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First Amendment News

Federal judge orders Prop. 8 backers to cough up campaign strategy documents without delay

donal brown October 26, 2009

Backers of proposition 8 were hoping to delay turning over campaign records while appealing  a court order to surrender the documents. But a district federal judge ordered them to relinquish the documents so that Prop. 8 opponents could examine them for anti gay bias. -DB San Francisco Chronicle October 26, 2009 Bob Egelko SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge said sponsors of California’s ban on same-sex marriage may not delay in handing over campaign strategy documents

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Government orders decade-high number of secrecy orders for new patents

donal brown October 22, 2009

The U.S. government has ordered 5,081 invention secrecy orders so far this year, according to stats released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under a Freedom of Information Act request by Secrecy News. -DB Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists October 22, 2009 By Steven Aftergood The total number of invention secrecy orders that the U.S. government imposed on patent applications rose again this year, reaching 5,081 by the end of last month, the

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Not all transparency experts talk trash about Recovery.gov

donal brown October 22, 2009

Some online transparency scholars working outside of Washington, D.C. are encouraged by features of the official Web site of Recovery.gov that tracks stimulus spending saying that they are impressed with the site’s ease of use. The site made its first post of stimulus data on October 15. -DB NextGov October 21, 2009 By Aliya Sternstein Some online transparency scholars who work outside Washington say they are pleased with the newly released accountability features on Recovery.gov, a

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To fight waste and fraud, tech experts call for real-time reporting on stimulus and bailout spending

donal brown October 22, 2009

Likening audits to delayed autopsies, a panel of technology specialists urged the government to make details of bailout money and stimulus spending available to the public without delay. They say so far real-time disclosure would have saved the taxpayers about $14 billion.  -DB NextGov October 20, 2009 By Gutham Nagesh The federal government can save billions of dollars in fraudulent and wasteful payments by changing the way it collects and stores data submitted by companies

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State supreme court rejects ‘ownership’ argument in dismissing defamation claim against Facebook

donal brown October 22, 2009

The New York Supreme Court ruled for Facebook in a suit brought by a student against former high school classmates and their parents after the classmates  had posted on Facebook alleged false and defamatory statements about her. The court held that Facebook was protected under the Communications Decency Act, did not own the defamatory content and was not responsible it. The suit continues against the individual defendants. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Analysis October 21,

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