firstamendment

Dan Gillmor Joins CFAC Board

Dan Gillmor, a pioneer of journalism on and about the Internet, is the newest member of CFAC’s board of directors. Gillmor is currently director of the Center for Citizen Media, a joint project of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Gillmor was a technology columnist at the San Jose Mercury News from 1994 to 2004. He is the author of We the Media:

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Regulators analyzing MediaNews’ acquisition…

Regulators analyzing MediaNews’ acquisition of the San Jose Merc, CC Times and Monterey Herald will focus on role of Hearst, owner of SF Chronicle. Will publishers disclose their secret antitrust filings? By Peter Scheer The MediaNews Group, which proposes to buy the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey Herald, and 30 Bay Area weekly newspapers, is paying a 20% premium over the price that McClatchy paid Knight-Ridder for these same publications less than

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Novato man challenges rapid transit vote

A Novato man filed suit to block the vote approving SMART rapid transit holding that a two-thirds vote is required in both Marin and Sonoma counties. Marin only approved the passenger train project by a 62.8 percent vote. -DB Marin Independent Journal June 1, 2009 By Mark Prado A former Novato councilman has filed a lawsuit against the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District, alleging the November 2008 election in favor of the passenger train project

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Federal judge orders release of unclassified documents on Guantanamo detainees

A federal judge upheld the public’s right to access records about detainees held at Guantanamo. He ruled that the documents, previously only seen by judges, attorneys and government officials, were crucial to the debate on what to do with the detainees at Guantanamo. -DB Cleveland Plain Dealer June 01, 2009 By Nedra Pickler WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — A federal judge ordered the United States on Monday to publicly reveal unclassified versions of its allegations and

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Wikipedia closes door on Church of Scientology

The Wikipedia supreme court voted 10 to 0 with one abstention to block all Scientology IPs from access to Wikipedia. The court acted to conserve Wikipedia’s “neutral point of view” and prevent religious proselytizing. -DB The Register May 29, 2009 By Cade Metz SAN FRANCISCO – In an unprecedented effort to crack down on self-serving edits, the Wikipedia supreme court has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology

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