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09 Feb 2011 22:22

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U.S.: UC-Irvine’s Muslim Student Union caught in free-speech battle

  • People are afraid to be seen as with us. It’s like they went after them, how do we know they aren’t going to come after us next? Everyone is afraid and looking over their shoulder.
  • UC-Irvine Muslim Student Union leader Hamza Siddiqui • Discussing the charges against him and ten other members of his group. See, the Muslim Student Union (which had been criticized by Jewish and Israeli groups in the past for its overly-in-your-face approach to the issues) repeatedly disrupted a speech by Michael B. Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, last year. After the speech, the group was suspended for a quarter. It seemed like the scandal died, until the students involved in said protests (three of which went to UC-Riverside) were charged with disturbing a public meeting and conspiring to do so. While the Muslim Student Union perhaps overplayed its hand by trying to drown Oren out for the entire speech in an organized manner, charging them with a misdemeanor seems perhaps a tad anti-free-speech. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2010 22:36

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Biz: Rip your employer on Facebook all you want: It’s protected speech

  • This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.
  • National Labor Relations Board acting general counsel Lafe Solomon • Explaining why they stepped in after an employee at American Medical Response of Connecticut, an ambulance service, was fired for criticizing her employer on Facebook. (She was upset that she wasn’t allowed counsel with her union, the Teamsters, and ended up ripping on her supervisor.) It’s the first time that a worker has been defended by the board specifically for Facebook-related reasons. While American Medical Response denies the allegations and claims they’re without merit, at least one powerful law firm sent an alert out to its corporate clients informing them that this could be a big problem for them – especially if their workers have unions. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 22:49

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U.S.: The Supreme Court has a field day with the Westboro Baptist Church

  • This is a case about exploiting a private family’s grief.The question is: Why should the First Amendment tolerate exploiting this Marine’s family when you have so many other forums for getting across your message?
  • Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Asking the best question of the day to Westboro Baptist Church lawyer (and member) Margie J. Phelps, who represented the church in their case against the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, whose funeral they protested way back in 2006. While wanting to favor free speech as much as possible, the justices clearly struggled with this case, with many trying to find a narrow path that allowed them to limit the private-person-damaging hate speech of a group like Westboro while not affecting other kinds of speech. Fortunately, Phelps made it easy on them, suggesting that wounded soldiers shouldn’t have a cause of action if they’re being protested against by a group similar to hers. At that point, the justices jumped on her. It’ll still be a number of months before we know how this one plays out, guys.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2010 11:17

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Tech, World: Who blinked first in the Google vs. China search stand-off?

  • Google did, but not too much. The search giant angered China by re-directing to its free-speech-allowing Hong Kong site, threatening to revoke its business license. So, to prevent that, Google will force Chinese users to click on an image before going to the Hong Kong site, which is annoying but likely gets around China’s problems. Will it work? Good question. China is finicky. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Mar 2010 11:12

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Tech, World: Hugo Chavez says that the Internet needs national regulation

  • The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms.
  • Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez • Saying the kind of thing that makes us want to throw stuff at the dude. He doesn’t want an open Interweb – he wants to block it to his standards. He’s not alone, obviously, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing that we want to see MORE support for. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 11:08

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Offbeat: Fat guy puts his middle finger into a huge free speech battle

  • Robert Ekas dared to flick off a cop with his middle finger and got ticketed by the cops despite the fact he did nothing wrong otherwise. How did he handle it? He filed a lawsuit, claiming they violated his right to dissent. When you’re driving, it’s the best dissent tool available, apparently. It’d be funny to see if this went anywhere.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2010 10:41

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Tech: Italy’s mind(#(& of a decision on YouTube video just wrong

  • We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question. Throughout this long process, they have displayed admirable grace and fortitude. It is outrageous that they have been subjected to a trial at all.
  • Google’s VP and Deputy General Counsel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Matt Sucherman • Regarding a decision by Italian courts to criminally convict three Google employees for allowing a video to be posted to YouTube. The video showed schoolboys making fun of an autistic classmate. Despite the fact that Google took it down, the Italian court convicted them anyway – for not having a process of pre-screening videos so it would go up in the first place. In other words, kids, this ruling goes against everything that makes the Internet a cool place. If we were Google, we’d pull out of the Italian market entirely, just to show leadership there how ass-backwards this decision is. We’re sure that after two or three days without cat videos, there will be riots in the streets. Awful decision, Italy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Feb 2010 10:35

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Tech, World: China’s internet blocking is pathetically over-the-top in Xinjiang

The people in this car, from the Chinese Xinjiang province, have to travel 1,000 kilometers – a whole day – just to check their e-mail. Blame last summer’s protests. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

13 Jan 2010 11:13

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Tech, World: Google & China: Stocks prefer censorship over pullouts

  • +10% increase in Baidu’s stock this morning; they stand to benefit most from Google’s China pullout
  • -1% decrease in Google’s stock this morning, after posting about the pullout decision last night source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jan 2010 21:39

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Tech, World: Who’s bigger, Google or China? We’re about to find out quickly

  • china The country, known for limiting free speech as well as economic power, was apparently behind a large cyber-attack that hit Google and many other companies, and tried to access sensitive information about human rights activists.
  • google They noticed the hack, did their research and found the hack went far beyond them. They’re uncensoring their search results and considering leaving China altogether. Pardon our French, but this is fucking massive. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 
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