Groups try to block law written to shield children on Internet

Days after the state toughened up a law aimed at protecting children from offensive material online, advocacy groups moved to strike it down, saying the new law is too broad and cannot be enforced. The Boston Globe July 15, 2010 By John M. Guilfoil The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and a coalition of [...]

China accepts WTO ruling on entertainment goods

News July 14, 2010 By Reuters GENEVA– China has agreed to open up its market for entertainment goods by March 19 next year in line with a World Trade Organization ruling, China and the United States said on Wednesday. The United States had challenged China’s barriers to imports and distribution of books, music, films and [...]

Key US Senate panel backs ‘libel tourism’ bill

The libel tourism measure would prevent US federal courts from recognizing or enforcing  foreign judgments for defamation, inconsistent with the first amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. -SMD News By AFP WASHINGTON — A key US Senate panel on Tuesday approved a bill to shield US journalists, authors, and publishers from [...]

House votes to block Net porn on government PCs

Government computers need to block porn sites, decided the U.S. House of Representatives after a recent vote. -SMD CNET News July 9, 2010 By Declan McCullagh A recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives seemed straightforward enough: government computers must block viewing or downloading porn. After all, a series of news reports have highlighted, [...]

US Government gets into the mobile application business

The US government has launched several mobile applications to make government information available to the general public.  -SMD Internet News July 6, 2010 By Ed Oswald In an effort to appease the changing information consumption habits of its citizens, the Obama Administration this past holiday weekend launched an “app store” of its own, featuring 16 [...]

White House unveils system to create online identities

A new White House Campaign aims to streamline online transaction processes by creating online identities for the public. The system is focused on combating identity theft. But access groups are watching to see if system circumvents public access to information, including government-held records. -SMD Internet News July 2, 2010 By Mara Zimmerman The White House [...]

Middle Eastern countries censoring Internet

Last week Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey acted to block more content from the Internet. Afghanistan is installing filters on the categories of alcohol, dating and social networking, gambling and pornography. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Opinion June 26, 2010 By Shari Steele Yet another country has decided to shut down key parts the Internet. Kathleen Reen [...]

California court unseals records in murder of eight-year-old

Weighing the family’s right to privacy to the public’s right to know, a Superior Court judge released most of the records sought by the media pertaining to last year’s murder of an eight-year-old girl. The judge withheld autopsy photos. -db Tracy Press Jun 14, 2010 By Jaclyn Hirsch STOCKTON, Calif.  — Judge Linda Lofthus decided [...]

Reblogging carries legal risk

Reblogging could get you into legal problems or a big hassle. Reusing photos is almost certain to attract the notice of the photographer. -db Los Angeles Times Analysis June 9, 2010 By Mark Mili Bloggers rip, reuse and rehash text and media from the entrails of the Internet all the time, but the legality of [...]

China reaffirms online censorship policy

While claiming to safeguard free speech, the Chinese government issued a long list of online speech it considers undesirable. -db CNET AllThingsD Commentary June 9, 2010 By John Paczkowski Though it has given no indication otherwise, China would like the world to know that it has no plans to allow free access to online content–Google’s [...]

Irag video research edges Wikileaks into investigative reporting role

Wikileaks has adopted the tools of investigative and advocacy journalism–including sending two people to Baghdad to research the story behind the Iraq video–to get leaked information out to the public. Iraq Video Brings Notice to a Web Site The New York Times By NOAM COHEN and BRIAN STELTER “Have encrypted videos of U.S. bomb strikes [...]

Sunlight Foundation wants freedom of information law for Internet

The Sunlight Foundation argues that in the Internet age it is imperative to require the government to post public information in a timely and user-friendly way. It supports Public Online Information Act, a law that modernizes government disclosure. -db Sunlight Foundation Opinion March 23, 2010 In the age of the Internet, government is transparent only [...]

Google leaves China over differences on censorship

As expected, Google closed its Internet search service in China and began directing its users to the as yet uncensored service in Hong Kong. -db The New York Times March 22, 2010 By Miguel Helft and David Barboza SAN FRANCISCO — Just over two months after threatening to leave China because of censorship and intrusions [...]

Opinion: Time for bloggers to gain protections afforded traditional media

With more of the public gaining their news from online sources rather than print media and using the social media to become more interactive and participatory in accessing the news, a CMLP blogger argues that bloggers should be entitled to the same protection as mainstream press. -db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary March 1, 2010 [...]

Report says press freedom eroding with shift to online media

A report in CQ Researcher says that with no way established to charge for online news content, there is less money to spend accessing courts, public records and public meetings. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press February 9, 2010 By Cristina Abello As newspaper circulations drop and nightly news broadcasts garner fewer [...]

Haiti Rewired: Wired.com tackles Haiti’s reconstruction with online collaboration

Haiti Rewired launched by Wired.com following the January earthquake, is an innovative response to the problem of on-going disaster relief. Editor-in-Chief Evan Hansen, a member of FAC’s board, calls the project an online “collaboration of writers, editors, technologists, researchers, geographers, infrastructure specialists, aid groups and others” dedicated to rebooting Haiti’s future. Haiti Rewired’s Mission Statement [...]

Charging online readers for news content ready for extensive trial

More news outlets are ready to charge for online content now that software has been developed to expedite the process. Newsday, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times already charge online readers. -db The New York Times February 2, 2010 By Richard Pérez-Peña Extracting payment from online readers has been called everything from the [...]

Written word alive and well

A study done by the University of San Diego and other universities revealed that Americans are reading far more words as the new technologies take hold. With the advent of TV, reading was in decline but has rebounded, tripling from 1980 to 2008. -DB Wired Commentary December 29, 2009 By Eliot Van Buskirk Conventional wisdom [...]

China trip: Obama’s call for greater Internet freedom gets mixed reception

Chinese citizens were glad to hear U.S. President Barack Obama’s support for greater Internet freedom in China but were skeptical about the impact of his comments. The Chinese government censored the comments on the official news agency and deleted them from Web sites. -DB Radio Free Asia November 17, 2009 SHANGHAI — Chinese Internet users [...]

Free speech concerns arise with new guidelines on disclosing gifts from manufacturers to their internet bloggers

The Federal Trade Commission approved new guidelines this week requiring manufacturers and bloggers on their payroll to disclose exchanges of free merchandise. The guidelines do not apply to journalists. There are concerns that extending the guidelines to the social media may have undesirable effects in restricting free speech. -DB Media and Communications Law Society Suffolk University Law [...]

Hard truth: Traditional journalism must innovate to survive in changing information climate

A fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society argues that the internet has killed off the mass media with many important benefits to a thriving democratic society. -DB Center for Internet and Society Commentary September 8, 2009 By Sarah Hinchliff Pearson Sometimes changes are so basic and world-changing that they can be difficult to [...]

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