Freedom of Speech

Public Citizen Client Was Blacklisted After Criticizing the Governor

June 17, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Commonwealth of Kentucky has settled a lawsuit with a political blogger whose critical comments of then-Governor Ernie Fletcher resulted in the state “blacklisting” all blogs on state-owned computers.

Public Citizen’s client Mark Nickolas, author of the blog BluegrassReport.org, agreed Tuesday to dismiss the suit in the U.S. District Court in Frankfort, Ky. after Kentucky officials approved the settlement agreement. Louisville attorney Jennifer Moore also represented Nickolas.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) chaired a hearing today on global internet freedom and corporate responsibility. The hearing examined the role of U.S. internet companies in the suppression of freedom of speech and press in certain countries.

"Freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed to all people and the advent of the internet has allowed billions of people to exercise this right more fully," Durbin said. "But many confront censorship and jail time for expressing themselves online. U.S. technology companies face difficult challenges when dealing with repressive governments, but they have a moral obligation to protect freedom of expression."    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- May 7, 2008 -- U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and U.S. Representative Peter King (R-NY), Ranking Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, today announced the introduction of the Free Speech Protection Act of 2008.

This bill would protect American journalists from libel suits brought in foreign courts that do not have the same protections for free speech that are found in the U.S. constitution. It mirrors H.R. 5814, legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative King.    » read more »

Texas Court Urged to Dismiss Suit Filed Against Internet Message Board Host

March 28, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Texas railway company that is suing to identify people who posted critical parodies on an Internet message board has no right to demand that the Web hosting company identify the posters just because the rail line finds the material offensive, Public Citizen told the court in a motion filed Friday.    » read more »

Ruling a Victory for Internet Free Speech

Feb. 29, 2008 -- Statement of Paul Alan Levy, Attorney, Public Citizen

Today, a U.S. District judge in California struck a victory for free speech when he unmuzzled Wikileaks.org, the Website that provides a forum for investigating government and corporate corruption around the world. After listening to arguments from Public Citizen, the California First Amendment Coalition and other public interest groups, the judge dissolved a temporary injunction against the site and denied a request for a permanent injunction.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- November 7, 2007 -- The Turkish government is strongly encouraged to follow through on stated commitments to amend a restrictive speech law, Freedom House said today.    » read more »

Petition to Identify Anonymous Blogger Dismissed in Public Citizen Victory

Oct. 25, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a big win for the First Amendment rights of bloggers, New York Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman late yesterday upheld the right to speak anonymously and dismissed a petition by a Lawrence, N.Y. school board member to identify an anonymous blogger.    » read more »

BNSF’s Subpoena Derails Free Speech, Lacks Evidence of Harm and Fails to Follow Basic Procedural Rules

Oct. 23, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Texas railroad company is way off track in thinking it can force an Internet provider to uncover the names of posters on an industry message board, Public Citizen said in a brief filed today in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Calif.    » read more »

10/15/2007 -- Statement of Rob Stoddard, Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, NCTA, Regarding National Freedom of Speech Week    » read more »