When things go right: students speaking up for free speech
Mark in the blog comments pointed out yesterday that he’d like to see more stories about students standing up for their rights. Student newspapers have great editorials supporting free speech, even in dicey cases like JuicyCampus (JuicyCampus itself is no longer running, but a replacement has already sprung up). NCAC’s film contest gives youth the chance to tell their story. [...]
Cyberbullying: Peer to Peer
This week, Blogging Censorship will look at student speech: the new technologies that create more spaces for free expression, and growing concerns about cyber-bullying, internet filtering, and student online speech off-campus. Today, we’ll look at cyber-bullying, peer-to-peer. That is, students harassing other students online. A recent report from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University declared that [...]
Juicy Campus shuts down
JuicyCampus CEO Matt Ivester says it’s because of global economic downturn and not enough revenue. Seems likely. It also seems likely that the mounting debate on colleges whether or not to ban JuicyCampus from the college networks, and attorney general investigations into consumer fraud may have tipped the balance, so that a 2009 filled with litigation and banning on colleges didn’t [...]
Facing the global audience: Flickr and censorship
The scene: Flickr permanently deletes accounts There are three Flickr* censorship stories floating around the internet at the moment (there are ongoing Flickr censorship stories). *Flickr – which let’s users upload photos and videos – is owned by Yahoo. One story is about photos taken down from a Flickr account (on threat of closing the account) for “offensive content.” That [...]
After COPA: Does Congress want to protect First Amendment freedom online?
It’s censorship projection day today. Leslie Harris, President and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology weighs in on the political landscape for internet censorship post-COPA at the Huffington Post: So what happens next? Will Congress once again beat against the tide and enact yet another Internet censorship law? … Will the Obama administration slam the coffin on Internet [...]
Video Games are “Soft Targets” For Censorship
Russell Bradburn writes at examiner.com: All politicians, left or right, engage in this sort of media scapegoating, and games are a particularly soft target for it. … What has our new president to say on the issue? Not much, apparently. The Obama campaign went as far as to place ads in the Xbox 360 game Burnout paradise, so Obama clearly [...]
Global gag rule lifted
On Friday, January 23rd, President Obama lifted the “global gag rule” by executive order. The policy prohibited international organizations receiving federal funding to talk about abortion as an option. In the Winter 2008 issue of Censorship News, in our “issues to watch” with the upcoming Obama Administration, we wrote: The “global gag rule,” created by executive order, prohibits federally-funded international [...]
Spam charges dropped for MSU student
We're happy to report that MSU has removed it's charge of "spamming" against student government leader Kara Spencer. Electronic Frontier Foundation's Legal Director Cindy Cohn said, We're pleased that MSU has reversed course and will not only drop the charge against Ms. Spencer, but will reconsider its flawed policies. When a school's anti-spam policy requires students to get approval before [...]
Why Texas matters: Evolution education in “one of the nation’s biggest buyers of textbooks”
The New York Times reported yesterday on the fight in Texas over science standards. The standards for 20 years have required that science be taught in a way that show the “strengths and weaknesses” of Darwin’s theory of evolution. The third draft, passed in December 2008 didn’t include this phrase, but this year 7 of the 15 members of the [...]
Supreme Court won’t revive Child Online Protection Act
Today, the Supreme Court declared that it won’t revive COPA, the Child Online Protection Act. Passed in 1998, the bill would “would have barred Web sites from making harmful content available to minors over the Internet.” The March 2007 federal appeals court decision ruled that COPA violated the First Amendment. In July 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third [...]
Books on the brain
It's a hot time for book challenges, bans and questions. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: pulled from the high school library, back in the library today. Satanic Verses: Salman Rushdie reflects on attempted censorship by his 20-year fatwa The Bookseller of Kabul: "temporarily banned in Wyandotte Public Schools" while Superintendent reviews the book. Night Talk: one parent [...]
