News of the movement for April 19, 2012 |
News Corp. is a "toxic institution" that operated like a "shadow state" in British society, according to a Labour MP who is the co-author of a new book about the phone-hacking scandal.
Dan Sabbagh and Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian
The wide-ranging police inquiry into phone hacking and other wrongdoing at Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers moved a step closer to possible criminal prosecutions when Scotland Yard sent files on 11 unidentified people, including four journalists and a police officer, to the Crown Prosecution Service.
John F. Burns, New York Times
Committee to Protect Journalists's Mará a Salazar-Ferro names the 12 countries where journalists are murdered regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. Where are leaders failing to uphold the law? Where are conditions getting better? And where is free expression in danger?
Committee to Protect Journalists
The grisly photographs of American soldiers posing with the body parts of Afghan insurgents during a 2010 deployment in Afghanistan were the source of a dispute between the Los Angeles Times and the Pentagon lasting weeks.
Brian Stelter, New York Times
Washington looks set to wave through new cybersecurity legislation next week that opponents fear will wipe out decades of privacy protections at a stroke. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) will be discussed in the House of Representatives next week and already has the support of 100 House members. Opponents fear the way it is currently drafted will open up ordinary citizens to unprecedented scrutiny.
Dominic Rushe, The Guardian
The Internet's been ablaze this week with news about CISPA, a new cybersecurity bill that's set to be introduced on the House floor next week. Vocal critics have likened it to SOPA, the doomed anti-piracy bill that caused widespread outrage and protests earlier this year. Even though the two bills are markedly different, they both touch on very sensitive topics for people. Just how public is the private information we share? And who has the right to share it? It's a concern that’s uniquely important to communities of color.
Jamilah King, Colorlines
In the wake of SOPA, everyone hailed the new power of the tech lobby to rile up the online masses and stop Congress in its tracks. But now, the netroots are turning on tech companies.
Elizabeth Wasserman and Jennifer Martinez, Politico
While 'Stop Cyber Spying Week' is focused on U.S. initiatives, Canadians should be concerned as well as the adoption of a privacy-invasive U.S. cybersecurity strategy is likely to have serious implications for Canadian civil liberties. For this reason, Canadian civil society groups have joined the protest.
Katiza Rodriguez, EFF
Verizon Wireless has long talked up its extensive 700 MHz holdings as the crème-de-la-crème of 4G spectrum, referring to them on numerous occasions as "beachfront property," compared to the more modest spectral real-estate many of its competitors own. But Verizon revealed it planned to sell off many of its beachfront 700 MHz licenses in exchange for permission to buy the very same low-rent spectrum it's derided in the past.
Kevin Fitchard, GigaOM
Critics of Verizon's planned purchase of cable operator spectrum were quick to jump on the company's announcement that it was putting the 700 MHz spectrum it got in an FCC auction on the block contingent on the approval of the purchase of AWS spectrum from SpectrumCo.
John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable
The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to review the FCC's decision to fine CBS for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl.
Brooks Boliek, Politico
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group you've never heard of. Drawing the vast majority of its financing from big corporations, the group allows these firms to help write bills that it then secretly passes off to state legislators to get turned into laws. The next time you groan at the thought of paying your broadband bill, remember that some of America's biggest corporations are funding a group that works to make sure your city is barred from offering a cheaper and faster service.
Zaid Jilani, AlterNet
Despite the fear-mongering by North America's wireless phone companies that a spectrum crisis is at hand -- one that threatens the viability of wireless communications across the continent, some of the most prominent industry veterans dispute the public policy agenda of phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, Bell and Rogers.
Phillip Dampier, Stop the Cap!
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down a ban on political ads on noncommercial TV and radio stations. Not surprisingly, the prospect that Elmo and the Dowager Countess now might have to share the airwaves with attack ads prompted a mild freakout.
Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones
Public radio and television stations are weighing the opportunities and risks of accepting political advertising following a federal court ruling that found an existing ban on such ads violates the First Amendment, and that running them would not undermine public broadcasting's mission.
D.C. Denison, Boston Globe
The station says it is making 'progress' in reinventing itself after bolting PBS in 2011, but revenue is way down and few new shows have been produced. Critics question its survival.
James Rainey, Los Angeles Times
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