First Amendment News

A California appeals court rejected a bid for access to an electronic data base of vehicles private towing companies impounded at the request of the police department. The court ruled that the city’s right to access to the data base did not constitute possession. (Justia, January 22, 2019) A civil rights lawyer filed a public records request with the Los Angeles Police Department for the impoundment records. While the department had access to the database, the data

As indicated by President Donald Trump’s reversal of the Obama order to end the ban on transgender people in the military, the Evangelical Advisory Board has an outsized impact on government policy without the transparency mandated by FACA, a 1972 federal law requiring that the advice of advisory committees is “objective and accessible to the public.”  Notice of meetings must be published so the public can attend. Detailed minutes must be taken and committee records

January 29, 2019 by donal brown In an attempt to expose those behind political negative ads, Facebook has made it more difficult for the news media and nonprofits to monitor those ads. ProPublica established an ad monitoring tool that resulted in showing how oil companies evaded Facebook’s new ad transparency tool but now find themselves unable to use their tool.  (The Guardian, January 27, 2019, by Jim Waterson) Says Jon Fingas in engadget, January 27, 2019, “Facebook certainly

President Donald Trump has effectively shut down White House press briefings while casting blame on the media for his move. He repeated his criticism of the press as rude purveyors of fake news. (Salon, January 22, 2019, by Shiro Tarlo) The White House Correspondents’ Association said the failure to hold daily briefings was a “retreat from transparency and accountability [that] sets a terrible precedent. Being able to question the press secretary or other senior government

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a request by a San Francisco attorney for the removal of a review on Yelp found libelous by a lower court. Federal law protects internet service providers from lawsuits over statements posted by third-parties. Yelp examined the review when it was challenged but did not think it was libelous. (San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2019,by Bob Egelko) Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act protects platform providers such