Government attempts to quarantine leaked classified document by WikiLeaks is under challenge, recently by Guantanamo prisoners who argue that they need access to the documents so they can fashion a defense. -db From a commentary in Secrecy News, May 22, 2012 by Steven Aftergood. Full story
Leading Constitutional scholars say the online piracy legislation currently before Congress throttles constitutional rights, writes Corynne McSherry for the Electronic Freedom Foundation. She says the revised legislation only gives lip service to the First Amendment and denies due process and free speech in ways described by the scholars. -db From a commentary for the Electronic Freedom Foundation, December 14, 2011, by Corynne McSherry. Full story
The Justice Department seized the assets of a popular music blog, Dajaz1, reportedly for violations of copyright, but did not give the blog a day in court to fight the action. Writing in TechDirt, Mike Masnick says it was an outrageous act, “I suspect that nearly all of you [readers] would say that’s a classic case of prior restraint, a massive First Amendment violation, and exactly the kind of thing that does not, or should
When the lawyers argue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the appeal of the striking down of Prop 8, the referendum prohibiting same-sex marriage, the proceedings will be videotaped and then televised. A federal district court had ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional for violating equal protection and due process rights. -db From the First Amendment Center, December 2, 2011. Full story
An online newspaper The Daily is refusing to comply with a federal judge’s order to remove video clips of former British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward testifying on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The judge indicated she may rescind the order. The court had issued a pretrial order forbidding the publication of video or audio records of Hayward’s deposition without the court’s permission. -db From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of