A dangerous time to attack whistleblowers
AP Photo/Tommy Martino
Efforts to undermine First Amendment rights on the internet and to censor online content are a fundamental threat to the free press.
When lawmakers try to censor online speech or entire platforms, it harms the First Amendment rights on which journalists rely.
Most people get their news online, and the internet and social media are especially important for independent and citizen journalists who publish there. Anyone who cares about press freedom should also oppose attempts to undermine free speech online.
Featured Items
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Does Cyberspace Exist? Is It Free? Reflections, 20 years Later, on A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
Twenty years ago tonight, I was at a staff party for the closing of the World Economic Forum, lured there by a coven of the contemporary geishas that staffed the Forum in those days, composed largely of doctoral students in Foreign Affairs at the University of Geneva. But I had …
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When The News Reads You Back: Why Journalists Need to Stand Up for Reader Privacy
When you are reading the news, it is reading you back. According to new research out of the University of Pennsylvania visiting news websites exposes you to more than twice as much tracking software as the rest of the web. Researchers Tim Libert and Victor Pickard used open-source software to …
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It’s Time for a Real Debate on Reader Privacy
Last week longtime local publisher Howard Owens, founder of the online news site the Batavian, launched a new publication covering Wyoming County in upstate New York. Buried in a parenthetical within his welcome message to readers was a fascinating promise: “We’ll also respect your privacy by not gathering personal data …
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Tor Challenge Inspires 1,635 Tor Relays
Good news for whistleblowers, journalists, and everyone who likes to browse the Internet with an added cloak of privacy: the Tor network got a little stronger. Tor—software that lets you mask your IP address—relies on an international network of committed volunteers to run relays to help mask traffic. And that …
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Can't Run a Relay? Here Are Some Other Ways You Can Support the Tor Challenge
Today we’re helping to launch the Tor Challenge, a clarion call for people all over the world to support the Tor network in the most crucial way possible: by running relays. Relays are the fundamental building blocks of Tor; they are the nodes through which your connection is routed …
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How US News Organziations Should Respond to Censorship in China
Influential voices are now arguing that the US should retaliate against the possible mass expulsion of American journalists from China by imposing similar restrictions on Chinese media operating in the US. Strong reactions to new and increasing restrictions in China are necessary, but this approach risks being counterproductive. Restricting access …
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Eskinder Nega, Award-Winning Ethiopian Blogger, to Face 18 Years in Prison
This blog was originally published on EFF's Deeplinks blog. Yesterday, the Ethiopian Supreme Court upheld the conviction and extreme sentence of award-winning online journalist Eskinder Nega, who now faces 18 years in prison. Nega was arrested in September 2011 and charged with “terrorism” under a vague law in Ethiopia …
