Opnion: The Stop Online Piracy Act would would adversely affect journalists

If passed in its present form, the Stop Online Piracy Act would subject articles to censorship in blocking articles from appearing on sites accused of piracy, writes Jessica Ray for 10,000 Words. Even if one site contained content deemed illegal, the entire site could be blocked. Internet innovation and creativity would also take a hit. [...]

Philadelphia refuses advocacy ad for airport

Philadelphia is facing a lawsuit over its refusal to run a billboard ad by the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) advocating prison reform . In bringing the suit, the NAACP and the ACLU said the city has not been even handed in administrating its ad policy, accepting some political ads but refusing others. That [...]

Opinion: First Amendment scholar finds fault with high school ban on U.S. flag T-shirts

A First Amendment scholar criticizes a federal court ruling the wearing of American flag T-shirts were disruptive and exempt from First Amendment protections. David L. Hudson Jr. argues that the court was wrong in applying the “heckler’s veto” concept to the case that if the listeners to speech create a disturbance and silence a speaker, [...]

Safety trumps speech at Morgan Hill high school

A Morgan Hill high school acted legally when it ordered students to conceal T-shirts bearing American flags on Cinco de Mayo, a federal judge ruled. Because Mexican American and Anglo students had previously wrangled about clothing on Cinco de Mayo, Live Oak High School officials reasonably anticipated campus disruption and safety problems, U.S. District Judge James [...]

Out-sourcing the job of muzzling the media

BY EDWARD WASSERMAN–A comment posted to London’s Guardian newspaper said it best: “Censorship, like everything else in the West, has been privatized.”  The writer, somebody called “edensasp,” was referring to news that Wikileaks—the online whistleblower that has been embarrassing governments and corporations worldwide by disclosing their secrets–was suspending operations. Why? Had its leader, the mercurial [...]

Seattle school administration considers new policy of prior restraint for student free press

A policy under consideration by the Seattle School Board would give principals the authority for prior review of high school newspapers and allow a stop to publication if they detected libel, obscenity and violations of the school’s educational mission. Critics argue that the principal would gain censorship powers and take responsibility for content out of [...]

Chinese protesters use comic subterfuge to evade government censors

With the Chinese government employing more than 50,000 censors to monitor the Internet for politically deviant opinion, bloggers are using humor and satire to get their message across before the censors close in. There is always a strong element of fear and uncertainty for the bloggers as they never know where the line is between [...]

ACLU sues Philadephia for censoring ad at airport

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Philadelphia for rejecting an ACLU ad for changes in the criminal justice and education systems. The city says it does not accept any political or advocacy ads. The ACLU pointed out a number of instances in which the political ads ran in the airport including one advocating for [...]

Texas: Professor says state censored report on environmental damage

A Rice University professor claims that a Texas environmental agency censored his report on Galveston Bay by deleting  certain references to climate change, sea-level rise and man’s role in the changes. An agency spokesperson said it would be irresponsible to publish whatever came to it. The professor said the deletions were based on politics rather [...]

Charges dropped against North Carolina student thrown off campus for criticizing college

The Catawba Valley Community College dropped charges against a student, allowing him back on campus after they suspended him for two semesters for criticizing the college’s aggressive marketing of a debit card company to its students. But the college has yet to change its policy regarding free speech online and is still requiring the student [...]

Opinion: United Kingdom enacting plan to put voluntary filters on porn, gambling

The Electronic Freedom Foundation criticizes a plan concocted by the Conservative government and the Christian group, Mothers’ Union to provide filters to customers who want to block sites offering pornography, gambling, information about self-harm, etc. Eva Galerin and Jillian C. York say that the plan’s flaws include the vagueness of the blocked categories, the unknown [...]

First Amendment: Stolen valor case goes to U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of a California man held criminally liable for lying about his military exploits. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the man’s lies were permissible under the First Amendment. A dissenting judge wrote that the Supreme Court had already established that false statements of fact [...]

Canada: Anti-gay crusader contests hate laws in Supreme Court

An anti-gay proselytizer is challenging Canada’s hate laws in a landmark case before the Supreme Court pitting the right to free speech against the right be free of hateful campaigns. Proponents of the law claim the law has been narrowed in response to criticism, but opponents contend that the law can quell legitimate expression. -db [...]

