First Amendment News

A tech entrepreneur writes that California’s “leading edge” policies on open data in government is driving innovation in the state. Jonathan Ende says the Open Justice data project of the state’s justice department allows law enforcement and state officials and legislators to improve the criminal justice system. He says another data project on government services enables the state to “track the sustainability of state-purchased supplies and evaluate the sustainability of California’s vehicle fleet.” (techwire, May

Despite its continued profitability, the Denver Post is facing yet more cuts in staff imperiling its ability to cover the news. The staff has called for the hedge fund owners to sell to someone who values journalism but no new owners have surfaced. The staff is protesting the censorship of stories criticizing management. (Columbia Journalism Review, May 8, 2018, by Pete Vernon) In February the Post was able to poll every member of the state

News outlets face staggering challenges today with foreign intelligence services using the internet to plant forgeries in authentic and newsworthy documents. During the last election, “the Kremlin hacked American journalism.” The threat of these hacks calls for increased vigilance and caution in assessing information.  (The New York Times, May 12, 2018, by Scott Shane) Andy Greenberg of Wired, reported on May 25, 2017, that Russian hackers were altering “documents within those releases of hacked material,

Internet platforms including Google and Facebook are dealing with the exasperating task of fighting ugly postings while maintaining some semblance of free expression. Conservatives are complaining about censorship and public trust is slipping. Some are calling for greater transparency so that users know more about how the platforms are arriving at rules and restrictions. A group of nonprofits including the ACLU and EFF  developed  standards for dealing with online user content. (The Verge, May 7,

The Shawnee Mission School Board is investigating charges that school officials stymied protests against the lack of gun control during the national walkout day, April 20. The students claimed that school officials stopped the 17 minute walkout when students started using language about gun control and gun violence they did not approve. (The Kansas City Star, May 7, 2018, by Mará Rose Williams) The American Civil Liberties Union announced they were ready to take up