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Peter Scheer

BART feud shows that censorship is never local

Peter Scheer August 24, 2011

BY NICOLE WONG—Here’s the thing about censorship: in this globally connected world, censorship is never local. So, whether you live in the SF Bay Area or not, whether you ride the BART rail system or not, the recent actions of local government officials affected us all. Last Thursday, during the evening rush hour commute, BART shut down cell antennas in several of its San Francisco stations. According to BART’s official statement, silencing mobile devices was

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New survey: People want more government transparency, traditional media less likely to sue to get it

Peter Scheer August 24, 2011

COLUMBIA, Mo. (August 23, 2011) — While a lack of resources have made news organizations increasingly less inclined to file freedom of information lawsuits, citizens have a growing interest in government transparency and are becoming more active in asserting their right to government information. The rise of citizen interest and the decline of newsroom aggressiveness are among the findings of an informal open government status study by the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) and the

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Google’s purchase of Motorola shows dangers of out-of-control patent litigation

Peter Scheer August 16, 2011

BY PETER SCHEER—Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola is a sign of serious problems for the US economy. Motorola’s strategic appeal to Google is its portfolio of thousands of patents covering mobile phone technologies. But the acquisition of these patents creates no real value for Google. They are in the nature of a massive  premium payment for insurance against suits by competitors and others for alleged patent infringement. Google is at risk for such suits

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US media shouldn’t rush to hang Murdoch’s News Corp for the sins of its London tabloids. Let’s wait to see the evidence.

Peter Scheer July 18, 2011

BY PETER SCHEER—The economic forces that pummeled every American newspaper from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle have barely disturbed Rupert Murdoch’s media properties. The Wall Street Journal, for one, has not only weathered the storm that decimated competitors’ newsrooms, but it has added editorial staff, news features and online resources. This considerable achievement, however, did nothing to insulate News Corp from the firestorm of scandal involving its tabloid newspapers in Great

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First Amendment travesties far and near

Peter Scheer July 12, 2011

BY PETER SCHEER—The Israeli Parliament on Monday passed legislation to bar public calls for a boycott against Israel or its West Bank settlements, according to the New York Times. The law’s supporters said it was necessary to push back against what they described as a strategy to delegitimize Israel in the eyes of the world. Am I the only one to see the irony here? Suppressing calls for boycotts or other demonstrations, ostensibly to protect

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