First Amendment News

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, announced last spring, is up and running as a database of local and federal government interference with the press. “The tracker provides snapshots of individual journalists and their cases. Several categories of press freedom incidents will be tracked: arrests and detentions, border stops, chilling statements, denial of access, equipment searches, leak cases, physical attacks and subpoenas,” writes Bianca Fortis, Media Shift, August 2, 2017. Already in 2017 the Freedom Tracker

A contributor to Fox News has sued the network for releasing fake news about the murder of Democratic aide Seth Rich to draw attention away from the Russia investigation. Rich’s family had hired retired detective Rod Wheeler to investigate the murder. Wheeler claimed that Fox News made up quotes from him in an article about Rich. The network later retracted the article. (Courthouse News Service, August 1, 2017, by Adam Klasfeld) The suit contends that

Apple has complied with the Chinese government and removed popular VPN apps from its China store. A VPN is a virtual private network that allows users to send and receive information in a shared or pubic network. The VPNs in China allowed users to receive uncensored news. Many observers think that if China continues to shut down websites to quell dissent, they will damage their standing in the international business community. (Time, July 30, 2017,

A coalition of nonprofits is asking the Federal Communications Commission in a public records request for records about net neutrality, mainly correspondence between the FCC and internet providers and with Congress and the media. The coalition says the FCC is not listening to the public so they are trying to find out who they are listening to. (Ars Technica, July 26, 2017, by Jon Brodkin. The nonprofit coalition, called American Oversight filed a complaint in

A federal district court has ruled in a Virginia case that under the First Amendment, an elected  government official may not block social media users from expressing views the officials consider repugnant. The ruling provided an answer to the question of whether President Donald Trump can continue to block users on Twitter. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia has sued Trump to prevent the practice.  (Slate, July 28,2017, by Mark Joseph Stern) Law professor