Green Energy
(With a hat-tip to Raven, who emailed me the link below)
Better watch your backs, fellow bloggers.
Excerpt from this July 15, 2008 article in the New York Times:
For now, the above case never made it to court. Instead, the district attorney withdrew the subpoena. According to the article, the withdrawal included the caveat as follows: "a subpoena was not necessary at this time...."
But what about tomorrow?
Once compromised, freedom of speech is lost. And for how many generations? After all, the right to freedom of speech is a right won with blood and sacrifice, but a right which can be abrogated by a legislating judge -- right here in the United States.
Oh, and according to the latest information, the web site Room 8 has pulled all of its posts, past and present.
Read the entire NYT article. Now.
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- Insurance For Bloggers?
(With a hat-tip to Cube) Freedom of speech: Use it or lose it. Freedom of speech: Use it or lose the war of ideas. From this article in the Christian Science Monitor: ...“We’re coming up with a product that covers defamation, copyright, privacy violations...
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Green Energy
Bloggers And The Law
(With a hat-tip to Raven, who emailed me the link below)
Better watch your backs, fellow bloggers.
Excerpt from this July 15, 2008 article in the New York Times:
...A grand jury subpoena sent by prosecutors in the Bronx earlier this year sought information to help identify people blogging anonymously on a Web site about New York politics called Room 8.Read the entire article HERE.
The subpoena carried a warning in capital letters that disclosing its very existence “could impede the investigation being conducted and thereby interfere with law enforcement” — implying that if the bloggers blabbed, they could be prosecuted.
“We were totally perplexed,” said Ben Smith, who co-founded Room 8 with Gur Tsabar. (The site calls itself an “imaginary neighbor” to the press room — Room 9 — in City Hall in New York.) The two promptly began looking for a lawyer. “We knew enough to be scared.”
This, of course, is a blogger’s nightmare: enforced silence and the prospect of jail time. The district attorney eventually withdrew the subpoena and lifted the gag requirement after the bloggers threatened to sue. But the fact that the tactic was used at all raised alarm bells for some free speech advocates.
The demand for secrecy raised the unnerving prospect that prosecutors could quietly investigate anyone who posts comments online, while the person making those comments is unaware of and unable to respond to the risk. The tactic also robs bloggers of one of their most powerful weapons: the chance to spread the word and turn the legal attack into an online cause célèbre.
[...]
Bloggers concerned about possible litigation may want to check the privacy policies of their Internet service providers, to see whether they include a pledge to notify any customer whose site is the subject of a subpoena, Mr. Zittrain said....
For now, the above case never made it to court. Instead, the district attorney withdrew the subpoena. According to the article, the withdrawal included the caveat as follows: "a subpoena was not necessary at this time...."But what about tomorrow?
Once compromised, freedom of speech is lost. And for how many generations? After all, the right to freedom of speech is a right won with blood and sacrifice, but a right which can be abrogated by a legislating judge -- right here in the United States.
Oh, and according to the latest information, the web site Room 8 has pulled all of its posts, past and present.
Read the entire NYT article. Now.
- Issa Subpoenas Kerry To Testify On Benghazi
From Breitbart: House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is issuing a subpoena for Secretary of State John Kerry to testify before the committee May 21 about Benghazi, Issa announced Friday. The move comes in the wake of new, "smoking gun"...
- Two Days Ago The Obama Admin Was Warning Dems Not To Go On Fox Or Else ..now They're...
Yes, aside from AG Eric Holder addressing the supposedly banned CAIR, aside from Nancy Pelosi's Health Bill giving the feds the rights to invade every aspect of your personal finances to determined if you should be fined $15k or jailed in their...
- Oh Oh O Is Watching
h/t Her Royal Whyness Vegas Paper Get Subpeona to Identify Online Commenters LAS VEGAS - A Las Vegas newspaper says it has been served a federal grand jury subpoena seeking information about readers who posted comments on the paper's Web site. The...
- Insurance For Bloggers?
(With a hat-tip to Cube) Freedom of speech: Use it or lose it. Freedom of speech: Use it or lose the war of ideas. From this article in the Christian Science Monitor: ...“We’re coming up with a product that covers defamation, copyright, privacy violations...
- Pakistan Blocks All Google Blogs - That Damn Disrespect Problem With Islam
The BBC had an interesting article today. Pakistan is blocking all Google blog sites to prevent any Paks accessing mo cartoons or mocking articles about Islam. Instructions were issued to internet service providers across Pakistan on 27 February to block...