Category «Free Speech»

The war on DEI is a smoke screen

The Verge – [unpaywalled] “Violent metaphors abound for what’s happening in Washington: Elon Musk and his allies have taken a “slash-and-burn” approach to the government and a “sledgehammer” to government institutions, doing away with supposed waste and excess while leaving the fundamental structure intact. All of this is being done with the stated goal of …

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

How Trump Could Remake the Supreme Court for a Generation

The Nation: Donald Trump is poised to become the first president since FDR to have appointed the majority of high-court justices. His potential picks are terrifying.This article appears in the March 2025 issue, with the headline “The Supreme Trump Court.” Donald Trump’s first term as president gave the republicans control over the most dangerous body …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Courts, Defense, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The List of Trump’s Forbidden Words That Will Get Your Paper Flagged at NSF

Gizmodo –  “It’s fascism, plain and simple.Every federal agency in the U.S. is currently trying to figure out how to purge forbidden words from documents posted online, in a desperate attempt to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to purge “DEI” from every facet of American life. And nowhere is that effort more bizarre …

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

Anatomy of an AI Coup

Tech Policy News: “Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology for manufacturing excuses. While lacking clear definitions or tools for assessment, AI has nonetheless seized the imagination of politicians and managers across government, academia, and industry. But what AI is best at producing is justifications. If you want a labor force, a regulatory bureaucracy, or accountability …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Trump Freezes All Grant Funding to Libraries, Archives, and Museums

everylibrary – “While this “pause” will negatively impact millions of Americans, it will also considerably impact libraries. rump has demanded a freeze on all federal grants and for all agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.” The memo also calls for each agency to perform a …

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

A Spy in Your Pocket?

DemocracyNow – Ronan Farrow Exposes Secrets of High-Tech Spyware in New Film “Surveilled” –  “Is that a spy in your pocket? In a holiday special we speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow and filmmaker Matthew O’Neill about Surveilled, their new HBO documentary looking at how high-tech surveillance spyware is threatening democracy across the globe. …

Subjects: Censorship, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Free Speech, Internet, Privacy

Some Justice Department Lawyers Look for Protection and the Exits

WSJ  via MSN – “Justice Department lawyers who have angered President-elect Donald Trump and his allies are facing tough  decisions about whether to stay in government—and how to best protect themselves from threats of retribution after Inauguration Day. Dozens of prosecutors and agents have worked on cases that potentially make them vulnerable, such as special counsel  …

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

New law in NJ limits the banning of books in schools and public libraries

WHYY: “When Martha Hickson was the librarian at New Jersey’s North Hunterdon HighSchool, she fought against attempts to ban books that her critics labeled as inappropriate because they contained sexual content, and she became a target of book banners. “I received hate mail, shunning by colleagues, antagonism by administrators, and calls for my firing and …

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

Arkansas Law Criminalizing Librarians Ruled Unconstitutional

AP: “A federal judge on Monday struck down key parts of an Arkansas law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks found that elements of the law are unconstitutional. “I respect the court’s ruling and will appeal,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim …

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

Review of DOJ Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Media

DOJ Oversight and Review Division 25-01. Redacted For Public Release. A Review of the Department of Justice’s Issuance of Compulsory Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media: “In the spring and summer of 2017, CNN.com (CNN), The New York Times, and The Washington Post published articles …

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

Rebel Yell

Tablet – Part I: Donald Trump broke the back of the GOP establishment by driving blue-collar and lower-middle-class politics in a Southern direction. His gentry Republican critics have only themselves to blame. Donald Trump’s first and in many ways most enduring political accomplishment is not the humiliation of the Democratic Party he has toppled in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information

Beyond Fairness in Computer Vision: A Holistic Approach to Mitigating Harms and Fostering Community-Rooted Computer Vision Research

Timnit Gebru and Remi Denton (2024), “Beyond Fairness in Computer Vision: A Holistic Approach to Mitigating Harms and Fostering Community-Rooted Computer Vision Research”, Foundations and Trends® in Computer Graphics  and Vision: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp 215–321. DOI: 10.1561/0600000102. “The field of computer vision is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with its use in surveillance …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Internet, Legal Research