NEWS

Free expression in the news
CHINA Chen Guangcheng’s Family Under Attack A little over a year ago, China’s heroic blind lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, escaped from house arrest, eventually fleeing to the United States with his wife and child. The Chinese government is now retaliating against the members of his family who remain in China. (National Review) CAYMAN ISLANDS Online poll: […]
10 May 13

CHINA
Chen Guangcheng’s Family Under Attack
A little over a year ago, China’s heroic blind lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, escaped from house arrest, eventually fleeing to the United States with his wife and child. The Chinese government is now retaliating against the members of his family who remain in China. (National Review)

CAYMAN ISLANDS
Online poll: Most want libel standards for social media/online forums
Only a small percentage of the respondents to last week’s cayCompass.com online poll believe social media and online forum sites should not be held to the same libel standards as traditional media. (CayCompass)

INDIA
Internet censorship in India
The Indian government these days enters the final stage of the first phase of implementation of the system for monitoring Internet activity, text messaging (e-mail, SMS) and voice calls of their residents. It is about $74 million heavy security project that is broadly conceived as a weapon to fighting terrorism. It is difficult, however, to ignore the fact that the privacy of users now virtually will not exist. (Decrypted Tech)

MALAYSIA
DAP miscasts free speech and ideas as racism
TWO unyielding issues gibbering away post-GE13 are now causing great national distress that seems to be breaking away like a runaway train. (New Staits Times)

TAIWAN
Taiwan seeks official cross-strait talks on culture
China’s publication censorship and lax protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) have left many of Taiwan’s creative and cultural industry operators snookered in their forays into the Chinese market. (Focus Taiwan)

UNITED STATES
What is your freedom of speech costing you?
I am a diehard Minnesota Vikings fan. Even though they consistently lose and still refuse to draft a decent quarterback, I will continue to wear my jersey and braids with pride. So let’s just say that I wasn’t particularly surprised when I got word that the Vikings released their punter, Chris Kluwe, out of his contract. While the 2012 season was a personal best for Kluwe, the Vikings still decided that after eight years, they’ve had enough. His performance was inconsistent at best, and at 31 years old, whisperings of retirement were beginning. But what did surprise me was the possible hidden agenda behind his release. (The Rocky Mountain Collegian)

Dirk Stemerman: Free speech at work
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you — maybe not in a court of law, but certainly before an unemployment judge. Simply put, there is no First Amendment right to free speech in the workplace. (Monterey County Herald)

Bake a Mean Spirited Censorship Pie with the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Parker Higgins bakes a “Mean Spirited Censorship Pie” — which is what all have to call the classic Southern dessert formerly known as “Derby Pie,” now that Kern’s Kitchen in Louisville is threatening to sue anyone who posts a family recipe with that name. (Boing Boing)