14 Mar 2011 | Uncategorized
Index on Censorship has published the shortlist for the Freedom of Expression Awards 2011.
The 11th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards honour those who, often at great personal risk, give voice to issues and stories from around the globe that may otherwise have passed unnoticed.
This year’s ceremony on 24 March 2011 will be hosted by broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby at the Royal Institution in London, with a keynote speech by Booker Prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson. Click here to buy tickets.
Award judges introduce the nominees in each category at these links:
The Bindmans award for Law and Campaigning
The Guardian Journalism award
The Intelligent Life Arts award
The New Media award, supported by Google
Nominees for this year’s awards, presented in association with SAGE, include Egyptian newspaper editor Ibrahim Eissa, British playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, campaigning Pakistani politician Sherry Rehman and MF Husain, regarded as India’s greatest living artist. There will also be a special commendation, presented by Sir Tom Stoppard.
14 Mar 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Mexican prosecutors have decided to reopen the investigation into 21 deaths during protests against the Oaxaca state government in 2006. Amongst the dead was the American independent journalist Bradley Will, who was killed whilst filming a clash between the protesters. The only suspect was released in 2010 because there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
13 Mar 2011 | Uncategorized
A federal judge in the US ruled on Friday that Twitter must hand over to the government the personal account information of three users connected to WikiLeaks, rejecting their lawyers’ appeal that the First and Fourth Amendments protect such private online communication.
As part of an ongoing grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks, the Department of Justice originally demanded in sealed court documents the Twitter account details — including personal contact information and IP addresses — of Dutch businessman Rop Gonggrijp, U.S. activist Jacob Appelbaum and Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of the Icelandic parliament. The government wanted Twitter to turn over the details without alerting the three that their information had been subpoenaed.
Twitter successfully fought that gag order in January. But, in trying to have the government’s request entirely thrown out, lawyers for the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation failed to convince judge Theresa Buchanan that the Fourth Amendment right to privacy protects information like IP addresses — or that turning over such information would allow authorities to create a “map of association” of Twitter users that would have a chilling effect on the First Amendment right of free association.
“The Court finds no cognizable First Amendment violation here,” Buchanan wrote in her 20-page opinion. “Petitioners, who have already made their Twitter posts and associations publicly available, fail to explain how the Twitter Order has a chilling effect. The Twitter Order does not seek to control or direct the content of petitioners’ speech or association. Rather, it is a routine compelled disclosure of non-content information which petitioners voluntarily provided to Twitter pursuant to Twitter’s Privacy Policy.”
13 Mar 2011 | Uncategorized
A federal judge in the US ruled on Friday that Twitter must hand over to the government the personal account information of three users connected to WikiLeaks, rejecting their lawyers’ appeal that the First and Fourth Amendments protect such private online communication.
As part of an ongoing grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks, the Department of Justice originally demanded in sealed court documents the Twitter account details — including personal contact information and IP addresses — of Dutch businessman Rop Gonggrijp, U.S. activist Jacob Appelbaum and Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of the Icelandic parliament. The government wanted Twitter to turn over the details without alerting the three that their information had been subpoenaed.
Twitter successfully fought that gag order in January. But, in trying to have the government’s request entirely thrown out, lawyers for the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation failed to convince judge Theresa Buchanan that the Fourth Amendment right to privacy protects information like IP addresses — or that turning over such information would allow authorities to create a “map of association” of Twitter users that would have a chilling effect on the First Amendment right of free association.
“The Court finds no cognizable First Amendment violation here,” Buchanan wrote in her 20-page opinion. “Petitioners, who have already made their Twitter posts and associations publicly available, fail to explain how the Twitter Order has a chilling effect. The Twitter Order does not seek to control or direct the content of petitioners’ speech or association. Rather, it is a routine compelled disclosure of non-content information which petitioners voluntarily provided to Twitter pursuant to Twitter’s Privacy Policy.”
