Category «Free Speech»

How Cops Are Using Flock Safety’s ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists

EFF: “It’s no secret that 2025 has given Americans plenty to protest about. But as news cameras showed protesters filling streets of cities across the country, law enforcement officers—including U.S. Border Patrol agents—were quietly watching those same streets through different lenses: Flock Safety automated license plate readers (ALPRs) that tracked every passing car.  Through an …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

The Librarians – documentary film on censorship

Via Kottke –  The Librarians – As part of the fascist war on “woke”, tens of thousands of books have been pulled from the shelves of libraries around the country over the past few years. On the front line are the nation’s librarians, “first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment rights”. The Librarians …

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

Your Smartphone, Their Rules: How App Stores Enable Corporate-Government Censorship

ACLU: “Who controls what you can do on your mobile phone? What happens when your device can only run what the government decides is OK? We are dangerously close to this kind of totalitarian control, thanks to a combination of government overreach and technocratic infrastructure choices. Most Americans have a smartphone, and the average American …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Digital Rights, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Trump administration announces dismantling of parts of the Education Dept

Washington Post via MSN: The Education Department said Tuesday that it will move several of its offices to other federal departments, a unilateral effort aimed at dismantling an agency created by Congress to ensure equal access to educational opportunity but long derided by conservatives as ineffective. The department has signed interagency agreements to outsource six …

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

The Ongoing History of Protest Music

Ongoing History of Protest Music – “Since there has always been social injustice in the world, there have always been people protesting many social ills. In many instances, people express oppression through chants and songs. Notable examples include Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” (based on the Friedrich Schiller poem “Ode to Freedom”), which supported universal brotherhood …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech

The Government Lawyers Database

The Government Lawyers Database [GLOW] is a publicly accessible record of the legal professionals who are or were involved in representing or supporting the legal positions of the US Executive Branch. The database is a work-in-progress. It’s the first-ever public record of U.S. Executive Branch attorneys’ conduct. The core problem: Government lawyers have a fundamental …

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

New Comprehensive Guide to Help Newsrooms Protect Journalists from Online Abuse

PEN America: “In response to the alarming rise of abuse and threats targeting journalists, PEN America and the Coalition Against Online Violence have released a groundbreaking guide, Best Practices for News Organizations: How to Protect and Support Journalists Harassed Online, to empower industry leaders to protect their people amidst an escalating crackdown on the free …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

After Law Firm Deals With Trump, D.C. Bar Warns of Ethical Jeopardy

Follow up to previous post – How Trump’s crackdown on law firms is undermining legal defenses for the vulnerable…Read the D.C. Bar legal ethics committee opinion. The New York Times: “Months after law firms made deals with President Trump to ward off punitive executive orders, the ethics committee of the District of Columbia Bar is …

Subjects: Censorship, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Are We Losing Our Democracy?

Opinion, The Editorial Board, The New York Times, October 31, 2025. Gift Article – Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have …

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

Texas schools are using AI to screen library books under new state law

Austin-American Statesman – “…Nestled in a red-leaning suburb south of Houston, Pearland is one of several school districts turning to artificial intelligence to keep up with the law, Senate Bill 13, which requires boards to sign off on all library purchases. The legislation comes after a 2023 law first required schools to purge “sexually explicit” …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries

Think ICE Is Bad Now? Today the Border Patrol Is Taking It Over

How Gregory Bovino Proudly Became Trump’s #1 Immigration Stormtrooper – “A big part of this newsletter, amid the onrushing tide of news and never-ending flurry of scandal, is to mark when something major changes in our national fabric. Last night, something did — and you probably haven’t even heard about it yet. In a sweeping …

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

The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research, Public Health, and the Rule of Law – Part 4

Via LLRX – The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research, Public Health, and the Rule of Law – Part 4 – This the fourth in a series by Sabrina I. Pacifici documenting the Trump administration’s relentless attacks against science, medicine and public health, government sponsored data collection and reporting, climate science, and censorship of government …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries