First Amendment News

Court rules teacher can pursue suit over political speech

Ruling on a teacher’s claim that he was dismissed for criticizing the school administration, a federal judge said it is already established that public employees do not enjoy First Amendment protection while at work but that the teacher could pursue his suit against the school district on the basis of the teacher’s claim that he also was forced out for his off-campus political activities. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise August 17, 2009 By Kenneth Ofgang A former teacher

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Federal government: New ‘sharing’ agency no guarantee to transparency

Secrecy News’ Steven Atergood says that the newly appointed Senior Director for Information Sharing Policy does not have a mandate for transparency. Rather, Aftergood asserts, “information sharing” does not include the public. -DB Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists Analysis August 17, 2009 By Steven Aftergood The Obama Administration is giving increased attention to the continuing post-9/11 challenge of information sharing, with a newly appointed White House Senior Director of Information Sharing Policy tasked to

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Law proposed to shed light on state university foundations

University officials claim that a law forcing disclosure financial dealings of nonprofit university foundations serving state institutions would be too costly. Open government advocates say that recent expenditures, illegal or questionable, show the need for disclosure. -DB Capitol Weekly August 13, 2009 By Maryam Ali Free-speech groups are trying to force the state’s public universities to disclose financial relationships worth more than $6.25 billion. At issue are scores of nonprofit foundations linked to the schools. The

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District of Columbia sets bar higher for revealing anonymity of Internet commentators

The District of Columbia high court established new strict guidelines for plaintiffs seeking the identify of online commentators. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press August 14, 2009 By Rory Eastburg The District of Columbia’s highest court Thursday announced a demanding new standard that plaintiffs must meet before they can obtain the names of anonymous Internet commenters. According to the decision (PDF download) in Solers, Inc. v. Doe, the case stems from a complaint submitted

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Venezuelan president clamping down on media

A United States unclassified intelligence report says that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is aggressively silencing his media critics, including bloggers. He has proposed a law that would make it a crime to report on anything the government finds objectionable.  -DB Open Source Center Analysis August 3, 2009 President Chavez’s government is moving forcefully to silence critics by introducing a Media Crimes bill that would give it sweeping authority to jail journalists, media executives, and bloggers who report on

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