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donal brown

New York: Student speech rights set back by federal appeals court ruling against high school blogger

donal brown April 26, 2011

A New York federal appeals court delivered a double whammy to student free speech rights in ruling that a high school administration could punish Avery Doninger for statements in her off-campus blog and subsequently for wearing a “Team Avery” T-shirt at a school assembly to protest the earlier punishment. The ruling focused on the issue of “qualified immunity”, that government officials cannot be held liable for damages even if they violate the law if the

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Access to records: Court reporters’ ownership of transcripts challenged

donal brown April 26, 2011

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office is recommending phasing out court reporters in favor of electronic transcription. The Office thinks it will save the state $113 million a year but studies have raised doubts that any savings would occur. Some open government advocates are also challenging the status quo by questioning the benefits of allowing court reporters intellectual property rights to court transcripts ergo the right to collect fees for copies thereby limiting access. -db From

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Exiles use Internet to promote Syrian revolt

donal brown April 25, 2011

Anti-government activists living in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. are taking a leading role in using the Internet to defy the autocratic Syrian government in providing news of the uprising to the world. Writing in The New York Times, Anthony Shadid described the work of one man, “Gaunt and with bloodshot blue-green eyes, Mr. Nakhle navigated a cascade of information Friday — a frenetic conversation on Skype with 15 people in Syria, a

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Court rejects national security exemption in FOIA requests

donal brown April 25, 2011

In a rare show of skepticism, a federal district judge found the argument of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) unpersuasive in claiming a national security reason for refusing to disclose records. The judge said the USTR “has not shown it likely that disclosing document 1 would discourage foreign officials from providing information to the United States in the future because those officials would have no basis for concluding that the United

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Loading up costs of public records requests defeats access

donal brown April 25, 2011

In a guest commentary in The Salt Lake Tribune, Brigham Young professor Joel Campbell says that a proposed new public record request law in Utah would hurt public access to records. “[The law]…would not only pay fees to cover the ‘actual cost’ of providing the records, but it also added new charges for overhead and administration. That would have undone Utah GRAMA’s current and narrowly drawn ‘actual cost’ provision, which is among the best in

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