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Freedom of Speech/Press News

Dentist loses defamation case must pay Yelp and reviewers for legal fees

donal brown May 19, 2011

A California dentist, who sued Yelp and reviewers for a bad review concerning a filling the dentist put into the mouth of the reviewers’ six-year-old son, must pay court costs according to a ruling in district court. A California appellate court ruled last year that Yelp could not be held for defamation because the post was protected under the state’s anti-SLAPP law that protects public discussion of important issues, in this case the presence of

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Federal appeals court affirms access to sentencing of criminals

donal brown May 19, 2011

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that the press and public have a First Amendment right to attend the sentencing of a criminal defendant. The court also said that there must be public notice and a chance for the public to comment before the sentencing. The court noted that there was a long history of opening sentencing including high-profile cases and said that there were significant benefits such as  increasing public

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Small market newspapers tapping into online subscription revenue

donal brown May 17, 2011

A study from the University of Missouri shows that 46 percent of newspapers with circulations under 25,00o are charging for online news. The newspapers are using innovative packages to prevent readers from abandoning print subscriptions and to glean another source of revenue. The Columbian (Mo.) Daily  Tribune reported that ad revenues were up 25 percent over last year and that the revenue from online subscriptions was enough to pay the salaries of a few reporters.

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Uncertain outcome in fight over release of photos of the dead Osama bin Laden

donal brown May 17, 2011

In a fight over free press rights and national security, it is far from clear which side will prevail in the dispute over releasing photos of Osama bin Laden’s dead body. Reuters reporter Andrew Longstreth wrote that secrecy expert Steven Aftergood doesn’t think the courts will see a substantial  national security issue over the photos, but he also quotes free press attorney Floyd Abrams’ more skeptical opinion, “It [deciding for the release] requires a judge

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Techies strive to provide tools to circumvent Internet censorship

donal brown May 17, 2011

EFF’s Seth Schoen says that governments are constantly on the move to censor the web, recently forcing ISPs to censor sites from the DNS. They are counting on the users not realizing censorship is happening and that users will not know how to bypass the censors. Governments are also using the Internet to monitor the content of individual expression. The second edition of How to Bypass Internet Censorship, available online at no cost, provides tools

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