Disclosure: I often work with Bruce Schneier on privacy and civil liberty issues.

After hearing various stories about photographers worldwide being harassed by corporate security guards and government law enforcement officers, I planned to write a post about the problems that arise from turning an innocent and ubiquitous activity into a suspicious act. But, security expert Bruce Schneier has beaten me to it, and I cannot add to his excellent analysis. An excerpt: Read more »

Disclosure: I have worked with the Electronic Frontier Foundation on a variety of issues.

EFF has filed an amicus curiae brief (pdf) in Dominick v. MySpace. (An amicus curiae brief is filed by a person or group who is not a party in the case, but wishes to address issues of law, policy, or some other aspect of the case.) In this case, an Illinois official has asked (pdf) a Cook County Circuit Court judge to order social networking site MySpace to reveal the identities of the author of two MySpace profiles. The official is alleging “defamation, invasion of privacy and related torts.” 

“The First Amendment protects not only the right to speak but to speak anonymously,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. “If Mr. Dominick’s claims are legitimate, he may be able to obtain the identifying information that he seeks. Until he meets his burden, however — including, among other things, attempting to notify the author of this court action and identifying the allegedly defamatory statements at issue — the court should not grant his request. The First Amendment requires courts to guard against attempts to unmask critics who have simply made statements litigants don’t like, especially when such requests are made by elected officials.” Read more »

On Monday, June 9, at 10:45 am, I will be a panelist at the ACLU Membership Conference in Washington, D.C. The topic is, “Who Chooses? Freedom of Information on the Web.” The moderator is Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Project. The other panelists are Gigi Sohn, Executive Director of Public Knowledge, and Jim Tucker, Policy Counsel at the ACLU. Learn more here.