California assembly passes law restricting reckless driving paparazzi

A Deadline Hollywood columnist writes that notwithstanding the California legislature’s newly passed law imposing criminal penalties on paparazzi for driving recklessly, editors and the public are responsible for the excesses. -db
Deadline Hollywood
Commentary
August 31, 2010
By Nikki Finke
The California Assembly today passed AB 2479 by a margin of 43-13 to impose penalties of up to [...]

Senator expressed uneasiness about nuclear stockpile secrecy in 1949

A U.S. senator earned an entry in his FBI file in 1949 for making a speech calling for transparency about how many nuclear bombs we possessed and how many were in production. It was only on May 3 of this year that we learned the true size of our nuclear arsenal. -db
Secrecy News
Commentary
September 2, 2010
[...]

Law research center releases paper on news aggregating

The Citizen Media Law Center has released a white paper on hot news misappropriation and copyright infringement to suggest “best practices” for those aggregating the news. -db
Citizen Media Law Center
Press Release
August 30, 2010
By Kimberley Isbell
As anyone who has been following the debate regarding the “future of journalism” knows, there have been a lot of [...]

Florida: Losing politician sues newspapers for libel

After losing a hotly contested battle in the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate, a Florida businessman is preparing a lawsuit against the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald charging they libeled him in reporting his business activities which cost him the election.  -db
The New York Times
August 31, 2010
By Jeremy W. Peters [...]

Central valley: Hughson seats new city council members after finding of Brown Act violations

The small town of Hughson swore in three new city council members with feelings of elation and renewal after recalling three former council members that the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury found had violated California’s open meeting law, Hughson’s Municipal Code and Fair Political Practices Regulations and Code. -db
Turlock Journal
August 31, 2010
By Maegan Martens
After eight [...]

Open-meeting violation alleged over Pomona schools parcel tax proposal

A citizen accused the Pomona Unified School District board of violating California’s open meeting law by holding discussions in closed sessions about a parcel tax proposed for the November ballot. The board’s attorney says the board acted properly in that all votes concerning the parcel tax were conducted in public. -db
Contra Costa Times
August 31, 2010
By [...]

Gawker opens site to probe WikiLeaks

Citing Wikileaks secretive mode of operation, Gawker announced a new website, Wikileakileaks.org, to provide the public details of the organization’s operation. -db
ValleyWag
Commentary
August 31, 2010
Secret-sharing website Wikileaks.org’s tagline is “We open governments.” But the organization itself is about as open as North Korea. That’s why we’ve launched Wikileakileaks.org: your source for Wikileaks-related secrets, documents and rumors!
Wikileaks [...]

Free speech: Federal court rules ex- police chef’s rights violated

The 10th Circuit Appeals Court ruled that the city manager in Laramie, Wyoming violated a police chief’s free speech rights since her motivation in firing him was to punish him for filing a defamation lawsuit. -db
Courthouse News Service
August 30, 2010
By Nick McCann
(CN) – The city manager in Laramie, Wyo., violated a police [...]

Copyright enforcement concern signs up second newspaper chain

Righthaven, a company that sues bloggers who repost news content without prermission, has expanded its operation to a second newspaper chain, the Arkansas-based WEHCO Media. -db
Wired
August 30, 2010
By David Kravets
A Las Vegas company established to sue bloggers who clip news content is expanding its operations to a second newspaper chain.
Righthaven LLC has struck [...]

Man with impeach Obama sign arrested at Alaska State Fair

Police arrested at man at the Alaska State Fair carrying a sign calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama. The fair allows political messages if citizens rent a booth and follow vendor guidelines but forbid political activities in common areas. -db
Anchorage Daily News
August 28, 2010
By Kyle Hopkins
Ten minutes of mayhem Thursday at [...]

Minnesota: Federal court rules against city’s ban on billboard extensions

A federal court ruled that St. Paul’s ban on billboard extensions could not be enforced because the city offered no rational reasons for the ban. -db
Courthouse News Service
August 27, 2010
(CN) – A St. Paul ordinance barring signs from having protruding words or graphics is unenforceable, the 8th Circuit ruled, because the city council “failed [...]

Los Angeles County supervisors seek doctor peer review records

L.A. County supervisors are seeking doctors’ peer review documents to monitor patient safety and improve their ability to settle malpractice claims. -db
Los Angeles Times
August 28, 2010
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
In a fight that could have wide-ranging implications, Los Angeles County supervisors are pushing to see confidential medical records used by county doctors to evaluate their peers to [...]

Concerns arise about California Assembly bill to control paparazzi

The California Newspaper Publisher Association argues that a California Assembly bill aimed at limiting Hollywood paparazzi would hamper journalists and photojournalists in transit to emergency scenes or breaking news locations by criminalizing driving infractions. -db
The California Newspaper Publisher Association
Commentary
August 27, 2010
Assembly Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) recently amended her bill to rein in “out [...]

