Australia Chosen as the Battleground to Try to Destroy Your Data Privacy
Draft legislation would force tech companies to compromise encryption at the government's demand.
Civil Liberties
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Overprotective Parenting Led to Fragility on Campus
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff explain how "good intentions and bad ideas" have made young people super-fragile-and how to make things better.
Indonesian Blasphemy Conviction for Complaining About Mosque's Loud Call to Prayer
My Spanish blasphemy post reminded that I've been meaning to blog about the Indonesian decision, handed down last month.
Unholy Toledo -- Blasphemy Prosecution in Spain
"The Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers has announced that it is also planning to ask the judge to consider investigating Toledo for hate crimes after he said during a television interview that if people were shot for their religious beliefs and Catholic churches burned during the Spanish Civil War, it was because they 'must have done something."'
Maybe Social Media 'Outrage' Is Just a Lazy Partisan Ritual: Podcast
Before demanding censure or intervention, take a step back from the Twitter machine and ask yourself whether anyone really cares about this stuff.
A Second Look at a Controversial Study About Defensive Gun Use
Criminologist Gary Kleck revises his paper on the incidence of the use of firearms for self-protection.
Oops! The EPA Published the Social Security Numbers of People Who Filed FOIA Requests
Thanks to a design bug in a government transparency website, dozens of social security numbers were mistakenly made public.
The Problem With Prohibitions on Electronic Contraband Like 3D-Printed Gun Designs
The urge to suppress runs up against targets which have no form, shape, or fixed location, and can be infinitely reproduced.
Magistrate Rejects Sealing in Discrimination Lawsuit Against Novelist Nicholas Sparks and the School He Founded
A good example of a court properly protecting the public right of access to court records.
Judge Willett Questions Qualified Immunity
In a concurring opinion, Fifth Circuit Judge Don Willett expresses concern about the " kudzu-like creep of the modern immunity regime."
Walmart Illegally Discriminated Against 18-to-20-Year-Old Gun Buyer, Oregon Antidiscrimination Agency Alleges
Oregon is one of a handful states that bans age discrimination against 18-to-20-year-olds by places of public accommodation.
A Young Mom Was Justified in a Shooting, but a Past Marijuana Charge Means Prison Time
Authorities say Krissy Noble was justified in shooting and killing a home intruder while she was pregnant.
Protective Orders, Due Process, and the Second Amendment
"While not a criminal matter, an order of protection exposes a respondent to an array of restrictions, including severe limitations on his or her Second Amendment rights. A respondent deserves a meaningful due process opportunity to present his or her case."
Arizona Supreme Court Rejects Proposed Lawyer Speech Code (Rule 8.4(g))
The rule would have banned, among other things, "harmful verbal ... conduct that manifests bias or prejudice towards others" "on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law," including "in bar association, business or social activities in connection with the practice of law."
J.D. Martinez's Second Amendment Stance Is Patriotic, Not Controversial
Why should an athlete be subjected to a nonsensical controversy ginned up by reporters?
Gun Controllers Insist 'Congress Knows' How to Prevent Attacks Like the Jacksonville Shooting, but No One Actually Does
None of the usual solutions seems apt.
More Guns, Less Crime? Reason/Soho Forum Debate in NYC on Sept. 13
Criminologist Gary Kleck and former head of the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence Paul Helmke will debate defensive gun use.
Another "Stop Talking About Him" Court Order, This One Obtained by Convicted Securities Fraudster
Tracy Zona was ordered to "remove forthwith, all references to petitioner the family and legal representatives and make no further posting in re of any kind"; she was then ordered to spend five days in jail unless she removed the posts (which she did).
Federal Court: First Amendment Protects Feeding the Homeless—Sort Of
Referencing Shakespeare, the Bible, and American colonial times, a federal court rules in favor of a group's right to feed the homeless.
Missouri Might Imprison You for False Meat Advertising
A state law says you can't call it meat unless it's actually beef, pork, or poultry. Critics say the bill violates the First Amendment.
