Category «Free Speech»

Freedom in the World 2018 Democracy in Crisis

Freedom House – Freedom in the World 2018, Democracy in Crisis: “Democracy is in retreat globally and, some say, in the United States. Exacerbating the democratic backslide are authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China, which have increased both repression at home and efforts to export instability abroad. On the home front, indifference toward democratic …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Economy, Financial System, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Legal Research, Privacy

LIS News – Ten Stories That Shaped 2017

LIS NEWS – Can you believe it’s almost 2018? That means it’s time to look back at some of the notable library-related stories from the past year. 10. Librarians Fight Fake News The problems with fake news caused many of us to revamp our web evaluation handouts into guides for spotting bogus information sources. 9. …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Libraries

Crossing the Line: What Counts as Online Harassment?

Americans agree that certain behaviors constitute online harassment, but they are more divided on others – “Pew Research Center surveys have found that online harassment is a common phenomenon in the digital lives of many Americans, and that a majority of Americans feel harassment online is a major problem. Even so, there is considerable debate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Internet, Legal Research, Social Media

The rise of female whistleblowers

The rise of female whistleblowers. Oxford Bibliographies. Andrea Hickerson. January 1, 2018. [Andrea Hickerson is the Director of the School of Communication and an Associate Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology.] “Until recently, I firmly believed whistleblowers would increasingly turn to secure, anonymizing tools and websites, like WikiLeaks, to share their data rather than take …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research

Impact of Decision to Roll Back Net Neutrality

On December 14, 2017 the FCC voted to “roll back the 2015 rules that banned internet service providers from prioritizing certain internet traffic over others….[this has ended the] difference between a free and open online experience, and one where corporations dictate what you can see, and how fast you can see it. To understand the …

Subjects: Censorship, Economy, Financial System, Free Speech, Internet

Video: How the Court System Is Abused to Chill Activist Speech

EFF: “One of the most pernicious forms of censorship in modern America is the abuse of the court system by corporations and wealthy individuals to harass, intimidate, and silence their critics. We use the term “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” more commonly known as a “SLAPP,” to describe this phenomenon. With a SLAPP, a malicious …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research

Jameel Jaffer: Government Secrecy in the Age of Information Overload

“Jameel Jaffer, Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and former Deputy Legal Director for the ACLU, delivered the tenth annual Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on October 17,  2017, entitled “Government Secrecy in the Age of Information Overload.” Following is a …

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

The State of Free Speech and Tolerance in America

Americans Say Political Correctness Has Silenced Discussions Society Needs to Have; Most Have Views They’re Afraid to Share “Nearly three-fourths (71%) of Americans believe that political correctness has done more to silence important discussions our society needs to have. A little more than a quarter (28%) instead believe that political correctness has done more to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research

Carter Journalism Institute Launches “First Amendment Watch” to Highlight, Analyze Threats to Freedom of Expression

“The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute has launched First Amendment Watch —an online resource that goes beyond the headlines to provide much-needed coverage and context to the debate over freedom of expression. NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute has launched First Amendment Watch—an online resource that goes beyond the headlines to provide much-needed coverage and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research

Twitter in the news – terms of service – tweet length increases to 280 characters – role in Russian election interference

Columbia Journalism Review – “This week, following an incendiary tweet by President Trump toward North Korea, Twitter is making an update to its terms of service. The social media company will now consider newsworthiness alongside its other criteria in determining whether to allow speech on its platform…By deciding what is newsworthy, Twitter will effectively be …

Subjects: Free Speech, Internet, Knowledge Management, Social Media

NYT – Facebook Faces a New World as Officials Rein In a Wild Web

The web is not as open as it once was, with nation-states exerting their power over the internet: “…Facebook encapsulates the reasons for the internet’s fragmentation — and increasingly, its consequences. The company has become so far-reaching that more than two billion people — about a quarter of the world’s population — now use Facebook …

Subjects: Censorship, Free Speech, Internet, Legal Research, Social Media

Paper – Freedom of racist speech: Ego and expressive threats.

Freedom of racist speech: Ego and expressive threats. Mark H White, University of Kansas; Christian S Crandall, University of Kansas. J Pers Soc Psychol 2017 Sep 17;113(3):413-429. Epub 2017 Apr 17. Department of Psychology, University of Kansas. “Do claims of “free speech” provide cover for prejudice? We investigate whether this defense of racist or hate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research