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Tag: Free Speech


Mashable.com

Google Fights for Transparency in FISA Court

The Internet giant’s petition to the tribunal says its free speech rights have been violated because it is legally prohibited from discussing even the vaguest details of government surveillance requests.

Posted on Jun 18, 2013 READ MORE


It’s News, Not Espionage

The unwarranted snooping, which was revealed last week, would be troubling enough if it were an isolated incident. But it is part of a pattern that threatens to redefine investigative reporting as criminal behavior.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE


Tarekman

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Posted on Mar 20, 2013 READ MORE        



Ben Fredericson (xjrlokix) (CC BY 2.0)

Anonymous Muzzled on Crusade Against Westboro Baptist Church

The hacker collective’s Twitter account was temporarily suspended Wednesday after the group posted personal information belonging to members of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Posted on Dec 19, 2012 READ MORE



AP/Ivan Sekretarev

The Humanitarians Who Came In From the Cold

Russia is cracking down further on political dissent by requiring foreign humanitarian workers to register, more or less, as spies.

Posted on Dec 18, 2012 READ MORE



Simon Gibbs (CC-BY-SA)

Maybe British Newspapers Are So Awful They Need to Be Regulated

Will Hutton, writing in The Observer, says the “precious freedom of speech of an individual is different from the freedom of speech of a media corporation with its capacity to manipulate the opinions of millions.”

Posted on Nov 25, 2012 READ MORE



Flickr/funkypancake

San Francisco Bans Public Nudity

The city’s public officials have a simple message to residents and visitors: “Keep your clothes on!”

Posted on Nov 21, 2012 READ MORE



AP/The American Freedom Defense Initiative, Pamela Geller

Are Muslims Our Misfortune? Exploring a Loaded Question

A woman begins covering a provocative subway station poster with spray paint. Another woman demands to know why she is defacing “an approved message,” and why she has “a right to violate free speech.” The woman replies that she is exercising her own free speech. That’s the short story. Have you already made up your mind about who is right and who is wrong?

Posted on Sep 28, 2012 READ MORE



YouTube/DontBendOverForAllah

Activist Arrested for Defacing Anti-Muslim Poster (Video)

Mona Eltahawy, a prominent Egyptian-American activist and writer whose arms were broken in Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring, was arrested at a Times Square subway station after spraying paint over a controversial poster that has drawn broad condemnation for equating Muslims with “savages.”

Posted on Sep 26, 2012 READ MORE


Mediacrity

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Posted on Sep 24, 2012 READ MORE        



Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey (CC-BY)

Neo-Nazis in the U.S. Army

Last time on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: unconventional recruiting in the military, balancing free speech with cultural sensitivity in the Middle East, how to survive a plague and Robert Scheer on the freeloaders whose votes Mitt Romney is apparently not expecting.

Posted on Sep 24, 2012 READ MORE


Neo-Nazis in the U.S. Army

Last time on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: unconventional recruiting in the military, balancing free speech with cultural sensitivity in the Middle East, how to survive a plague and Robert Scheer on the freeloaders whose votes Mitt Romney is apparently not expecting.

Posted on Sep 24, 2012 READ MORE



AP/John Minchillo

We Won—for Now

In January I sued President Barack Obama for authorizing the military to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, in short, just declared the law unconstitutional.

Posted on Sep 17, 2012 READ MORE



Photo by David Shankbone (CC-BY)

Michael Moore and Oliver Stone: Extraditing Assange Would Set a Horrible Precedent

Noting in a New York Times Op-Ed that much of their work has made “the case that the news media in the United States often fail to inform Americans about the uglier actions of our own government,” filmmakers Michael Moore and Oliver Stone argue that transferring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to U.S. custody would be disastrous for free speech everywhere.

Posted on Aug 21, 2012 READ MORE



AP/Alex Katz

How Pussy Riot Helps Putin

The Pussy Riot case has become an international PR disaster for the Russian government, but domestically Russia’s conservative majority is rallying behind Vladimir Putin.

Posted on Aug 20, 2012 READ MORE



Furryscaly (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Privacy by Design

Nicholas Merrill is tired of waiting for Congress to protect Americans’ privacy online. So he plans to force the matter by changing the way telecommunication companies do business.

Posted on Jul 24, 2012 READ MORE


Bill Moyers: The Hoax of Citizens United

According to Bill Moyers, the Supreme Court’s recent decision not to revisit the controversial Citizens United ruling shows that the case was never about free speech. Instead, he argues, the Citizens United decision was just a hoax (albeit a really big one).

Posted on Jul 9, 2012 READ MORE



(CC-BY-SA)

Hello China My Old Friend, I’ve Come to Lecture You Again (Editorial)

The State Department is once again giving China a hard time about its human rights record, a worthy cause to be sure, though the United States makes for an odd champion. What’s the saying? Those who torture should not throw stones, maybe.

