A South Carolina county will have to pony up nearly $600,000 to settle a censorship lawsuit brought by a group who publishes a monthly newsletter for prison inmates. Before the settlement, prison officials at a county detention center only allowed inmates religious texts for reading materials. -db From the First Amendment Center, January 26, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr. Full story
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are set to file an appeal concerning the U.S. government’s attempts to obtain Twitter records in their investigation of WikiLeaks. The ACLU and EFF are seeking to prevent the government from sealing records of their efforts to obtain private information of Internet users without a warrant. -db From a press release by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 20, 2012. Full release
There were four cases over the Freedom of Information Act that promoted transparency in 2011 according to the Electronic Freedom Foundation. The cases were Milner v. Department of Navy, FCC v. AT&T, Islamic Shura Council of S. Cal. v. FBI and National Day Laborer Organizing Network v. ICE. From a commentary for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, December 31, 2011, by Jennifer Lynch and Mark Rumold. Full story
A former University of Northern Colorado student received a $425,000 judgment against a county prosecutor who authorized a criminal libel investigation on writings he published on a satirical website critical of university administrators and a professor. The police got a search warrant through the prosecutor and invaded the student’s home. -db The Denver Post, December 12, 2011, by John Ingold. Full story
The Obama administration is still insisting that cables WikiLeaks released last year are classified even though the cables were released by the State Department in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request. The classified information concerned targeted killings, detention at Guantanamo, torture and rendition. -db From a commentary for the American Civil Liberties Union, December 7, 2011, by Nathan Freed Wessler and Anna Estevao. Full story