Freedom of Expression

Why You Can’t Trust The Media On TPP & Trade

April 20, 2015 Lee Fang, www.firstlook.org Educate! Free Trade, Freedom of Expression, Media, TPP

Broadcast media has not devoted much air time to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, an agreement that will greatly impact 40 percent of the global economy. But hacked emails from Sony reveal that media industry executives have been engaged in active discussions about the agreement behind closed doors. On April 17, 2014, Steven Fabrizio, the general counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America, sent out an update to industry executives — including Maren Christensen of NBC and Alan Braverman of Disney, the parent company of ABC News — detailing lobbying efforts by the MPAA. “Finally, in regard to trade,” Fabrizio wrote, “the MPAA/MPA with the strong support of your studios, continue to advocate to governments around the world about the pressing need for strong pro-IP trade policies such as TPP and the proposed EU/US trade agreement (TTIP).”

First Hologram Protest Held Against Spain’s Gag Law

April 12, 2015 Jennifer Baker, www.revolution-news.com Resist! Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Expression, hologram, Spain

Spanish citizens held the first hologram protest in history in order to protest without violating the new draconian guidelines of the National Security Act, the new amendments to the Penal Code and the Anti-terror law. According to the recently approved “triad gag“, the citizens of Spain cannot protest against the Congress or hold meetings in public spaces, plus they have to ask permission from the authorities whenever they wish to protest publicly “If you are a person you can not express yourself freely, you can only do that here if you become a hologram,” says a woman in the video released by the movement “Hologramas para la Libertad.”

Letters To A President: Return To Sender

April 10, 2015 Ralph Nader, www.blog.nader.org Resist! Democracy, Freedom of Expression, Media, Politics

Citizen correspondence is important both for you as President and them. For the citizens, it is an opportunity to circumvent the barriers presented by the media and governmental institutions to directly access the White House. For presidents, letters help, as you have said, escape “the bubble” (e.g. the ten letters from citizens you read each evening). Letters from citizens also convey ideas and observations that alert you to conditions, issues, and urgencies at hand and occasionally provide you with an opportunity to publically discuss the point raised by an ordinary citizen who penned such a letter. Just the other day, when you were visiting Ohio, a chance question to you from a person in the audience elicited your view that mandatory voting would “be transformative” and exists in a number of other democracies, such as Australia.

Barrett Brown Stripped Of Prison Email After Talking To Media

April 8, 2015 Cyrus Farivar, www.arstechnica.com Resist! Freedom of Expression, Prison, Privacy, Surveillance

Barrett Brown, the brash journalist and former member of Anonymous who was sentenced in January 2015 to over five years in federal prison, had his e-mail privileges suddenly revoked, seemingly for corresponding with journalists. On Sunday, Brown’s supporters published his account of the punishment, describing how he suddenly lost access to his prison-supplied e-mail account on March 31. In the ensuing days, Brown attempted to contact various prison officials to get further information, including someone named “Trust Fund Manager Coleman.” As Ars reported previously, in April 2014 Brown took a plea deal admitting guilt on three charges: “transmitting a threat in interstate commerce,” interfering with the execution of a search warrant, and being "accessory after the fact in the unauthorized access to a protected computer."

Arizona School Officials Protest Ed Cuts, Protests Made Illegal

April 6, 2015 Maggie's Farm, www.dailykos.com Resist! Arizona, Education, Freedom of Expression, Law

Some of the most vocal critics of Ducey's education policy have been school board members, district superintendents and teachers, which does not please the governor. Early on, when his budget was being debated, 233 superintendents signed and sent a letter to the legislature asking them to stop their boneheaded budget slashing. After Ducey's draconian budget passed, Dr. Michael Cowan, superintendent of Mesa School District, the largest in the state, sent an email to teachers and parents that was critical of the governor's plan. Ducey's response was swift: his "dark money" backers (Koch of course), with the governor's knowledge, organized a robocall campaign to smear Dr. Cowan. The message to school employees was clear: shut up or we'll shut you up. Well, they did not shut up.

Journalists Sue Police Over Treatment During Ferguson Protests

April 2, 2015 Associated Press, www.theguardian.com Resist! Ferguson, Freedom of Expression, Law, Media, Police

Four journalists arrested during last summer’s protests over the Fergusonshooting death of Michael Brown are suing St Louis County’s police department for civil rights violations and unlawful detention. The lawsuit filed Monday in St Louis also names 20 unidentified St Louis County officers. Plaintiffs include two journalists who were covering last August’s protests for German publications, as well as a freelance reporter and a journalist for an online investigative publication. The suit describes them as US citizens. The lawsuit alleges that the journalists’ arrests for failing to disperse when ordered by police was unjustified and was an infringement of constitutionally protected freedom of the press.

After Talking To Washington Post Minimum Wage Worker Fired

March 31, 2015 Chico Harlan, www.washingtonpost.com Educate! Freedom of Expression, Worker Rights and Jobs

Shanna Tippen was another hourly worker at the bottom of the nation’s economy, looking forward to a 25-cent bump in the Arkansas minimum wage that would make it easier for her to buy diapers for her grandson.When I wrote about her in The Post last month, she said the minimum wage hike would bring her a bit of financial relief, but it wouldn’t lift her above the poverty line. She called me the other day to say she didn’t get to enjoy the 25-cent hike for long. After the story came out, she says she was fired from her job for talking to the Post. I spend a lot of time writing about people at the low end of the economy, and I see up close how narrowly they get by day-to-day. In this case, writing about Tippen’s plight may have made her situation worse.

