freedom of speech

Read the latest freedom of speech news, cases, and stories on Newser.com

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High Court Rips Up Corporate Campaign Donation Limits

5-4 ruling repeals part of McCain-Feingold

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns. By a 5-4 vote, the court today overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their...

Aides Blame Facebook for Berlusconi Attack

Italy plans crackdown on social networking sites

(Newser) - The attack on Silvio Berlusconi will likely deal a blow to freedom of speech in Italy. Members of his government have publicly blamed social networking sites—where anti-Berlusconi pages have proliferated—for the assault. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has announced plans for a crackdown, saying that the Internet could spawn...

Man Awarded $50K Over Bird-Flipping Ticket

Pittsburgh settles suit over ticket for giving cop the finger

(Newser) - Giving the finger to a cop has won a Pittsburgh man a $50,000 payoff. The city council decided to pay him to settle a civil rights lawsuit he brought after being ticketed for flipping the bird at a police officer and a fellow motorist, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Federal...

China Censors Obama Speech
 China Censors Obama Speech 
Nov 16, 2009 2:41 PM CST

China Censors Obama Speech

National coverage of school event cut after a few minutes

(Newser) - President Obama’s entreaty for greater personal freedoms in China did not reach most of nation’s residents, apparently because of a last-minute decision by censors. Though authorities initially agreed to broadcast the speech, which Obama hoped would be the central event of his China visit, all national transmission was...

Web Protests Win Surprise Traction in China

Some fear official tolerance is surveillance in disguise

(Newser) - The usually repressive Chinese government has been surprisingly tolerant of—and even responsive to—a wave of Internet petitions protesting local injustices and corruption. Online campaigns have gotten accused killers freed, officials fired, and charges dropped against a motorist who cut off his own finger to protest police entrapment, then...

Ky. Church: Praise the Lord, Pack Your Heat

(Newser) - Some 200 pistol-packing parishioners filled a church in Louisville, Ky., yesterday to celebrate the somewhat unlikely combination of freedom of religion and the right to bear arms, reports the Courier-Journal. Church members checked to ensure the weapons were unloaded and holstered before pastor Ken Pagano led the congregation in patriotic...

Anti-Porn Curbs Mask Chinese Crackdown on Dissent

Google blocked as Beijing ramps up Internet controls

(Newser) - The Chinese government ramped up restrictions on Internet use yesterday, sharply curtailing access to medical research on sexual health. It's the latest escalation in what Beijing calls an anti-pornography campaign that will culminate in new filtering software, called the Green Dam, that will be installed on all new computers from...

UK Bans Ad With Lusty 'Pope'
 UK Bans Ad With Lusty 'Pope' 

Apr 2, 2009 4:02 AM CDT

UK Bans Ad With Lusty 'Pope'

It caused 'serious offense,' ad council rules

(Newser) - A British advertising commission has blocked the use of a dancing, beer-guzzling photo-manipulated "Pope John Paul II" in an advertisement promoting a nightclub, reports the Telegraph. "It was hugely offensive," said a spokeswoman for a Polish organization, one of several Catholics who complained about the brochure. "...

Democratic Petition Gains Support in China

Charter 08 first sustained human-rights campaign since '89 Tiananmen protests

(Newser) - An online human-rights manifesto has been gaining support in China, the Washington Post reports. Charter 08 has gathered 8,100 signatures, from ordinary citizens as well as known advocates for democracy. The document, modeled after a document put together by intellectuals in the former Czechoslovakia, demands China’s constitution be...

Playboy Snowboards Arouse Debate in Vermont

Some see sexism in Playboy line; others demand free speech

(Newser) - Racy snowboards have created a snowball of protests in liberal Vermont, the Boston Globe reports, where manufacturer Burton makes a Playboy line plastered with giant images of naked women. While some in Burlington say free speech guarantees their right to ride what they want, others worry about the effect of...

