Category «Civil Liberties»

Trump Team Plans IRS Overhaul to Enable Pursuit of Left-Leaning Groups

Wall Street Journal: Effort would install Trump ally at agency’s criminal unit who has drawn up list of investigative targets. “President Trump is seeking to identify financial networks that he says are fomenting political violence. The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Financial System, Government Documents, Privacy

Secretive Watchlisting Center Executing National Security Presidential Memorandum 7

NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM 7 – referred to as NSPM-7, September 25, 2025. SUBJECT: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence. By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following: Section 1. Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence. Heinous …

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

Weaponizing the Espionage Act: What It Means for Whistleblowers, Reporters, and Democracy

Just Security – “President Donald Trump has made suppressing speech he doesn’t like a governing priority. From his first days back in office he cast dissent as disloyalty, promising “retribution” against anyone who criticized, investigated, or resisted him. He then translated that promise into action through regulatory proceedings, lawsuits, clearance revocations, and restrictions on press …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

‘Save Our Signs’ Preservation Project Launches Archive of 10,000 National Park Signs

404 Media: “On Monday, a publicly-sourced archive of more than 10,000 national park signs and monument placards went public as part of a massive volunteer project to save historical and educational placards from around the country that risk removal by the Trump administration. Visitors to national parks and other public monuments at more than 300 …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

How a $10 USB stick made me disappear from the web

MakeUseOf: “…Tails is designed to hide your identity while protecting you from surveillance and censorship. Tails is handy when using a public computer at a café or library. More importantly, it’s extremely easy to set up, making it accessible to even beginnersTails stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System. It’s a free operating system based …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

Librarian Fired in Books Dispute to Receive $700,000 Settlement

The New York Times Gift Article: “County officials in Wyoming fired Terri Lesley, a library director, after she refused to purge children and young adult books that contained sexual content and L.G.B.T.Q. themes. A library director in Wyoming who was fired two years ago because she refused to remove books with sexual content and L.G.B.T.Q. …

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

LLRX September 2025 Issue – Articles and Columns

The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health, Part 3 – This is a follow up to two recent articles by Sabrina I. Pacifici on the Trump administration’s relentless attacks against science, medicine and public health, government sponsored data collection and reporting, climate science, free speech, and the censorship of federally funded …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Environmental Law, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

AI Models Need to be Disinfected — Or George Orwell’s “1984” Will Come True

NewsGuard By Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard Co-CEO: “Recent forecasts say the AI companies could soon spend trillions of dollars to expand their AI offerings. In addition to paying for expensive chips and giant server farms, the AI companies should make their AI output trustworthy. They have allowed their models to be infected with malign falsehoods so …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines, Social Media

Help Us Investigate Book Bans and Educational Censorship Around America

404 Media: “Over the last few years, some of our more meaningful (and unfortunately bleakest) reporting has been on the many ways in which the right wing has systematically targeted libraries, schools, authors, and educators over the things they teach, specifically with regard to the teaching of systemic racism, LGBTQ+ issues, science, and sex education. …

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

How much better is signal compared to iMessage?

Reddit: “Question – I’m new to the whole taking private seriously thing, so feel free to explain it like I’m 5. I know that’s Signal seem to gold standard for private secure messaging. But how wide is the gap between it and iMessage? What are the key differences? Also this is purely for my knowledge …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

A Powerhouse Writer Found One Word to Change the Debate About Tech

The New York Times Gift Article: “Cory Doctorow’s new book looks to offer comfort, and solutions, to the inescapable feeling that digital platforms have gotten worse. Over the course of a nearly four-decade career, Cory Doctorow has written 15 novels, four graphic novels, dozens of short stories, six nonfiction books, approximately 60,000 blog posts and …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research