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Federal judge rules for public interest group seeking files of criminal investigation of House member

donal brown January 17, 2012

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. found that the Justice Department could not withhold files from the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of their criminal investigation of U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska. The Justice Department did not file any charges against Young and withheld the files on privacy grounds. -db From the Anchorage Daily News, January 11, 2012, by Richard Maurer. Full story

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Federal judge dismisses defamation suit against The Washington Post

donal brown December 12, 2011

A man who had written a fictionalized version of his youth during which he murdered his father sued a Washington Post reporter for an article that he claimed presented him unfavorably and defamed him. The article concerned the man’s attempts to regain control of his manuscript. The federal  judge wrote, “A description of Bond’s legal battle necessarily entails the discussion of parts of his life story” and rejected claims that the Post reporter agreed to

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Justice Department freezes music blog for a year supposedly for copyright infringement

donal brown December 12, 2011

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

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Sponsor of online piracy bill voices concerns over censorship issues

donal brown November 17, 2011

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith R-Texas, expressed concerns over the scope of the Stop Online Piracy Act by saying that he was uncertain whether the Justice Department should be allowed to obtain court orders demanding that ISPs prevent users from visiting blacklisted websites, websites accused of infringing on intellectual property. Under intense fire from the technology sector, it now appears that the bill will be amended. -db From a commentary in

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Obama administration bids to keep White House visitor logs from public

donal brown October 17, 2011

The Obama administration is appealing a judge’s ruling that Secret Service records of White House visitors come under the Freedom of Information Act and must be disclosed to the public. The Justice Department claims the records are presidential records not agency records so not subject to the FOIA. -db From Politico, October 14, 2011, by Josh Gerstein. Full story

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