Trump Doesn't Like What People See When They Search 'Trump News'
Threatened regulations on "fake news" would be an attack on press freedom
Defense Distributed Lawyer Josh Blackman on 3D-Printed Guns and Free Speech: Podcast
Cody Wilson's attorney talks guns, speech, and "Lochner-izing the First Amendment."
President Trump Says "Google Search Results" are "RIGGED," "a Very Serious Situation" That "Will Be Addressed"
But would the First Amendment allow Congress to regulate search results?
Senator Ron Wyden (Co-Author of § 230) Trying to Pressure Internet Companies to Restrict "Indecent" Ideas?
That's how I read his item last week in TechCrunch, which warns Internet companies that this might happen if they "fail to understand one simple principle: that an individual endorsing (or denying) the extermination of millions of people, or attacking the victims of horrific crimes or the parents of murdered children, is far more indecent than an individual posting pornography."
Trump Says His Crummy Google Results May Be a Crime: Reason Roundup
Plus: "Sheriff Joe" Arpaio faces voters again, states go after sexual-assault NDAs, and Louisiana florists fight licensing exams.
How Trustworthy Does Facebook Think You Are?
Should we be concerned about a new system to keep track of real vs. fake news?
Rutgers Says: Professors' Facebook Opinions Can Be Punished for Disrupting "the University's Core Function of Educating a Diverse Student Body"
Prof. James Livingston (white himself) said he "hate[s] white people" -- but Rutgers' reasoning would equally punish professors who express a wide range of views that offend people with a particular religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and the like.
Rabbinical Law, The 5th Amendment, and Michael Cohen's Guilty Plea
The same civil liberties that protect accused communists or street criminals may also protect the president or his lawyer. They protect us all.
Brett Kavanaugh, Abortion, and 'Settled Law'
Don't assume Roe v. Wade will be safe with Justice Kavanaugh.
ACLU on the NRA's Lawsuit Against N.Y. Gov. Cuomo
The NRA accuses N.Y. government officials of unconstitutionally pressuring financial services companies into not dealing with the NRA -- an ACLU friend-of-the-court brief says, "If true, those allegations represent a blatant violation of the First Amendment."
ACLU Sticks Up for the NRA?!
The civil rights group and the gun rights group don't always get along. But today the ACLU stuck up for the NRA against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Reporter Says She Was Cuffed for Photographing a Cop in Public
Prosecutors have declined to file charges against the officer.
Saudi Arabia Wants To Execute a Female Activist for Protesting the Government
Israa al-Ghomgham would be the first female activist to be executed in Saudi Arabia.
Netherlands Prosecuting Man for Insulting Turkish President Erdogan
The insults were in e-mails sent to the Turkish embassy.
Trump Is No Match for the First Amendment
Far from undermining freedom of the press, the president's fulminations prove its durability.
Rap Song = Punishable True Threat, Says Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The court stressed that the song threated particular police officers by name.
Prison Inmates in at Least 17 States Are Going on Strike Today
"For some of us it's as if we are already dead, so what do we have to lose?"
A New Report Details Pro-Trump Censorship of Liberty University's Student Paper
"I didn't feel comfortable being told what I couldn't write about by President Falwell."
Extortion and Super-Secret Prior Restraints
An Oklahoma case involving an employee's allegations of food plant contamination-litigated under seal.
This Liberal Carried an American Flag to Protest Fascism in Portland. Antifa Cracked His Head Open With a Bat.
Masked Antifa agitators told Welch, a Hillary voter, to hand over the flag. He resisted. They attacked.
The Senate Accused Them of Selling Kids for Sex. The FBI Raided Their Homes. Backpage.com's Founders Speak for the First Time.
An inside look at how indie media veterans James Larkin and Michael Lacey became the targets of a federal witchhunt.
"A Court Cannot Tell [Anyone] That He or She Cannot Be Rude, Insulting, or Boorish"
Words of wisdom from Rhode Island Judge Richard Licht.
Air Marshals Secretly Followed an Artsy Virginia Mom on Flights to Make Sure She Wasn't Going to Destroy America
More details emerge on TSA's secret, suspicionless surveillance of certain American travelers.
Why the New Winnie the Pooh Movie Is Banned in China
A story of censorship in the age of memes
