The Scarlett letter
Chris Ames identifies a worrying trend in the government’s latest refusal to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act
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Trademark troubles
Canadian activists are the subject of a lawsuit from one of the country’s largest media organisations, writes Mordecai Briemberg
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Blog faces takedown after neo-Nazi allegation
UK political blog Harry’s Place may be removed by webhost Daily.co.uk after a complaint from an academic whom it claimed had posted links to neo-Nazi articles in an online debate.
The blog published a comment made by Sheffield-based UCU activist Jenna Delich in an online discussion of a potential boycott of Israel by the union, in which she linked to, and appeared to endorse, an article posted on the website of American far-right politician David Duke. Harry’s Place has been consistently critical of any suggestion that Israeli academics should be boycotted by their British counterparts.
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Harry Potter imports banned
An Arab-Israeli publisher has been ordered to stop importing Arabic-language books from Syria and Lebanon. Salah Abassi gave an interview to Israeli public radio on 11 August in which he stated that the Trade and Industry Ministry had ‘warned’ him that his actions were illegal. Abassi claims that Arabic translations of certain books such as the Harry Potter series can only be sourced from Lebanon or Syria. The ban is based on a decree issued under the British mandate, which forbids the importing of books from hostile nations.
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