Posted on Jun 3, 2012 READ MORE



Illustration by Mr. Fish

First They Come for the Muslims

Another Muslim activist has gone to prison as a result of the government’s criminalization of what people say and believe.

Posted on Apr 16, 2012 READ MORE  |  418 COMMENTS



Class vs. Race

These may be the first elections in which class will carry more weight than race; the “right to be forgotten” threatens freedom of speech on the Internet; meanwhile, some smartphone voice recognition software is racist and sexist. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Feb 14, 2012 READ MORE



Citizen Suspect: We’re All Under Attack in the WikiLeaks Case

Our civil liberties and First Amendment rights are threatened by the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Julian Assange case; if Mitt Romney’s father was still around, he’d probably endorse Obama; meanwhile, Fox News is ruining the GOP. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Feb 4, 2012 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



Sony Pictures

‘Dragon Tattoo’ Shows Too Much Skin for India

India may be the world’s biggest democracy, but it has a little something to learn about free expression. Film censors have banned the Hollywood version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” because of three sexual and/or violent scenes.

Posted on Jan 30, 2012 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



Charles Chan (CC-BY-ND)

The Two Faces of China

Don’t hold your breath waiting for any kind of Occupy Beijing movement to set up camp.

Posted on Dec 1, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



Joseph Voves (CC-BY)

Thought Crime in Washington

Morris Davis was fired by the Library of Congress not because of his work performance, but because he wrote a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed on his own time, using his own computer, as a private citizen. The government just did not like what he wrote.

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 READ MORE  |  92 COMMENTS



Screen grab from Twitter

Teenager Refuses Orders to Apologize to Conservative Governor

Emma Sullivan, 18, says she will not write an apology to Sam Brownback after telling her roughly 65 followers on Twitter that the Kansas governor sucks. Sullivan has gained thousands of additional followers since her high school principal ordered her to apologize to Brownback.

Posted on Nov 27, 2011 READ MORE  |  64 COMMENTS



© Jeff Pappas

Media Complain of ‘Hostile’ NYPD (Update)

Some of the nation’s most prestigious news organizations, including AP and The New York Times, are condemning New York City’s treatment of the media, writing in a letter that “police actions of last week have been more hostile ...” (more)

Posted on Nov 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



Timothy Krause (CC-BY)

Why the First Amendment Won’t Protect Occupiers

Those who believe the courts will come to the rescue have bought into the popular mythology surrounding the amendment’s depth and reach.

Posted on Nov 16, 2011 READ MORE  |  113 COMMENTS



Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman Wins Major Settlement Over 2008 Police Abuses

Amy Goodman and two former “Democracy Now!” producers have won a $100,000 settlement three years after police stormtroopers surrounding the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn., battered, bloodied and arrested the journalists. (more)

Posted on Oct 3, 2011 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS



Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey

Juan Cole on Palestinian Statehood

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Juan Cole reports from New York on Occupy Wall Street and Palestinians at the U.N. Also: The politics of immigration; women make less than men (still), and a jury convicts the Irvine 11.

Posted on Sep 29, 2011 READ MORE


Juan Cole on Palestinian Statehood

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Juan Cole reports from New York on Occupy Wall Street and Palestinians at the U.N. Also: The politics of immigration; women still earn less than men, and a jury convicts the Irvine 11. Pictured above, Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.N.

Posted on Sep 29, 2011 READ MORE  |  25 COMMENTS



Flickr / Varin Tsai (CC-BY)

Jury Finds Muslim Student Heckling Is Not Free Speech

Ten Muslim students from UC Irvine who heckled Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren during an on-campus appearance last year were found guilty Friday of two misdemeanors to conspire and to disrupt the speech, despite their arguments citing free speech.

Posted on Sep 23, 2011 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS



Al-Jazeera English (CC-BY-ND)

Concern in New Egypt as Police Raid Al-Jazeera

Egyptian police raided the Cairo offices of the news network Al-Jazeera on Sunday in what is being interpreted by some of Egypt’s revolutionaries as a crackdown on free expression and a continuation of some of the autocratic practices of the regime of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak. (more)

Posted on Sep 11, 2011 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



Beatrice Murch (CC-BY-SA)

San Francisco Bay Area’s BART Pulls a Mubarak

What does the police killing of a homeless man in San Francisco have to do with the Arab Spring uprisings from Tunisia to Syria? The attempt to suppress the protests that followed.

Posted on Aug 16, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



Flickr / JacobRuff (CC-BY)

FCC to Investigate BART for Cutting Cell Service

The Federal Communications Commission said Monday that it will investigate San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit because of its decision to interrupt cellphone service on Aug. 11 before a protest planned for that day. The interruption lasted three hours.

Posted on Aug 16, 2011 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



Hypersensitive Cops Use Internet Stalking Law to Punish YouTube Meanie

A warrant is out on Mrfuddlesticks. Apparently the cops in Renton, Wash., can’t take a joke, and that has put a constitutional right in jeopardy.

