November 18th, 2011
As debates continue around the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Cynthia M Wong argues that US policy makers must look more closely at whether the bill truly supports free expression
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Tags: Tags: Cynthia M. Wong, internet freedom, SOPA, United States,
August 17th, 2011
Local papers in Albemarle County, Virginia, have reported that Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, has been removed from sixth-grade reading lists after a parent complained that it was “our young students’ first inaccurate introduction to an American religion.” In the book, in which a father and daughter are rescued by Mormons on condition they adopt the Mormon faith, Conan Doyle wrote that Mormons were “persecutors of the most terrible description”.Tags: Tags: censorship, literature, United States,
June 21st, 2011
Western policymakers must proceed with caution when considering online surveillance and web-blocking; their actions impact on human rights abroad, argues Cynthia Wong
Tags: Tags: Cynthia Wong, human rights, interet, internet freedom, surveillance, United States,
December 6th, 2010
US Attorney General Eric Holder has said that he has authorised investigations into the possibility of prosecuting those responsible for the Wikileaks Cablegate leaks. Speaking today (6 December), Holder said: “I personally authorized a number of things last week and that’s an indication of the seriousness with which we take this matter and the highest level of involvement at the Department of Justice.” Read more hereTags: Tags: Attorney General, United States, wikileaks,
August 6th, 2010
The US government has introduced new legislation which would allow the FBI to demand personal information from private email accounts. The bill would enable FBI field officers to access information regarding the times and dates emails were sent, as well as the private email addresses of correspondents. The FBI would not need to possess a court order and would simply need to deem the information relevant to demand private details from internet providers. ISP’s would be forced to keep the requests secret.Tags: Tags: FBI, internet, privacy, United States, USA,
July 20th, 2010
The US senate last night passed legislation to protect US journalists, writers and publishers from “libel tourists” — litigants who sue Americans in foreign jurisdictions which place a lower emphasis on free speech
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Tags: Tags: First Amendemt, libel, libel tourism, United States,
July 14th, 2010
Yesterday (13 July), the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation to protect US journalists and publishers from “libel tourism”. The SPEECH (Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage) Act will now go before the full senate. The impetus for the bill follows a number of law suits instigated against American writers in foreign courts in order to exploit their weak libel laws. For example, New York based academic Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued in London despite only 23 copies of her book, on the financing of terrorism, being sold in the UK. If passed, the proposal will prevent federal courts from recognising foreign libel ruling that are inconsistent with the First Amendment and will allow affected persons to apply for a declaratory judgement confirming that verdicts against them are non-enforceable. The bill, co-sponsored by Democrat Patrick Leahy and Republican Jeff Sessions, is believed to have a high prospect of being enacted because of its broad cross-party support.Tags: Tags: defamation, First Amendment, freedom of expression, libel tourism, United States,
October 8th, 2009
The UN Human Rights Council has passed a resolution condemning “stereotyping of religion”. It’s a move that flouts freedom of expression – and it was sponsored by the United States. Roy W Brown reports
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Tags: Tags: EU, Frank La Rue, free expression, Islam, obama, oic, religion, UN, United States,
