donal brown

District of Columbia sets bar higher for revealing anonymity of Internet commentators

The District of Columbia high court established new strict guidelines for plaintiffs seeking the identify of online commentators. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press August 14, 2009 By Rory Eastburg The District of Columbia’s highest court Thursday announced a demanding new standard that plaintiffs must meet before they can obtain the names of anonymous Internet commenters. According to the decision (PDF download) in Solers, Inc. v. Doe, the case stems from a complaint submitted

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Los Angeles: City Hall leaves neighborhoods out of the loop

A veteran community activist says that neighborhood councils are de facto excluded from participating in important decisions because notification while within legal bounds does not provide them enough time to call meetings, notify the public and to hold meaningful discussion of complex issues before the City Council and its committees. -DB City Watch Commentary August 17, 2009 By Greg Nelson By the time you read this, the Education and Neighborhoods Committee will have met and discussed

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Venezuelan president clamping down on media

A United States unclassified intelligence report says that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is aggressively silencing his media critics, including bloggers. He has proposed a law that would make it a crime to report on anything the government finds objectionable.  -DB Open Source Center Analysis August 3, 2009 President Chavez’s government is moving forcefully to silence critics by introducing a Media Crimes bill that would give it sweeping authority to jail journalists, media executives, and bloggers who report on

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Groups abound to monitor recovery spending

Besides the government agencies formed to audit recovery spending, there has been a number of other groups set up to help the public track the money and conduct oversight. -DB The Presidential Transition A Weblog of the IBM Center for the Business of Government Commentary August 12, 2009 By John Kamensky The Recovery Act created a huge oversight mechanism and provided more than $350 million for audits and investigations to ensure the $787 billion in the

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Online postings provide challenge for public during health care debate

Opponents of the Obama administration’s health plan are posting online articles that claim to present details of the health plan. But the government’s concerns about the public’s inability to discern the inaccuracies in the postings may be overblown, writes one law student. -DB SuffolkMediaLaw.com Media and Communications Law Society Commentary August 4, 2009 By Denise Ouellet Although the Obama Administration has advocated for a transparent government by encouraging public officials to blog and tweet and by

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