Inauguration Special: Challenges to the new administration from free speech organizations
The Free Expression Network* has collected commentary and analysis from FEN members on the shifting political landscape and the opportunities and challenges free expression now faces. A diverse group of organizations dealing with free expression weigh in: including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Student Press Law Center, and American Association of University Professors. […]
Do Democrats really want to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine?
There’s been much buzz in the conservative blogosphere, talk radio and newspapers about a predicted return of the Fairness Doctrine. A group of Republican Senators have pulled together a bill that “would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, which would suppress free speech by requiring the government to monitor political views and decide what constitutes [...]
Critical thinking, teaching the controversy, and unproven belief roundup
Louisiana: On January 13, 2009, Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education passed a policy that gives teachers more leeway to use materials outside of the science textbooks. Supporters say this would foster critical thinking in students, critics says that this is merely a guise for permitting creationism in classrooms. Crack the code: how “critical thinking” is used to support [...]
The marketplace of ideas and hate music
David Marchese at Spin has a thoughtful piece about the distribution of hate music, and how the marketplace of ideas is better at tamping down hate speech than censorship.
Great news for student journalism in California
On January 6, 2009, a new California law that strengthens First Amendment protections for high school and college newspapers went into effect. The law in California previously protected students from punishment for articles in newspapers, but didn't protect the school paper advisors. According to a statement in the LA Times from a lobbyist for the bill, "[i]n the last three [...]
New threats to freedom of expression
"Although a recession may propel some people to seek more procedures, many consumers will reduce or forego cosmetic treatments, [academics] said." Well, if you define free expression like this:
Things are looking up
I'm not exactly sure what rubric this site uses (it seems to only pull from the first page of the blog), but the good news is: What got us here: porn (6x), dangerous (3x), sex (2x). Thanks, Ethan, Andy, and Kevin!
a slippery slope
Happy New Year, everyone.
FCC plan to remove porn filtering from internet plan
Kevin Martin, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission, is still working to push a plan to create a free wireless broadband network. Public Knowledge, which supports the plan, writes: We appreciate the potential of a new service that could provide a genuine alternative to the current wireline cable modem/DSL duopoly, to apply pressure on cable and telecom providers to [...]
On the significance of LOL cats
Ethan Zuckerman, who founded Global Voices Online, has an excellent talk in which he explains how web 2.0 services (that allow people to socially network, share LOL cats, and organize politically) play a critical role in getting around government censorship. You can read it here, with images he used at the talk. One gem, which [...]
Nevermind, bring on the cinema-style ratings!
Because if we can be G-rated, then why can't the rest of you? Words that might get us in trouble, though: dangerous (2x) sex (1x) For a good roundup of the UK ratings story, click here.
UK push for Internet ratings, “cinema-style”
The UK culture secretary Andy Burnham has recently spoken out about making the internet safer by adopting a rating system similar to the movie ratings. His take on the web: “quite a dangerous place.” According to the Telegraph: His plans to rein in the internet, and censor some websites, are likely to trigger a major row with online advocates who [...]
Antievolution bills die in committee, Texas science standards change
Two antievolution bills in Michigan died in committee on December 19th. The Michigan bills were modeled after the Louisiana Science Education Act which passed in June 2008. According to the National Center for Science Education: If enacted, the [Michigan] bills would have required state and local administrators “to create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages pupils [...]
Breast-feeding photos censored on Facebook
Mothers International Lactation Campaign (MILC) protested in front of Facebook headquarters after photos of mothers breastfeeding their children were removed from Facebook. Facebook said the images violated the terms of agreement (see also: Lori Drew). Heather Farley, a protest organizer, responded that Utah state law, for example, doesn't consider breastfeeding obscene and that Facebook should change its policy to allow [...]
Resource: Wikileaks
Wikileaks (not affiliated with Wikipedia) is an impressive project to collect leaked documents relating to government and corporate corruption. According to the website: Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. ... We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies. All governments can benefit from increased scrutiny [...]
