Critics of a man running for city attorney want him to be fined for posting campaign signs on public property. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise May 12, 2009 Community activists complained yesterday that the campaign of city attorney candidate Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich has been posting illegal campaign signs across the city. At a very sparsely attended press conference yesterday, Jeffrey Jacobberger, who identified himself as chair of the Transportation Committee for the Mid City West Neighborhood Council,

A jury in a free speech case ruled that pro-life demonstrators at a college were not disruptive and complied with police officers’ requests. -DB LifeNews.com May 11, 2009 By Steven Ertelt SAN BERNARDINO, CA — A jury in a California court has found a group of pro-life advocates not guilty in connection with false charges filed against them when they visited Chaffey College in November 2007. The case is the second legal victory for the

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