First Amendment

See the following -

How Hackers Beat the NSA In The ’90s and Can Do It Again

Gregory Ferenstein | TechCrunch | June 28, 2013

While the world parses the ramifications of the National Security Agency’s massive snooping operation, it’s important to remember an earlier government attempt at data collection and, more important, how a group of hackers and activists banded together to stop it. Read More »

'Net Neutrality' Ruling Could Be Costly For Consumers, Advocates Say

Chris O'Brien, Salvador Rodriguez and Jim Puzzanghera | Los Angeles Times | January 14, 2014

An appeals court throws out the FCC's 'net neutrality' rules on Internet traffic. The ruling could raise Internet service fees and stifle innovation, some say. Read More »

3 Ways To Strengthen Press Freedom At The U.S. Justice Department

Josh Stearns | MediaShift | July 2, 2013

One of the most troubling things about the politicians and pundits who are calling for Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald’s prosecution, calling him an accomplice to Edward Snowden’s leaks, is that just a month ago we saw the same language coming out of the Justice Department itself. [...] Read More »

Court Upholds Rx Transparency Law

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | December 20, 2013

Advocates for healthcare transparency scored a small win in California, where the state Supreme Court upheld a law requiring pharmacy benefit managers to disclose their pricing. Read More »

DHS Tries Monitoring Social Media For Signs Of Biological Attacks

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov | November 9, 2012

The Homeland Security Department has commissioned Accenture to test technology that mines open social networks for indications of pandemics, according to the vendor. Read More »

EFF Files 22 Firsthand Accounts Of How NSA Surveillance Chilled The Right To Association

Press Release | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | November 6, 2013

Advocacy Organizations Seek Immediate Court Ruling on the Legality of the NSA’s Mass Collection of Telephone Records Read More »

Fighting For More #transparency

Jeremy Kessel | Twitter | February 6, 2014

As we’ve shown over the years, Twitter is firmly committed to enabling free expression around the world and providing meaningful transparency to our users. In light of ongoing revelations about government surveillance, we’ve taken a public stand in support of increased transparency and Global Government Surveillance Reform. Read More »

In The Belly Of The Beast

Paul Solotaroff | RollingStone | December 10, 2013

Sarah – let’s call her that for this story, though it’s neither the name her parents gave her nor the one she currently uses undercover – is a tall, fair woman in her midtwenties who’s pretty in a stock, anonymous way, as if she’d purposely scrubbed her face and frame of distinguishing characteristics. [...] It’s the worst job she or anyone else has had, but Sarah isn’t grousing about the conditions. She’s too busy waging war on the hogs’ behalf. Read More »

James Risen's Risk Of Prison Means Journalism Is Being Criminalised

Lindsey Bever | The Guardian | August 10, 2013

That a New York Times national security reporter may be jailed for refusing to name a source is a total affront to press freedom Read More »

New Public Safety Broadband Network: Tool For A Domestic Secret Police?

Jay Stanley | ACLU | September 17, 2012

Police in Tampa used smartphones and tablets to spy on protesters at the Republican National Convention, according to a report today from the National Journal. Read More »

Of Course Verizon Wants Net Neutrality to Go Away

Ross Gianfortune | NextGov | July 5, 2012

One of the more controversial recent network neutrality rules...seeks to balance free speech against fairness and access. On one side, those controlling the networks say that controlling what goes out over broadband is their right under the First Amendment's free speech clause, among other commercial problems. On the other, net neutrality advocates warn that those controlling networks will restrict free speech by suppressing outside voices. Read More »

Pols To Ad Networks: Pretend We Passed SOPA, And Never Mind About Violating Antitrust Law

Mitch Stoltz | Electronic Frontier Foundation | May 8, 2014

A group of United States Senators and Representatives is asking Internet advertising networks to create a blacklist of alleged "piracy sites" and refuse to serve ads to those sites. If this idea sounds familiar, that's probably because it was an integral part of the infamous Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, legislation that was stopped in its tracks two years ago after a massive protest by Internet users...

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Since Copyright Is So Handy For Censorship, It's Tempting To Use It To Censor Lots Of Content

Mike Masnick | TechDirt | September 15, 2014

Matt Schruers, over at the Disruptive Competition Project blog has a great post discussing the harm of the increasing pressure to abuse intellectual property law to do a variety of things that it was clearly never intended for. He calls this intellectual property's "immigration" challenge, noting that these uses have "at best, a tenuous relationship to 'promot[ing]... Progress.'"...

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The Wrongheaded Law That's Making Your Food Less Safe

Andrew Cohen | The Week | March 12, 2014

If the cows providing your milk were being drugged up and abused, you'd want to know, right? Late last month, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter signed into law a measure that makes it a crime, punishable by up to a year in prison, for someone not authorized to be in an "agricultural production facility" to "make audio or video recordings of the conduct" inside that facility. [...] Read More »

Twitter Breaks Rank, Threatens To Fight NSA Gag Orders

Brendan Sasso | Nextgov | February 6, 2014

Twitter threatened to launch a legal battle with the Obama administration on Thursday over gag orders that prevent it from disclosing information about surveillance of its users. Read More »