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donal brown

Free speech: Supreme Court allows church protests at military funerals

donal brown March 2, 2011

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that hurtful public speech in protests at a military funeral was protected by the First Amendment. Followers of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas had picketed the funeral of a Marine who died in combat in Iraq with signs that read “America is Doomed” and “God Hates Fags.” The church members believe God is punishing American for its pro-gay bias. The decision written by Chief

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WikiLeaks, Internet among Nobel Peace Prize nominees

donal brown March 1, 2011

WikiLeaks and the Internet are among this year’s 241 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. A Norwegian member of parliament  nominated WikiLeaks saying, “It would be a crime to ban or oppose the right to publish such information. It should instead be protected, regardless of what we might think of the contents of some (or even all) of the published material.” -db From The Washington Post, March 2, 2011, by Hayley Tsukayama. Full Story

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Texas governor tries to block selected members of media from his Twitter account

donal brown March 1, 2011

Texas Governor Rick Perry has blocked Dallas News’ Tom Benning from access to his Twitter account along with two other Texas journalists. In AllTwitter, Lauren Dugan notes that to get to the Twitter account, the blocked journalists can simply use someone else’s account. But Twitter users are upset that Perry is violating Twitter’s open spirit. -db From a commentary in AllTwitter, February 28, 2011, by Lauren Dugan. Full Story

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Public interest group sues CIA for violating FOIA

donal brown March 1, 2011

National Security Counselors of Virginia has filed three lawsuits against the Central Intelligence Agency for its failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The violations include failing to provide unclassified information and treating all training materials, guidelines and reference materials provided by CIA FOIA analysts as exempt regardless of content. -db From a commentary in Unredacted, February 28, 2011, by Nate Jones. Full Story

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Supreme Court rules no FOIA privacy exemption for corporations

donal brown March 1, 2011

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations cannot use the person privacy exemption of the Freedom of Information Act. In an 8-0 decision, the court said that AT&T could not block the Federal Communications Commission from releasing government records pertaining to AT&T on grounds it would violate the corporation’s “personal privacy.” In his decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the word “personal” often means just the opposite of business-related, “We speak of personal expenses

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