Free Press

Goodbye Press Freedoms: More Journalists Arrested Covering Occupy, Occupy Tweets Subpoenaed

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:07:38 -0500

Full article: AlterNet
Sarah Seltzer
Since the Occupy protests began, more and more members of the press have been arrested, harassed, or kept from covering evictions -- raising serious First Amendment alarm bells. Indeed, the U.S. has plummeted to 47th in the world for press freedoms thanks to the law enforcement reaction to those who cover the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Arizona State Restores Access to Change.org after National Outcry

Lindsy Embree — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:03:35 -0500

Full article: Fire Dog Lake
Adam Kissel
Arizona State University has restored access to the petition website Change.org after blocking it due to dubious concerns about "spam" emails coming from the site related to a petition advocating lower tuition costs at the university.

SOPA/PIPA Opponents Tell Hill to Scrap Legislation, Period

Lindsy Embree — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:39:54 -0500

Full article: Multichannel News
John Eggerton
House and Senate antipiracy legislation opponents are pressing their offensive. Having tabled versions of PIPA and SOPA they argued were Internet chillers or killers, they are calling on Congress to essentially to back off any legislative antipiracy efforts at all.

Comcast Raises Rates; Competitors Prices Go Up as Well

Stevie Converse — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:47:50 -0500

Full article: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kristi E. Swartz
Many of metro Atlanta Comcast customers started off the year with higher cable bills as the nation’s top cable provider raised rates for most of its TV packages. But with limited industry oversight and little competition, frustrated customers may find little options elsewhere as DirecTV and AT&T’s U-verse bump up their prices as well.

NAB Spars with Free Press over TV Campaign Coverage

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:29:58 -0500

Full article: Broadcast Engineering
Phil Kurtz
A report released last week by Free Press contending television broadcasters will reap nearly $3 billion in revenue from political advertising this year without fully disclosing to the public where that money comes from has drawn a sharp rebuke from the NAB.

Officials Say Spam Emails Caused ASU to Block Access to Petition Site

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:33:07 -0500

Full article: Downtown Devil
Josselyn Berry
Unsolicited spam emails from petition website change.org forced Arizona State University to block access as well as outbound emails to the site, university officials said.

ASU Blocks Petition Website on Campus Network

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:23:12 -0500

Full article: State Press
Kharli Mandeville
A Tumblr blog calling for Arizona State University to unblock the petition website Change.org began circulating the Internet, causing many students to become concerned that their First Amendment rights had been violated. ASU removed access to the site through any University server or email network. The petition was asking for signatures to support lowering the cost of tuition at ASU.

Silicon Valley Coalition Faces New Challenge

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:22:27 -0500

Full article: NPR
Joel Rose
Internet companies and activists showed their growing clout by all but killing two copyright bills that big media websites had pushed. Now, the same players who stopped SOPA and PIPA are trying to work together to further protect their interests. They're finding that may be easier said than done.

Journalists Arrested at Saturday Occupy Oakland Protest

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:05:48 -0500

Full article: OaklandNorth
Lexi Pandell
Nearly 400 people, including six local journalists, were swept up in mass arrests at an Occupy Oakland protest on Saturday night, according to a City of Oakland press release. The number of journalists arrested during the coverage of a single Occupy-related event was the highest since last November, when 10 reporters were arrested during the police raids on New York's Zuccotti Park.

After Carrier IQ, Markey Proposes Mobile Privacy Bill

Lindsy Embree — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:31:25 -0500

Full article: PCMagazine
Chloe Albanesius
Carrier IQ was big news last month after a researcher claimed that the company's technology can gather personal data about mobile phone users. Carrier IQ, however, denied any sort of sinister goings on and said its technology is used for diagnostic purposes. The controversy died down a bit over the holidays, but a Massachusetts congressman released a draft version of legislation that would require mobile companies to inform consumers about their ability to track them and require opt-in consent.