David Leigh and Richard Norton-Taylor report: A former MI5 secret agent is suing the London Evening Standard for revealing his name, his lawyers say, in an attempt to extend Britain’s privacy laws to cover the identity of intelligence officers. The agent is also threatening the Guardian with a high court injunction if the paper re-publishes…
Tag: free speech
Maine ruling due on privacy of anti-gay-marriage donors
David Hench reports: A federal judge will rule Wednesday on whether the state may require two national organizations that are working to repeal Maine’s gay-marriage law to disclose their contributors. The National Organization for Marriage and American Principles in Action have challenged the state campaign finance laws that apply to ballot question committees, arguing that…
Online defamation case: the limits of free speech
John Byrne of the Chicago Tribune updates us on the online defamation case covered here a few weeks ago. The case involves a Buffalo Grove, Illinois politician, Lisa Stone, who is seeking the name of someone who allegedly defamed her teenage son in online posts. Cook County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Lawrence ordered the Daily Herald…
Internet expression, long-held rights come into conflict
Mary Flood reports: Freedom of expression may seem boundless on the Internet, but in Houston and around the nation, computer users are increasingly finding their speech is not infinitely protected. Recent Harris County cases have shown that the worldwide forum offered by the Internet ups the ante and consequences of everything from idle chatter to…