» First Amendment

EFF and Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic: Anonymous speech protected by Illinois court

Margot — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:00:50 +0000

The Illinois Court of Appeals yesterday overturned a lower court ruling that had ordered the disclosure of the identity of an anonymous online critic of a political candidate, ruling that the First Amendment prevented such “fishing expeditions” undertaken by “those easily offended by online commentary.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA) at the ISP filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. While defamatory or other actionable speech may allow for the unmasking of an online speaker, EFF and MFIA argued that the First Amendment requires a heightened standard for unmasking anonymous speakers in order to protect robust debate — political or otherwise.

More here and here.

The court’s full order here.

MFIA and EFF’s amicus brief here.

ISP fellow Christina Mulligan is brilliant

Margot — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:40:23 +0000

We all knew it, but Forbes confirms it. Says Forbes contributor Timothy B. Lee of ISP Fellow Christina Mulligan’s work on the Cato amicus brief in Mayo v. Prometheus:

“Cato, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Reason Foundation—have submitted an amicus brief in the case of Mayo v. Prometheus. As far as I know, this is the first time any of these think tanks has filed an patent-related amicus brief with the Supreme Court, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m listed as a co-author on the Cato site, but the brief was actually written for us by the brilliant Christina Mulligan at Yale’s Information Society Project.”

More here.

Update, dated 9/19: Christina’s Cato brief got mentioned in Techdirt, as well.

Beth Noveck on Open Government April 23

Laura DeNardis — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:04:14 +0000

You are cordially invited to a special Information Society Project lunch speaker series featuring Beth Noveck discussing “Open Government and the First Amendment: Strengthening our Democracy through Transparency, Participation, and Collaboration” on Friday, April 23 at 12:15 p.m. in Room 128 of Yale Law School. This event is part of the Liberty Tree First Amendment Online Colloquium, sponsored by the Liberty Tree Initiative, the McCormick Foundation, and the First Amendment Center.

Beth Noveck is a Founding Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, the United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer for open government and head of the United States Open Government Initiative, and a Professor of Law (on leave) and Director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a 1997 graduate of Yale Law School.

Please don’t miss this opportunity to attend a special event and ISP Reunion with Beth Noveck.