Category «Civil Liberties»

Ukraine: Apparent War Crimes in Russia-Controlled Areas

Human Rights Watch – Summary Executions, Other Grave Abuses by Russian Forces The New York Times – “As Russian forces retreated from around Kyiv, the devastating toll of the war became clearer. Western leaders redoubled calls for war crimes investigations, declaring the images of dead civilians “abhorrent…” BBC News – Killings in Bucha are deliberate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Human Rights and Disinformation Under the Trump Administration: The Commission on Unalienable Rights

Blitt, Robert C., Human Rights and Disinformation Under the Trump Administration: The Commission on Unalienable Rights (2021). St. Louis University Law Journal, Vol. 66, 2021, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4046025  – “The former administration of Donald J. Trump shattered norms governing the responsibility to relay accurate, truthful information to the public. Whether regarding trivialities or vital …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

What makes writing more readable?

Pudding – Story by Rebecca Monteleone and Jamie Brew; Design + code by Michelle McGhee “Writing text that can be understood by as many people as possible seems like an obvious best practice. But from news media to legal guidance to academic research, the way we write often creates barriers to who can read it. …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Democracy Report 2022 – Autocratization Changing Nature?

“Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) produces the largest global dataset on democracy with over 30 million data points for 202 countries from 1789 to 2021. Involving over 3,700 scholars and other country experts, V-Dem measures hundreds of different attributes of democracy. The level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2021 is down to …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Poverty, Privacy

Elections Guide for Investigative Reporters: Introduction

Global Investigative Journalism Network: Editor’s Note: This is the introductory chapter of a new, five-part GIJN guide to investigating elections that will be serialized over the coming month. Look for the second installment, “Chapter 1: New Election-Digging Tools,” next week. Elections around the world face increasingly common threats, including disinformation campaigns, foreign interference, voter suppression, rising …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Schools nationwide are quietly removing books from their libraries

Washington Post: “Meet the librarians fighting bans and scrambling to preserve children’s freedom to read..Slowly — over months of meetings, investigations and secret conversations with fearful librarians across her counties — she came to understand the disturbing reality. Administrators, afraid of attracting controversy, were quietly removing books from library shelves before they could be challenged. …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Libraries

Legislation seeks to block lengthy gag orders on tech firms after government surveillance

The Hill: “Government agencies would no longer be able to indefinitely conceal their secret seizure of email records under legislation introduced Tuesday that takes aim at gag orders. The Government Surveillance Transparency Act, sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both chambers, puts limitations on gag orders that seek to block tech companies from …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Mail, E-Records, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

The internet is #MoreThanFour – our laws should reflect that

“The Open Internet Alliance aims to strengthen the advocacy voice of medium-sized companies and organisations that promote and defend Open Internet principles. We welcome participation from other like-minded companies. The Open Internet is at a crossroads in Europe. With the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, the EU has an opportunity to create …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Phaseout Pathways for Fossil Fuel Production Within Paris-compliant Carbon Budgets

Calverley, D., & Anderson, K. (2022). Phaseout Pathways for Fossil Fuel Production Within Paris-compliant Carbon Budgets. Tyndall Center for Climate Research, The University of Manchester, 22 March 2022 “To comply with the carbon budget for a 50:50 chance of not exceeding 1.5°C of warming requires immediate and deep cuts in the production of all fossil …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents

Restoring the Rule of Law through Department of Justice Reform

Finkelstein, Claire and Painter, Richard W., Restoring the Rule of Law through Department of Justice Reform (February 16, 2022). In Overcoming Trumpery: How to Restore Ethics, the Rule of Law, and Democracy (Norman Eisen ed., Brookings 2022), U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 22-21, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4036891 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4036891 “As …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Human Rights and Disinformation Under the Trump Administration: The Commission on Unalienable Rights

Blitt, Robert C., Human Rights and Disinformation Under the Trump Administration: The Commission on Unalienable Rights (2021). St. Louis University Law Journal, Vol. 66, 2021, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4046025 – “The former administration of Donald J. Trump shattered norms governing the responsibility to relay accurate, truthful information to the public. Whether regarding trivialities or vital issues …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Nationwide effort to ban books challenges freedom of speech

PBS NewsHour via YouTube: “Advocates are sounding the alarm about a set of measures that they say target teaching and writing related to LGBTQ issues, race and freedom of speech. Around the country, efforts to ban specific books or even whole categories of books are on the rise. Jeffrey Brown has a conversation for our …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Libraries