WikiLeaks Hunt Danger to Free Speech
This [Congressional Research Service] report identifies some criminal statutes that may apply [to dissemination of classified documents], but notes that these have been used almost exclusively to prosecute individuals with access to classified information (and a corresponding obligation to protect it) who make it available to foreign agents, or to foreign agents who obtain classified information unlawfully while present in the United States. Leaks of classified information to the press have only rarely been punished as crimes, and we are aware of no case in which a publisher of information obtained through unauthorized disclosure by a government employee has been prosecuted for publishing it. There may be First Amendment implications that would make such a prosecution difficult, not to mention political ramifications based on concerns about government censorship.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/information-antidote-fear-wikileaks-law-and-you
The Future of Free Speech
We are living in an age where a decreasing number of firms serve as a kind of Master Switch over speech on the internet -- think Google, Facebook, the cable industry, and the major telephone carriers. These firms are already under strong pressure to censor from powerful governments, religious groups, political parties, and essentially any outfit with a reason to want information suppressed. On a daily basis, as we speak, internet companies are making speech-related decisions more important than those made by any government. This is what speech management looks like in 2010. No one elected Facebook or YouTube, and neither one is beholden to the First Amendment. Nonetheless, it is their decisions that dictate, effectively, who gets heard. The American public needs to be aware of the dangers that private censors can pose to free speech. The American Constitution was written to control abuses of power, but it did not account for the heavy concentration of private power that we see today. And in the end, power is power, whether in private or public hands.
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Future-of-Free-Speech/125326/
Israeli law to criminalise boycotts
A bill has been introduced in the Israeli Knesset that would criminalise all boycott activities or boycott advocacy inside or outside Israel. The bill would target those that initiate, encourage, or provide assistance or information about boycotts against Israel. Israeli citizens or residents of Israel could be sued by whoever was harmed by the boycott and would have to pay up to ILS 30,000 (EUR 6,500) in restitution and an additional amount according to the harm established by the Israeli courts. Those that are neither citizens nor residents of Israel would lose the ability of entering Israel for at least ten years and would be forbidden from economic activity in Israel, such as holding an account in an Israeli bank or owning property in Israel.
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