Opinion: Entertainers exercising free speech rights should not be punished

The public should be consistent in supporting the free speech rights of entertainers, writes Ken Paulson for the First Amendment Center. “There’s a tendency to defend the free speech of those whose views we share, while condemning the abrasive comments of those on the other side. Too often we let politics trump principles,” says Paulson. [...]

Press freedom award goes to college newspaper in Southern California

The Sun of Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California has been awarded the 2011 College Press Freedom Award from the Student Press Law Center and the Associated Collegiate Press. The editors and staff continued to publish The Sun as the administration ordered it shut down. “The administrators of Southwestern College threw everything they had at [...]

Opinion: Indiscriminate web filters damage free inquiry

Web filtering in which key words can trigger a cutoff of sites hurts education by uncritically banning students from vital Internet sources, writes Ken Paulson in a commentary for the First Amendment Center. Paulson says that names of terrorist groups or words such as breasts or buttocks can trigger censorship and the First Amendment Center [...]

Professor censors profanity on student free speech wall

A Sam Houston State University professor removed an insult to President Barack Obama posted by a student on the student free speech wall. Incensed by the censorship, students reported the vandalism to the campus police. Rather than come to the aid of the student in support of the First Amendment, the police threatened students with [...]

Free speech: Students guilty of disrupting speech at University of California Irvine

A jury in Irvine, California found 10 Muslim students guilty of disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador at UC Irvine. They were sentenced to three years probation and 56 hours of community service. One legal scholar said the students’ speech directed toward depriving another of First Amendment rights was not protected but felt the criminal [...]

Opinion: Federal law forbidding ‘material support’ to terrorists runs afoul of First Amendment

The FBI arrested Jubair Ahmad for “glorifying violent jihad” when he uploaded a video to YouTube that included images of armored trucks hit by IEDs, footage of terrorist leaders, pictures showing Abu Ghraib and U.S soldiers with an attack dog. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that speech is not protected that  is “directed [...]

Report: U.S. corporations joining with tyrants to curb Internet freedom

Current laws and codes of conduct aren’t enough to prevent United States companies from helping repressive regimes censor the Internet and control information that have abetted human right abuses, according to a report from a Canadian security firm. The Global Online Freedom Act, a law under consideration, would prohibit U.S. companies from helping governments restrict [...]

Georgia mayor censors ‘Rocky Horror Show’

The mayor of Carrollton, Georgia banned the Rocky Horror Show from the city’s theater center. The local theater group who wanted to stage the musical has decided not to challenge the ban. The Rocky Horror Show centers on a cross-dressing scientist and his Transylvania friends but has not been considered obscene, the only legal grounds [...]

Teacher loses free speech case over display of ‘In God We Trust’ banner

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals invoked the Supreme Court decision Garcetti v. Caballos in ruling that a math teacher does not have a First Amendment right to display banners with such messages as “In God We Trust” in his classroom. Garcetti established that public employees have no right to free speech when speaking [...]

Chicago Tribune censors ‘Doonesbury’

The Chicago Tribune has admitted that they are removing the comic strip “Doonesbury” over its depiction of maybe-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The Tribune claims they are doing it out of “fairness” since the strip contains excerpts from a book not yet on the market and unavailable to the Tribune for verification. Sounds suspect. Is verification [...]

Oakland museum cancels art exhibit of Palestinian children

The heavy hand of censorship is reaching the artwork of children. An Oakland children’s museum cancelled an exhibit or artwork by Palestinian children, ages 9 to 11, depicting the violence of  Israeli assaults against Palestine during 2008-09. In cancelling the exhibit, the museum was reacting to community protests. -db From the San Francisco Chronicle, September [...]

CIA wants to censor book by former FBI agent about 9/11 and terrorism

The Central Intelligence Agency is demanding that a memoir of a former FBI agent be heavily cut before publication. The agent was at the forefront of the fight against Al Qaeda and terrorism and makes some pointed criticisms of CIA errors including the harsh interrogation of the first important captive after 9/11. People close to [...]

Censorship ‘sucks’

Writing for the First Amendment Center, David L. Hudson Jr. explains why he hates school censorship. It stemmed from an classroom experience in a private high school in Tennessee. Hudson made the mistake of saying “the Celtics suck” in class and was punished for it even though his friend had used a far worse profanity [...]

