firstamendment

You could go to prison for using speech online that causes emotional distress to another person if a bill proposed by a California representative becomes law. A Wired writer says the bill would never pass Constitutional muster. -DB Wired By David Kravets May 5, 2009 Proposed congressional legislation would demand up to two years in prison for those whose electronic speech is meant to “coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.”

The Associated Press would like to own the facts of its news stories at least for a reasonable period of time. Ars technica writer Nate Anderson describes the origins of the “hot news” principle and explains why AP is unlikely to succeed in owning the news. -DB ars technica May 6, 2009 By Nate Anderson What do bloggers and a 1918 newspaper syndicate have in common? According to the Associated Press, both are wretched hives

The Obama administration and the photo-sharing site Flickr came to an agreement that official White House photos cannot be copyright. -DB Wired May 11, 2009 By Ryan Singel Official White House photos are now officially in the public domain, thanks to a licensing change made quietly over the weekend by the Obama administration and the photo-sharing site Flickr. The White House began posting striking photos of President Barack Obama from its official photographer Pete Souza

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is concerned about a federal appeals court decision that puts the free speech rights of elected officials above their responsibilities to conduct government business in a transparent, accountable manner. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Press Release May 11, 2009 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press today urged the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans (5th Cir.) to rehear a case in

An Iranian appeals court altered the charges and reduced the sentence of an American journalist jailed for five months in Iran on spy charges. She was free to leave Iran but barred from working as a reporter in Iran for five years. –DB Washington Post May 12, 2009 By Thomas Erdbrink and Kay Armin Serjoie An Iranian appeals court freed American journalist Roxana Saberi on Monday, three weeks after the 32-year-old former beauty queen was