Posted on Aug 9, 2011 READ MORE  |  15 COMMENTS



Flickr / DonkeyHotey

The Selling Out of Our Democracy

For years, the conservative wing of the Supreme Court has flapped mightily in the face of any attempt to deny American corporations their ability to disenfranchise and dispossess the American public. (more)

Posted on Aug 7, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



AP / Jim Urquhart

Climate Activist Goes to Jail

In his book “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau wrote: “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” And prison is where a federal judge has put Tim DeChristopher, 29, after he posed in 2008 as a winning bidder ... (more)

Posted on Jul 27, 2011 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS



AP / Paul Sakuma

Yes to Violence, No to Sex

Scalia’s opinion is actually quite thrilling in enunciating an extremely broad definition of the free speech rights of minors. But it is simply bizarre in dismissing the claimed harmful effects of violent depictions while still insisting on the strictest puritanical view of the dangers of sexual imagery.

Posted on Jun 28, 2011 READ MORE  |  159 COMMENTS



AP / Irwin Fedriansyah

Indonesia Frees ‘Playboy’ Editor

We’ve been tracking the fate of Erwin Arnada since 2006, when the editor launched a PG version of Playboy in the world’s most populous Muslim country. After all these years, the Indonesian high court has invalidated the indecency charges on which Arnada was convicted. It’s a big day for swimsuits in Bali.

Posted on Jun 23, 2011 READ MORE



Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey

One-State Solution

This week on Truthdig Radio in collaboration with KPFK: Kids have a right to mock their teachers; Apple may be launching a preemptive strike against free speech; and the general’s son, Miko Peled, says Israelis and Palestinians must accept a one-state solution. Also, Tim DeChristopher, the hero who didn’t stand a chance.

Posted on Jun 22, 2011 READ MORE


One-State Solution

This week on Truthdig Radio in collaboration with KPFK: Kids have a right to mock their teachers; Apple may be launching a preemptive strike against free speech; and the general’s son, Miko Peled, says Israelis and Palestinians must accept a one-state solution. Also, Tim DeChristopher, the hero who didn’t stand a chance. Update: Full transcript.

Posted on Jun 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



AP / Ng Han Guan

Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Is Sprung From Jail

It took two months and not-so-subtle protests from within and beyond the art world, but on Wednesday the Chinese government freed 54-year-old artist Ai Weiwei from prison, hinting at tax issues and not artistic dissent as the reason behind his stint in lockup.

Posted on Jun 22, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



Mr. Fish

No Justice in Kafka’s America

The draconian legal mechanisms that condemn Muslim Americans who speak out publicly about the outrages we commit in the Middle East have left many wasting away in supermax prisons.

Posted on Jun 12, 2011 READ MORE  |  86 COMMENTS


U.K. Courts to Journalists: Stow It

Parliamentary official John Hemming has drawn attention to a new type of court order forbidding members of Britain’s fourth estate to cover cases deemed too sensitive for public consideration. The order, known as a super-injunction ... (more)

Posted on Apr 17, 2011 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS



AP / Bret Hartman

When Protest Becomes a Crime

Is rudeness a crime, punishable by prison? Yes, says a district attorney as he pursues the prosecution of 11 Muslim students who disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador.

Posted on Feb 15, 2011 READ MORE  |  31 COMMENTS


Julian Assange Speaks to ‘60 Minutes’

The WikiLeaks founder dishes to Steve Kroft, who tells Assange “you are screwing with the forces of nature.” For his part, Assange insists that whatever his problems with the United States, he shares values of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Posted on Jan 31, 2011 READ MORE  |  68 COMMENTS



Flickr / Mad Mike 3000

Internet Lies Meet the Armed and Unhinged

There are limits to the virtues of free expression in a nation where semiautomatic pistols can be obtained by near-lunatics, including those who believe that their mission is to save the United States or mankind from the forces of darkness.

Posted on Jan 10, 2011 READ MORE  |  50 COMMENTS



‘Pedophile’s Guide’ Author Arrested

The author who gained national attention last month by selling his self-published “Pedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure” on Amazon has been arrested on obscenity charges. Authorities are concerned that the book advocates illegal behavior, a familiar challenge to free speech protections.

Posted on Dec 20, 2010 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS


A Wiki Hornet’s Nest

Do we want the people who run Amazon, PayPal, Facebook, Twitter or perhaps even—shudder—Microsoft, Apple or Google making political decisions on our behalf?

Posted on Dec 14, 2010 READ MORE  |  100 COMMENTS



Gizmodo

Amazon Evicts WikiLeaks

In addition to selling books, Amazon does a nice side business hosting websites. WikiLeaks was paying for space on Amazon servers this week until the retailer sent the leakers packing. No comment so far from Amazon, but WikiLeaks, now hosted in Sweden, responded with a dig about “the land of the free.”

Posted on Dec 1, 2010 READ MORE  |  15 COMMENTS


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