rights as individuals and will allow them to use advertising to control the outcome of elections. -db

Metropolitan [...]

Supreme Court rejects attempt to void part of bankruptcy law on First Amendment grounds

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld provisions of the federal bankruptcy law that had been challenged under the First Amendment. The court upheld a key provision that states that a debt relef agency could not advise a client to incur more debt in order to file for bankruptcy. -db
First Amendment Center
March 8, 2010
By David L. [...]

Attorney for army major who allegedly killed 13 starts blog on the case

After a military judge issued a gag order in the trial of a man accused of killed 13 people at Fort Hood last year, the civilian lawyer for the man started a blog to make his case for the suspect. -db

CNN
March 2 2010
By Larry Shaughnessy
Washington (CNN) — In response to a partial gag order, the attorney [...]

Attorney Matteo-Boehm honored by California Lawyer for victories in FAC cases

Congratulations to Attorney Rachel Matteo-Boehm of the law firm Holme Roberts & Owen, San Francisco for being named a Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer Magazine.  The magazine singled out work on behalf of FAC in two important government transparency cases: CFAC v. Santa Clara and and CFAC& Maplight.org v. [...]

Reader-comments sections of news websites needn’t be cesspools. Editors should EDIT comments as they would letters-to-the-editor.

BY PETER SCHEER–Some people have no choice but to live in a cesspool. (Consider the young protagonist in Slumdog Millionaire, leaping into a pool of human waste in order to escape a locked latrine.) But news organizations are not among them.
The cesspool that many newspapers occupy is the “Comments” sections of their websites. This is [...]

Journalist appeals denial of mug shot of federal fugitive

A freelance journalist is appealing a federal court ruling that the U.S. Marshals Service could deny a Freedom of Information Act request for a mug shot of securities fraud fugitive, Luis Giro. -db

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 3, 2010
By Curry Andrew

A freelance journalist has asked a federal appeals court to consider whether [...]

Google would welcome government support in challenging Chinese censorhip

Google wants the Obama administration to take China’s censorship of Google to the World Trade Organization as an unfair barrier to trade. -db

Bloomberg News
March 3, 2010
By Mark Drajem

(Bloomberg) — The Obama administration is weighing the merits of taking China’s censorship of Google Inc. to the World Trade Organization as an unfair barrier to trade, a [...]

New York City considers press credentials for bloggers

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to allow online journalists and bloggers press credentials. The proposal comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed by three bloggers denied access to city events. -db

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 3, 2010
By Christine Beckett
New York City and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new policy that would allow [...]

Legislation needed to block corporation money in elections

A columnist for the Buffalo News says that now that the Supreme Court has unleashed the monster of corporate money in the political arena, it is left to Congress to enact a law to block the anticipated flood of special interest money in federal, local and state elections. -db
The Buffalo News
Opinion
March 1, 2010
By Douglas Turner

WASHINGTON, [...]

Bandwidth problems threaten to curtail military’s social networking

The Pentagon is allowing the troops to use such sites as Facebook and Twitter, but it may be difficult for them to actually sign on since, especially in places like Afghanistan, bandwidth is limited. -db
The Hill
March 1, 2010
By Tony Romm
Trouble with the Pentagon’s strapped Web network could threaten its new decision to permit service [...]

Oregon man seeks First Amendment protection for flipping off sheriff’s deputies

A 46-year-old mathematician is suing the sheriff for damages and corrective action after he was stopped by sheriff deputies two different times after giving them the finger. db
The Oregonian
February 28, 2010
By Steven Mayes
When Robert J. Ekas decided to exercise his right to free speech, he didn’t open his mouth.
He hoisted his middle finger.
His single-digit protests, [...]

Intimidation succeeds far too often in stifling free speech

There are all too many recent instances of authorities canceling talks by controversial speakers because they fear violence or disruption. This results in a systemic compromising of free speech rights and significant weakening of the foundations of democracy. -db
Townhall.com
Opinion
March 1, 2010
By Herb London

Jake Witzenfeld, president of Cambridge University’s Israel Society cancelled a talk by Benny [...]

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