A prisoner gag law in Philadelphia, apparently triggered by rage at a recent commencement speech at Goddard College by alumni, inmate and author Mumia Abu-Jamal, is being challenged in court as an unconstitutional abrogation of the right of speech. The legal challenge is being mounted by the Abolitionist Law Center and Prison Radio producer and former MA board member Noelle Hanrahan, who has been distributing Abu-Jamal’s commentaries for decades. Their press release below. Continue reading Muzzle Mumia Law Falls Outside the US Constitution→
On May 7th, a Federal Appeals Court in New York ruled that the bulk metadata collection program attached to Section 215 of the Patriot Act is “‘irreconcilable with the statute’s plain text’.
California governor Jerry Brown signed SB 828 into law in 2014. The final version of the bill is far weaker than what started out in the CA State Senate months ago, but is still a powerful symbol of the dis-ease Californians feel about mass blanket government surveillance of their telephone calls and Internet activity. Continue reading SB 828 – Turn The Water Off On The NSA Bill Signed by Jerry Brown→
Senator Dianne Feinstein finally responded to the Bay Area-wide Shame on Feinstein campaign. In her letter, the senator makes several questionable statements notably “The NSA does not conduct mass surveillance on US citizens”, that she “supports measures to improve oversight of US intelligence programs” and that she “take seriously my responsibility to ensure that national security programs honor the privacy and Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. citizens”. The letter is attached below.
White House report on the era of Big Data and review of the policy challenges in managing the sea of data without replicating across new platforms the same old discriminations and divides that have been with us for way too long.
Our friends and Media Action Grassroots Network colleagues May First/Peoplelink’s statement on their federal gag order.
May First/PeopleLink is one of the New York anchors for the national media justice coalition Mag-Net (Media Action Grassroots Network www.mag-net.org).
Recently they were subjected to a federal gag order due to their work with the Athens, Greece Indymedia Center.