Shoe-Thrower Is Instant Hit on Arab Street

Demonstrators want journalist who took aim at Bush set free

(Newser) - Thousands marched across Iraq today to demand the release of Muntazer al-Zaidi, the little-known Shiite journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush yesterday. Though Bush spent last night making shoe puns—I have my assailant’s “sole,” he quipped—Iraq’s government was less amused, charging al-Zaidi...

Student Sues Over Facebook Suspension

Constitutional case asks if school can limit online expression

(Newser) - With the help of the ACLU, a Florida high school grad is suing a former principal for violating her constitutional rights in suspending her for “cyber-bullying” a teacher, the Miami Herald reports. Katherine Evans created a Facebook page railing against her “worst teacher,” and asked classmates to...

Croatia PM Decries Facebook Arrests

Police detained man who set up anti-government group on networking site

(Newser) - Croatia’s prime minister wants an explanation for arrests of opposition activists who rallied anti-government sentiment on Facebook, the BBC reports, including a 60,000-strong group plotting protests for tomorrow. Police in the Balkan state, which is hoping for EU membership, detained another group’s founder for disturbing the peace...

Palin: Media Threatening My First Amendment Rights

Because it won't let me attack Obama without criticizing me

(Newser) - Sarah Palin seems to think the Constitution is supposed to protect her from criticism. On a conservative radio show, Palin said the media is unfairly attacking her for her shots at Obama on Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, and that if the media “convinces enough voters that that is...

US Urges China to Free 8 Yanks
 US Urges China to Free 8 Yanks
Aug 24, 2008 2:33 PM CDT

US Urges China to Free 8 Yanks

Pro-Tibetan demonstrators to be released next weekend

(Newser) - Washington is seeking the release of eight US protesters held by China during the Olympics, Reuters reports. Two were collared Thursday for posting a "Free Tibet" banner near an Olympic event; six others were members of Free Tibet Reporters detained the day before. Beijing vows to release all eight...

Amnesty: China Broke Promises of Free Speech

Olympic committee has hushed dissent despite 2001 vow

(Newser) - Ten days ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony, Amnesty International charged that China hasn’t welched on promises of freedom for activists and journalists it made when it was awarded the Games. “The Chinese authorities are tarnishing the legacy of the Games,” said a rep who called...

Aussie Court Strikes Down Law Banning Pope Protests

Law against 'annoying' Catholics attending papal events ruled unconstitutional

(Newser) - An Australian court has struck down a law aimed at curbing protests during Pope Benedict XVI's visit Down Under, reports Reuters. The law, ruled unconstitutional, had banned protesters from "annoying" those attending papal events. People handing out condoms or wearing anti-Pope t-shirts faced possible $5,000 fines.

Teenagers Have Rights, Too
Teenagers Have Rights, Too
Opinion
Jul 12, 2008 7:10 PM CDT

Teenagers Have Rights, Too

Schools shouldn't use high court ruling to silence 'disruptive' students

(Newser) - "Teenagers have constitutional rights." That shouldn’t be controversial, but several schools are in court arguing that the First Amendment doesn't apply to students, writes Frank LoMonte in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Morse v. Frederick set a precedent last year, when Supreme Court judges ruled that students could be...

Real Patriots Criticize the Government
 Real Patriots Criticize
 the Government 
Opinion
Jul 4, 2008 6:50 PM CDT

Real Patriots Criticize the Government

American ideals more important than scare of the minute

(Newser) - Patriotism is the word of the day, but what does it mean? For Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it means fighting for your country’s ideals. "I believe I'm lucky to be an American because our founding document embraces the revolutionary idea that any citizen should be able...

Philly Guides Seek Liberty From Licensing Law

Test requirement violates First Amendment, guides argue

(Newser) - Three tour guides in the cradle of democracy are taking the city to court over a law they say tramples on their constitutional rights, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The law compels Philadelphia guides to pay a fee and take a test to get a tour license—and the plaintiffs argue...

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