Brighton Michigan’s decision to punish “annoying” behavior
The new ordinance lets police ticket and fine ($100!) those who "repeatedly commit acts that alarm or seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose." Seriously. Snark award goes to hotair.com: Michigan finds itself in such financial distress that its Congressional contingent has successfully harangued the White House into multi-billion-dollar loans to private enterprise. I find that extremely [...]
Schools to monitor online activities of students
There’s a push nationwide to monitor and punish students’ online behavior. According to the Des Moines Register, West Burlington is believed to be the first Iowa school district to consider including cyberspace as part of its student conduct policy, which says bad behavior can sideline children from sports, dances and other school activities. The plan not only raises the hackles [...]
The reason for the season: year end analyses
FIRE analyzes two big online speech cases in colleges. Looking at the MSU student found guilty of spamming for sending out emails to professors, and the blocking of JuicyCampus at TSU, the article looks at the legal and social implications of these decisions and how they could shape expression on campus. Gene Policinski looks at the state of the First [...]
NCAC signs letter to MSU President
NCAC and 10 other civil liberties organizations have joined FIRE and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in an open letter to the president of Michigan State University. The letter defends MSU student Kara Spencer who was charged with spamming. Here are excerpts from the letter: We the undersigned write to express our profound concern about the state of free expression at [...]
2nd Amendment: Censored evolution editorial was plagiarized
We left for the weekend with a piece on a student's editorial that was pulled from the school paper. From the student's perspective, and from the principal's response, it seemed the article was pulled because it defended evolution and failed to mention creationism. Unfortunately, as reported today in the Roanoke Times, the article was plagiarized. According to the editorial, the [...]
1st Amendment: BYU student’s photos back in art show
As jayhova pointed out in our comments section, the BYU photographer's pieces have been put back into the art show. Excerpted on the artist's blog, BYU's official statement stated that a "miscommunication" led to the removal of photographs of gay BYU students and a friend/partner/family member. We're glad to see that the pieces will be in the show and they [...]
Student editorial on evolution pulled by principal
A dispiriting story in the Roanoke Times on a student who's opinion piece on evolution was pulled by the principle principal (amusing typo, Sarah). Brandon Creasy, who is a student at Leonard A. Gereau Center for Applied Technology and Career Exploration wrote the article for the school magazine. The crux of his piece (printed in the Roanoke Times) is that: [...]
Students, Principals and fake Myspace profiles
Yesterday we wrote about the student who was suspended for a Facebook page she created criticizing her teacher. Today: we look at two Myspace student cases facing the court. In Layshock v. Hermitage School District, high school senior Justin Layshock created a fake Myspace profile of Hickory High School principal Eric Trosch. The profile said that Trosch was a “big [...]
High School Censorship Poll
[polldaddy poll=1188091] Sherman Alexie book pulled Student sues for Facebook suspension RENT cancelled by director Bumper sticker suspension upheld Censored Girl, Interrupted replaced
Former Student Sues School After Suspension for creating Facebook Page
In November 2007 Katherine Evans, a senior at Pembroke Pines Charter High created a Facebook group criticizing her teacher. Three other students weighed in to comment: all supporting the teacher. Two days later Evans took down the page. Two months later, the school principal Peter Bayer told Evans that she would be suspended for three days for “bullying and cyberbullying [...]
Arab on Radar? Which college news is JuicyEst?
Listening to: God is Dad [polldaddy poll=1187464] Juicy Campus v TSU "Spamming" student at MSU Professor Habib in the USA BYU and photos of gay students
It gets juicier
JuicyCampus sues Tennessee State University. Bonus: Excellent editorial from Brandeis University's student newspaper on why Brandeis should not ban JuicyCampus. Excerpt: "Students encouraging administrative control of which pages students can and cannot view on Brandeis' network are encouraging a restriction of their First Amendment rights."
I Fucked Your Boyfriend: The Update
Maria Gonzalez covers the “I Fucked Your Boyfriend” bumper sticker story at the Walla Walla Union Bulletin in which a student was suspended for keeping a bumper sticker on her car after the school asked her to remove it. In a letter to the board, NCAC asks the district to “reconsider and repeal the discipinary action, and to [...]