California college dean loses defamation suit against blogger

A Los Angeles judge agreed with a blogger that a former Cal Poly College of Engineering dean had violated his First Amendment free speech rights in filing a defamation suit over posts challenging an agreement to open an engineering program in Saudi Arabia that would allegedly bar women, Jews and gays. The judge said the [...]

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 [...]

BlackBerry CEO says government intrusion would hurt growth of electronic commerce

Research In Motion CEO Michael Lazaridis says government who want to ban BlackBerry smartphones says his company will not allow government access to customer data and that attempts to invade privacy of users will undermine electronic commerce. -db Wall Street Journal August 4, 2010 By Spencer E. Ante and Phred Dvorak Research In Motion Ltd. [...]

Electronic Frontier Foundation sees BlackBerry ban as serious threat to privacy

The EFF staff technologist says that Middle East countries’ plans to block BlackBerry smart phones is a renewed and scary attempt by government to limit privacy tools afforded to the public. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary August 4, 2010 By Seth Schoen Recent news reports have presented somewhat contradictory analysis of government plans in the [...]