BART feud shows that censorship is never local

BY NICOLE WONG—Here’s the thing about censorship: in this globally connected world, censorship is never local. So, whether you live in the SF Bay Area or not, whether you ride the BART rail system or not, the recent actions of local government officials affected us all. Last Thursday, during the evening rush hour commute, BART [...]

Free press: Punishments continue as Chinese government objects to magazine content

China removed the head of a biweekly magazine and suspended its editor over publication of an interview with a Taiwanese historian. The historian was quoted saying that Sun Yat-sen was ready to cede Chinese territory to Japan in return for military help in defeating a local warlord. The historian also said the Communist Party’s history [...]

Bay Area Transit District leaves on cell phone service during protest

When a planned demonstration inside a BART station drew only a few dozen protesters, transit district officials did not interfere with cell phone service on August 15. They had suspended cell phone service August 11 in anticipation of a protest that never occurred. The American Civil Liberties Union and others saud that blocking cell phone [...]

Did transit district overreach by shutting off cellular service?

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District’s attempt last week to foil protesters by shutting down cellular service in its San Francisco underground stations has turned into a First Amendment cause celebre. The transit district switched off service last Thursday to confound protesters who might use mobile phones to organize inside the stations. BART said it [...]

Free speech: Online postings change the terrain in defamation cases adding new perils

John Sharkey writing for the Citizen Media Law Project writes a real danger looms as courts deciding defamation cases concerning online postings are asked to issue injunctions restricting speech, a type of prior restraint that could be a substantial threat to the First Amendment. Sharkey says, “Even if we limit injunctive relief strictly to jury [...]

China: Microbloggers defy censorship in relaying facts of high-speed train crash

Chinese censors are failing to contain the flood of online messages about the wreck of a high-speed train outside Wenzhou that killed 40 people and injured 191. Messages total 26 million. Citizens began the posts right after the accident and in many instances foiled the manipulations of government officials. In Wenzhou, officials ordered lawyers not to [...]

Europe’s high court allow Cyprus to punish for discriminatory content

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Cypriot broadcasting authority actions to protect children and consumers by censoring racial and gender discrimination violated no human rights. “Infractions included undisclosed product placement, lack of objectivity in news reports, disrespecting victims of crime, and the airing material unsuitable for children and youth. Sigma was also penalized [...]

Whistleblower gets probation in espionage case

Charged with espionage for leaking classified information to a reporter concerning contracts let by the National Security Agency that he felt wasted taxpayers’ money, Thomas Drake agreed to a plea deal of one-year on probation and 240 hours of community service. The federal judge presiding over the case criticized the government for retreating on the [...]

Electronic Frontier Foundation urges Cisco and Microsoft to stop enabling Chinese oppression

An Electronic Frontier Foundation opinion piece argues that Microsoft and Cisco are more interested in abetting China’s repressive regime than taking a stand for freedom. With Google abandoning the search market in China rather than submit to censorship, Microsoft has recently stepped into the void by agreeing with Baidu to provide Bing web search services [...]

First Amendment travesties far and near

BY PETER SCHEER—The Israeli Parliament on Monday passed legislation to bar public calls for a boycott against Israel or its West Bank settlements, according to the New York Times. The law’s supporters said it was necessary to push back against what they described as a strategy to delegitimize Israel in the eyes of the world. [...]

California tribal council shuts down its newspaper

Citing loss of revenue and problems over controversial articles, the chair of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council stopped publication of the Two Rivers Tribune, the last native-owned newspaper in California. The chair objected to recent articles on marijuana and a controversial interview with a man wanted for his alleged  involvement in a murder of a [...]

Obama’s ‘Internet in a Suitcase’ sneaks free speech across borders

The Obama administration has invested $70 million to develop a “stealth internet” and cell phone system that will help dissidents in autocratic countries get around censorship and undermine dictatorships, the New York Times first learned from classified diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks. Among these high-tech “secret” weapons is the Internet in a Suitcase: “Financed with [...]

California company agrees to remove block to gay educational websites

Under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, a California software company agreed to remove a web filter blocking public school students from access to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender websites. Removing the filter allows over additional 6 million students to check out the sites. Suzanne Ito wrote in an ACLU commentary that the public [...]

Blow to student press freedom: Federal appeals court bars publication of ‘lewd’ stick figures

In a decision said to be seriously damaging to student press freedom, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a stick figure cartoon about sex education could be censored in both a school newspaper and an independent off-campus publication. In ruling against the students, the court made a distinction between the students’ newspaper as [...]

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