Facebook criticized for censoring pot legalization ads

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is charging that Facebook is failing to uphold the First Amendment in banning content that some “overseers” find objectionable. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 26, 2010
By Richard Esguerra
Facebook is facing down another embarrassing episode of censorship this week after refusing to show ads submitted by the Just Say Now marijuana legalization campaign. [...]

State Department analyst indicted for disclosing secrets about North Korea to Fox News

The Obama administration has taken an aggressive stance toward individuals leaking secret information to the media. -db
The New York Times
August 27, 2010
By Scott Shane
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal grand jury in Washington has indicted a State Department analyst suspected of disclosing top-secret information about North Korea to Fox News, the third time the Obama administration [...]

Sunnyvale: Family affair in school board race prompts concerns about open meeting violations

Three members from the Goldman family are running for the Fremont Union High School District board in a contest for three open seats as observers expressed some skepticism about whether, if all three are elected, they could successfully observe California’s open meeting law and avoid discussing school district business around the breakfast table. -db
San [...]

Driver’s union claims transit authority violated California open meeting law

A San Bernardino County teamster’s union has charged the Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority with failing to convene in open session before adjourning to closed session, a violation of the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act. -db
Big Bear Grizzly
August 27, 2010
By Arrissa Owen Turner
Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority violated the Ralph M. Brown [...]

Iran thought to ban reporting on opposition leaders

A letter from the Iranian government appearing on opposition web sites orders the media to refrain from reporting on two defeated presidential candidates, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, as well as former President Mohammad Khatami. -db
The New York Times
August 25, 2010
By William Yong and Robert F. Worth
TEHRAN — In a further clampdown [...]

Southern California: Fontana school board president justifies silencing citizens during public comments

The Fontana Unified School District board president said he stopped citizens from talking during public comment period because according to California Education Code Section 7054, citizens could not discuss district issues at school board meetings to promote ballot measures or political candidates. -db
Fontana Herald News
August 26, 2010
By Alejandro Cano
It has happened at least [...]

WikiLeaks unveils CIA report on U.S. as an ‘exporter of terrorism’

The CIA has downplayed WikiLeaks’ latest release, a secret CIA analysis showing the extent of U.S. presence as an exporter of terrorism. -db
Washington Post
August 26, 2010
By Ellen Nakashima
The United States has long been an exporter of terrorism, according to a secret CIA analysis released Wednesday by the Web site WikiLeaks. And if that phenomenon [...]

Blackberry dispute: Reporters Without Borders worried national security a pretext to censorship

Reporters Without Borders is concerned that in asking BlackBerry to provide access codes to governments, it will allow them to shut down free expression. -db
MediaShift
Commentary
August 26, 2010
By Clothilde Le Coz
Next week will be decisive for BlackBerry corporate users. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) could provide a solution to help security agencies in India [...]

EFF offers help to defendants in copyright lawsuits

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has offered to help bloggers caught in Righthaven’s copyright infringement web. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 25, 2010
By Eva Galperin
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking to assist defendants in the Righthaven copyright troll lawsuits.
Righthaven, founded in March of 2010, files hundreds of copyright infringement lawsuits on behalf of newspaper publishers against bloggers [...]

Open records dispute: Judge orders university to release contract with Palin

A Superior Court judge has ordered California State University of Stanislaus to comply with public records laws and release a speakers contract with Sarah Palin. -db
San Francisco Chronicle
August 26, 2010
By Nanette Asimov
California State University at Stanislaus violated public records laws and will have to release the speakers contract with Sarah Palin it had tried [...]

Tulare County: Editorial says judge’s ruling blow to open meetings

On the heels of a Superior Court judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit alleging Brown Act violations by the county Board of Supervisors, the Visalia Times-Delta argues that the judge should have recognized the overriding importance of the public’s right to know how elected officials conduct public business. -db
Visalia Times-Delta
Editorial
August 26, 2010
Naturally, we at the [...]

Attorneys general pressure Craigslist to remove adult service ad section

Attorneys general in seventeen states have asked Craigslist to disband its adult services section on its website since it cannot block illegal ads on the site promoting prostitution and child trafficking. -db
San Francisco Chronicle
August 25, 2010
By Everton Bailey Jr.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – San Francisco-based Craigslist should remove its adult services section because the website [...]

Tulare County: Judge rules for supervisors on alleged open meeting violations

A superior Judge ruled against a newspaper’s suit against Tulare County Board of Supervisors, holding that there was no proof that business was conducted at lunches paid for by taxpayers. -db
Visalia Times-Delta
August 24, 2010
By Valerie Gibbons
A Tulare County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit seeking to stop the county Board of Supervisors from [...]

