Iran is to cyberwar what 1930s Spain was to airwar – contested ground where everyone tries out new technology and tactics. After being on the receiving end of Stuxnet, which sabotaged the Natanz enrichment plant and showed that cyberweapons could replace cruise missiles, it looks as though the Iranian government has gone on the offensive. […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
Better Swatch What You Say
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reporters sneaked onto a conference call that Swatch held with invited securities analysts. The reporters taped Swatch executives’ two-hour exchange with the analysts, even though the call-in preliminaries included warnings that the call would be recorded for Swatch and that no other recordings should be made. When Bloomberg started selling its […]
Newspapers Have No First Amendment Exemption from Political Spending Reporting Requirements
By Eugene Volokh on September 8, 2011 5:46 pm in Freedom of Speech, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
Regulations of campaign expenditures usually exempt the media (which has usually been read quite broadly to include most regularly published publications). Thus, for instance, the Federal Election Campaign Act, which as written banned independent expenditures of over $1000 in support of or opposition to a candidate, exempted the media — otherwise, the Act would have […]
$60,000 Damages for Blogging the Truth About Someone, Intending to Get the Person Fired
I blogged about the Johnny Northside case (Moore v. Hoff) when the verdict came down, but there’s now a moderately detailed trial court opinion refusing to set the verdict aside. Here’s an excerpt from a Minneapolis Star-Tribune article about this latest development: The jury ruled last March that [John] Hoff’s scathing blog post amounted to […]
Federal Government Prosecuting Man for Writing Many Insulting Tweets and Blog Posts About Religious Leader
Somini Sengupta at the New York Times wrote today about this case, in which William Lawrence Cassidy is charged with violating the federal antistalking statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2261A by “with the intent to harass and cause substantial emotional distress to a person … us[ing] an interactive computer service … to engage in a course […]
Judge Blocks Implementation of Missouri Law Banning Teachers from Facebook “Friendships” with Under-18 Current or Former Students
The newly-enacted Missouri Revised Statutes § 162.069.4 provides, No teacher [in a Missouri public school] shall establish, maintain, or use a nonwork-related internet site [i.e., a “website or web page used by a teacher primarily for personal purposes and not for educational purposes”] which allows exclusive access with a current or former student [i.e., “any […]
Judge Rescinds Order That Barred Blogger from Posting Anything About the Mayor’s Sister
So reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer a few days ago, but I didn’t notice until today. The order is the one that provided, “respondent is prohibited from posting any information/comments … on any Internet site regarding the petitioner [the mayor’s sister] and … her immediate or extended family”; as I argued then, the order was […]
Reinstatement of Florida Teacher Who Was Reassigned After Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage Facebook Posts
So reports WFTV (thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer. For more on the original story, see this post. The Orlando Sentinel also reports that the teacher (Jerry Buell) has been ordered by the school to remove certain statements by Buell on his school materials: [T]he school district questioned statements on Buell’s […]
Public School Teacher Reassigned Following Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage Facebook Post [UPDATE: Teacher Has Since Been Reinstated]
[UPDATE: The teacher has now been reinstated.] CNN reports: A former “teacher of the year” in Lake County, Florida, has been reassigned while school administrators investigate comments posted on his Facebook page about same-sex marriage…. [S]chool officials received a complaint Tuesday about the content on Mount Dora High School teacher Jerry Buell’s personal Facebook page […]
Charter School May Not Sue State; Charter School Teachers’ Free Speech Rights Not Violated by State Curriculum Restrictions
From Nampa Classical Academy v. Goesling (9th Cir. Aug. 15, 2011) (nonprecedential) (unsigned opinion by Judges Reinhardt and Willie Fletcher, with Judge Rawlinson concurring in the result only: Nampa Classical Academy (“NCA”), along with plaintiffs Moffett, Kosmann and M.K., sued the Idaho Public Charter School Commission, alleging that its policy prohibiting the use of sectarian […]
An Unusual (But Likely Constitutional) Speech Restriction
From BART, a San Francisco-area public transportation agency: Organizers planning to disrupt BART service on August 11, 2011 stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART Police. A civil disturbance during commute times at busy downtown San Francisco stations could lead to platform […]
Discussion of the Mohammed Cartoons Not “Speech Involv[ing] Matters of Public Interest or Concern”?
Today’s Kentucky Court of Appeals decision in Mendez v. Univ. of Kentucky Bd. of Trustees contained an odd bit of analysis that I thought I’d mention. Here’s the fact pattern: The precipitating event leading up to the cessation of [Fullmer] Mendez’s employment at the College of Health Sciences occurred on March 27, 2006. One morning […]
The First Amendment and the Government as Employer
I’ll be posting an item shortly on a particular dispute involving the First Amendment and the government as employer, and I thought it would be helpful to articulate the current legal rule on the subject. Here it is, quoted from my First Amendment textbook (and, yes, I know the legal rule is pretty vague): Rule: […]
City of Renton Drops Attempt to Prosecute Its Critic (and to Use a Search Warrant to Uncover His Identity)
I blogged about this case earlier under the headings “Is It a Crime to Publish Parody Videos That Use “Lewd … Language” Meant to “Embarrass and Emotionally Torment” Police Officers?” and “Search Warrant for Name of the Author of the Renton (Washington) Parody Videos Temporarily Stayed.” The news, reported last night by the Seattle Times, […]
You’d Think Anti-Establishment Filmmakers Would Have a Bit More Interest in Preserving a Strong First Amendment
From Michael Moore: Pres Obama, show some guts & arrest the CEO of Standard & Poors. These criminals brought down the economy in 2008& now they will do it again When Standard & Poor’s gives a bond rating, it’s expressing an opinion about how likely it is that the bond is sound. The First Amendment […]