News & Opinion

New state law adds protections for anonymous online speech California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that greatly strengthens the right to anonymous speech online. Assembly Bill 2433 raises procedural obstacles to out-of-state companies that subpoena California-based internet service providers for the IDs of anonymous posters. Unless there is a demonstrable basis for the underlying lawsuit, the subpoena will be thrown out and attorney’s fees charged to the out-of-state company. Corynne McSherry of the

LA Times editorial backs CFAC suit against State Bar The LA Times, in its lead editorial in today’s newspaper, endorsed CFAC’s lawsuit (filed together with UCLA Professor Richard Sander) to force the California State Bar to make available records needed for Sander’s research on affirmative action in law schools. CFAC’s mission is to provide access–subject to strict confidentiality guarantees–to both Sander and to other researchers who disagree with him.-PS Los Angeles Times: Affirmative action and

Equal Justice Society Criticizes CFAC Suit against State Bar for records on affirmative action. Group Says Issue is Privacy, not Political Correctness. CFAC’s lawyer responds. CFAC’s executive director recently criticized the California State Bar for its refusal to cooperate with a UCLA professor who is seeking bar records for academic research on affirmative action in law school admissions. CFAC has filed suit, together with the UCLA Professor, Richard Sander, to force release of the data

Recent court decisions transform legal tools for protecting free speech into an instrument for the suppression of the public’s speech and access rights By James Chadwick Recent decisions by two California Courts of Appeal have turned California’s anti-SLAPP law into a legal Frankenstein’s monster. In doing so, they have turned a law designed to protect the public’s exercise of free speech and petition rights into a tool for government suppression of those rights. The decisions

Using Trade Agreements As a Tool to Further Rights of Free Speech By Luke Eric Peterson Embassy: As the curtain fell on the Beijing Olympic Games, a U.S.-based coalition is striving to keep the spotlight squarely focused on China. The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) is urging the U.S. government to launch a formal complaint against China at the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, alleging that the country’s heavy-handed Internet censorship violates world trading rules. The