Spanish Parliament Passes Anti-Indignado Law Against Protests

March 30, 2015 Erin Gallagher, www.revolution-news.com Educate! Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Press, police brutality, Spain

Yesterday three laws widely criticized by the opposition and human rights groups were approved in Spanish Congress. The Penal Code, the new Anti-Terror Law and the Law on Citizen Safety. The three new texts challenge freedom of expression in the streets and on the Internet. All three laws are scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2015. Under the new Citizen Safety Law or Ley Mordaza (Gag Law) as human rights defenders have renamed it, public protests, freedoms of speech and the press and documenting police abuses will become crimes punishable by heavy fines and/or jail. Some key points on the Ley Mordaza: Photographing or recording police – 600 to 30.000€ fine. . .

Whistleblowers Wanted: Mexican Journalists Seek Tips

March 18, 2015 Jo Tuckman, www.theguardian.com Resist! Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Press, Journalism, Mexico

In a country rife with corruption, criminality and abuse – and where saying the wrong thing in earshot of the wrong people can get you killed – Mexican journalists can have a hard time obtaining the kind of solid information required to sort out rumour from reality. Now an alliance of eight Mexican media outlets and civil society groups is courting potential whistleblowers with a new digital platform that promises to protect the anonymity of sources with the help of sophisticated encryption software. Mexicoleaks describes its mission as the construction of a “Transparent Mexico”, and participants say they hope it will help them document political corruption, human rights abuses and other misuses of institutional and economic power.

Buoyed By Net-Neutrality Win, Activists Prepare Next Campaign

March 2, 2015 Dustin Volz, www.nationaljournal.com Educate! Freedom of Expression, Internet, Net Neutrality

Over the opposition of some of Washington's most powerful corporate interests, an unlikely grassroots coalition came together and successfully lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to adopt the strongest net-neutrality rules possible. This wasn't a fluke. Just a few years ago, many of the same groups turned the Internet into a war zone over the Stop Online Piracy Act. They viewed the copyright bill, heavily backed by Hollywood and music interests, as an assault on the foundational freedoms enshrined in the Internet and launched an online guerrilla campaign that included thousands of websites shutting down in protest. Lawmakers promptly killed the bill and fled for the hills. Internet "slacktivism" is frequently derided as a passive form of political engagement that doesn't translate to real-world results.

Met Police ‘Pay To Protest’ Proposal Rejected

February 20, 2015 Rob Evans, www.theguardian.com Resist! Freedom of Expression, Human Rights, Protest

Twelve campaigning groups have said they will refuse to pay for what they view as their right to protest. Their declaration comes after the Metropolitan police told protest groups they would have to pay what could amount to thousands of pounds for private firms to oversee their protests. The Met said they would have to fund traffic management - including measures such as road closures, barriers and stewards - for demonstrations they are planning to hold. Scotland Yard has previously carried out the role. In a statement on Thursday, the coalition of groups declared: “We believe any demand to pay to be able to demonstrate constitutes an unacceptable restriction on the right to protest.”

Repression & Demobilization In Spain

February 16, 2015 Yesenia Barragan, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Freedom of Expression, Spain

Passing through Puerta del Sol on a Sunday afternoon in late-January, I noticed how two policemen approached a group of about seven or eight elderly protestors holding a banner protesting cuts to social services. After what seemed like a bit of a tense moment, one of organizers pulled out a white sheet from his backpack and waved it in the face of the officers, who eventually walked away. For me, this appeared to be a rather strange sight, having attended many unauthorized gatherings and marches beginning in this plaza. But that has all changed since the passing of one of the Gag Law’s most contentious legislations that prohibits protest in public spaces without permission. Depending on the context, one can be fined anywhere between 30,001-600,000 Euros for not having received the proper authorization.

TPP: Prison For File Sharing? That’s What Hollywood Wants!

February 14, 2015 Maira Sutton, www.eff.org Educate! Freedom of Expression, Internet, Mass Incarceration, Media, TPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) poses massive threats to users in a dizzying number of ways. It will force other TPP signatories to accept the United States' excessive copyright terms of a minimum of life of the author plus 70 years, while locking the US to the same lengths so it will be harder to shorten them in the future. It contains DRM anti-circumvention provisions that will make it a crime to tinker with, hack, re-sell, preserve, and otherwise control any number of digital files and devices that you own. The TPP will encourage ISPs to monitor and police their users, likely leading to more censorship measures such as the blockage and filtering of content online in the name of copyright enforcement.

Assassination Plot Records Won’t Be Released

February 12, 2015 Dylan Baddour, www.chron.com Resist! Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, Houston, Occupy, police brutality

Details of a plot to kill Occupy Houston leaders won't be released after a federal court upheld the FBI's claim that the documents are legally exempted from the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI argued information was withheld, including 12 of 17 relevant pages, to protect the identity of confidential sources who were "members of organized violent groups," according to Courthouse News Service. A heavily-redacted FBI document first revealed a Houston plot "to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs, then kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles."

Freedom Of The Press: Where’s Pardon For Chelsea Manning

January 20, 2015 Matthew Behrens, www.rabble.ca Educate! Chelsea Manning, Freedom of Expression, Whistleblowers

When a former U.S. army private awoke in her jail cell just over a week ago -- some 17 months into a 35-year jail sentence -- she could have been forgiven for thinking, in the immediate aftermath of the terrible Paris magazine attacks, that the commutation of her punitive sentence for exercising freedom of speech and conscience was about to be placed on President Obama's desk. Obama, like many world leaders, had just issued stunning, passionate statements about freedom of the press, human dignity, and all the great things that make countries like Canada and the U.S. just so undeniably terrific. For the now 26-year-old Chelsea (previously known as Bradley) Manning, though, it was not to be. She had had the audacity to challenge terrorism by exposing it, not in a manner that humiliated or denigrated her targets, but simply to inform the public, generate discussion, bolster democracy and hold accountable those who had committed atrocities.

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