San Bernardino: Wife of ex-sheriff ruled a private citizen in libel suit

In a multimillion-dollar libel suit against Valley Wide Newspapers, the  plaintiff,the wife of a former sheriff won a ruling that she was not a public figure, athough she had a contract with San Bernardino County to provide counseling services to sheriff’s deputies. -db
San Bernardino Sun
August 23, 2010
By Mike Cruz
A Superior Court judge ruled that the [...]

Federal appeals court orders disclosure of banks likely to have failed without bailout

The full U.S. Court of Appeals in New York refused to review a decision by the court’s three-judge panel requiring the Federal Reserve Board to identify banks that may have failed without the federal bailout. -db
Bloomberg News
August 23, 2010
Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — An appeals court refused to reconsider a decision compelling the Federal Reserve Board [...]

Federal court affirms greater speech freedom for college students

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a university’s strict speech codes, and in so doing made a distinction between university standards and standards limiting speech in high schools and elementary schools in recognition that adults in universities should enjoy the freedom to engage in unfettered debate and discourse. -db
FIRE
Commentary
August 20, 2010
Posted by Erica [...]

Government transparency: Single pool of storage could save money and allow better access

Deluged by data, the federal government looks to virtualized storage to create a single pool of storage capacity controlled from a central console making it easier to retrieve data. -db
NextGov
August 23, 2010
By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
The federal government is awash in data. And it’s expanding at rates faster than chief information officers can count. No [...]

Free speech: Electronic Frontier Foundation warns against California law undermining parody

A new “E-Personation” bill now in the California legislature would make it a crime to personate someone online to “harm” that person. EFF claims that the law would severely restrict online parodies criticizing government and big corporations. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 22, 2010
By Corynne McSherry
A bill that could undermine a new and important form [...]

California judge rules against court in attempt to block publication of courtroom photos

A superior court judge ruled that the Los Angeles Times could publish photos of a murder defendant taken with the court’s permission. The judge said the attempt to bar the photos was unconstitutional prior restraint. -db
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
August 20, 2010
By Kenneth Ofgang
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s order barring publication of photos that were taken [...]

Free speech: Federal court upholds ethics rule limiting judges’ speech on right to life

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Indiana anti-abortion group may not eliminate Illinois ethics rules prohibiting judges from speaking out on issues that might come up in court. -db
First Amendment Center
August 23, 2010
By The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana anti-abortion group has lost its latest attempt to block state ethics rules [...]

Tulare County supervisors likely to evade suit on alleged open meeting violations

A superior court judge indicated she would dismiss an open meeting lawsuit against the Tulare County Board of Supervisors from lack of solid evidence. The supervisors were alleged to have violated California’s Brown Act by meeting regularly for lunch, they claimed, to build team solidarity. -db
Visalia Times-Delta
August 21, 2010
By Valerie Gibbons
A Tulare County Superior [...]

Porterville City Council rejects proposal to limit public comments

The Porterville City Council decided not to restrict public comments to those items on the agenda even though members of the community wanted to comment on the agenda would have to wait their turn.
California’s open meeting law says the public has a right to comment on issues before government agencies make decisions. -db
The Porterville Recorder
August [...]

Blogger sued for copying news article claims license provided for republication

A blogger sued by the Las Vegas Review-Journal for republishing one of its articles has argued that the newspaper gave him “implied license” to republish by encouraging readers to save links to the work and send the links to others. -db
Online Media Daily
August 18, 2010
By Wendy Davis
A blogger sued for allegedly reposting a Las [...]

Domestic spying: Uncle Sam developing ability to reach wide and deep on Internet

Through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that the FBI and CIA are aggressively perfecting their ability to probe social networks and the Internet for intelligence data much of which is outside the law enforcement context. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 16, 2010
By Tim Wayne
In the midst of recent [...]

In court photo dispute Los Angeles Times alleges illegal prior restraint

In a brief filed in court this week, the Los Angeles Times argued that their photographer acted with the court’s permission in taking photos of a defendant charged with murder, and that any attempts to prevent publication of the photos constituted prior restraint. -db
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
August 19, 2010
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A Los Angeles [...]

Pelosi calls for transparency in Ground Zero mosque dispute

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she favored disclosure for the groups funding opposition to the mosque planned for Ground Zero as well as who is funding the construction of the Islamic center. -db
Washington Post
Commentary
August 18, 2010
By Greg Sargent
Nancy Pelosi kicked off a bit of controversy on the right this morning when the news broke [...]

Federal judge quashes subpoena for notes in “unjust conviction” case reported by Medill grad student

A federal district judge has rejected arguments that the Chicago police could subpoena the notes of a former student at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism who worked to exonerate a convicted felon. -db
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
August 19, 2010
By Cristina Abello
A federal judge in Seattle yesterday granted a journalism professor’s motion [...]

Next Page »