Tag Archives: Topic: Internet

Washington Post: Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests the court makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it is forced to give the government

SCOTUS Blog: . . . two victim restitution cases, Amy and Vicky, Child Pornography Victims v. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, 12-651, and Wright v. United States, 12-8505 (involving the role of proximate cause in restitution for children depicted in child pornography)

US News and World Report: The percentage of Americans saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers dropped to 23 percent this year from 25 percent last year, according to a report on the poll, which was released Monday.

MO Family Policy Council: Dale Schowengerdt, senior legal counsel for ADF, says the state of Washington is “constitutionally precluded from compelling Barronelle Stutzman to use her artistic skill to personally craft floral arrangements for a same-sex ceremony when it violates her religious beliefs and her conscience to do so.” “Stutzman believes providing this service would compel her to express a message with her creativity that violates God’s commands,” Schowengerdt adds. “She believes that creation of the floral arrangements would be perceived as an endorsement and celebration of same-sex ‘marriage.’” “Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs,” Schowengerdt continues. “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions.”

Tim Worstall: Forbes: There’s been a lot of political pressure over here in the UK for Google GOOG +1.35% to “do something” about child pornography on the web. The argument seems to be, and it’s about as logical as most political arguments, that Google should make sure that the entire internet is wiped free of the horror that is that child pornography.

Religion Clause Blog: According to CNet News and JTA, in France yesterday the Paris Court of Appeal upheld a lower court order requiring Twitter to turn over to the Union of Jewish French Students (UEJF) and four human rights groups that brought suit the names of individuals who last October posted Tweets using anti-Semitic hashtags.

Patheos: However, Ms Stutzman hasn’t rolled over. She has filed a countersuit through the Alliance Defending Freedom. Her lawsuit is based on federal constitutional protections of religious freedom and protections in the Washington State Constitution.

LifeSiteNews: In 2008, a private tech company was quietly formed in Washington. Its purpose was simple: collect and store data on U.S. voters from across the issue spectrum and from all walks of life, and sort it into easy-to-use files that any left-leaning candidate or issue group could use to reach individuals with a message specifically tailored to their interests and lifestyle. The company was called Catalist, and it has proven to be the most powerful and effective weapon the Left has ever wielded in the battle to win the ultimate prize in the American political cycle: Getting out the vote.

CNSNews: While lawmakers were eyeing China last week over cyber spying and theft, the U.S. joined a small group of countries – including China – in U.N.-hosted cyber security talks that ended with an affirmation that international law, especially the United Nations Charter, applies in cyberspace.

American Federation for Children: The American Federation for Children, the nation’s voice for educational choice, today criticized the New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf for depriving students of vital educational options by refusing to authorize two virtual new charter schools. Both charter schools had received conditional approval and spent a year ensuring they met every requirement, only to have Cerf deny their approval.

Forbes: Yet, there is a world wide perception that any data that is stored or even routed through the United States is sucked into cavernous NSA data centers for analysis and cataloging.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of American Adults believe allowing free speech without government interference is better than letting the government decide what types of hate speech should be banned.

National Monitor: Glassware that violates the policy won’t be able to appear on Glass, according to a company spokesperson.

BBC: Search engines such as Google should do more to restrict access to online pornography, a government adviser on child internet safety has said.

Reason.com: Via Instapundit andJudicial Watch comes this troubling article in Tennessee’s The Tullahoma News about an upcoming conference entitled “Public Disclosure in a Diverse Society,” in which Kenneth Moore, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Knoxville Division, and Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, will warn citizens about the criminal dangers of Facebooking hate speech . . .

NewsMax: Internet postings that violate civil rights — such as insults and accusations against Muslims on Facebook — are subject to federal jurisdiction and possible prosecution, according to Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

CNSNews: The New York City Health Department’s NYC teen website now includes an app that teens can download to their smart phones to get information on “sexual health,” including where they can get birth control and abortions.

Dale Schowengerdt on Faith on Trial with Mike Manno to discuss the Arlene’s Flowers litigation. | MP3 audio 9:06 mins

Dale Schowengerdt on the Larry Elder Show to discuss the case. | MP3 audio 8:09 mins

Lodi News: The owner, Barronelle Stutzman, 68, routinely designs floral arrangements for gay and lesbian clients and has hired openly gay employees, but draws the line at providing flowers for same-sex weddings because of her religious convictions, said the suit filed on her behalf by a group that opposes same-sex marriage, Alliance Defending Freedom.

Yakima Herald:

Q: Your office is suing Richland florist Arlene Stutzman for refusing service to a gay customer who was getting married. Then Alliance Defending Freedom countersued on religious-freedom grounds. How do you reconcile the gay marriage law and laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation with a state constitution that protects “freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship”?

A: I reconcile it by looking at the law. And the law is clear: If you run a business, you can’t discriminate against certain classes of individuals. You can’t discriminate on the basis of race. You can’t discriminate on the basis of sex. And since 2006 you cannot discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. That’s the law in Washington state. From my perspective the case is clear. A court will ultimately determine who’s right in this case. But I’m confident the outcome will be favorable.

(Al Jazeera English) Murtaza Hussain at Alter Net: The US government extensively monitors its citizens’ internet activities, with dangerous effects on personal liberties.

Dale Schowengerdt appeared on KYKN with Bill Post to discuss the Arlene’s Flowers Litigation. | MP3 Audio 9:58 mins

Tri-City Herald: “Barronelle Stutzman’s only desire is that she not be forced to violate her faith when it comes to her beliefs about marriage,” said senior legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt. “Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs.”

KNDU.com (NBC): A spokesman for the non-profit organization, the Alliance Defending Freedom, said Monday the ACLU has no reason to force the owner of Arlene’s Flowers to act against her beliefs.

NY Times: The Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to defend its net neutrality rules against a court challenge got major support on Monday from the Supreme Court, which ruled in a separate case that regulatory agencies should usually be granted deference in interpreting their own jurisdictions.

Dale Schowengerdt appeared on the Dori Monson Show at KRIO Radio to discuss the Arlene’s Flowers litigation. | MP3 audio 11:07 mins

Michael Foust of Baptist Press at Christian Examiner: The ADF countersuit says forcing Stutsman to service a gay wedding violates her rights under Washington’s constitution, which ADF says “has broader protections for conscience and religious freedom” than does the U.S. Constitution. “The Washington State Constitution, in Article 1, Section 11, absolutely protects ‘freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief, and worship’ and guarantees that ‘no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion,’” the countersuit says.

RH Reality Check: Finally, in Washington state the Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a counter-suit against Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson on behalf of a florist sued by the state after she refused to provide flowers for a wedding ceremony of a same-sex couple. The counter-suit argues that the state’s lawsuit is an attempt to force the florist to act contrary to her deeply held religious beliefs and in violation of the Washington state constitution, which has in it a specific clause protecting the rights of conscience and religion.

“Numerous florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the ACLU has no reason to try to force this florist to violate her deeply held beliefs. Arlene’s Flowers has both served and employed people who identify as homosexual. Barronelle Stutzman’s only desire is that she not be forced to violate her faith when it comes to her beliefs about marriage. Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs.”

The Inquisitr: The suit was filed on her behalf by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that advocates “for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.” The lawsuit says that, because of Stutzman’s Christian faith, “she cannot as a matter of conscience participate in or facilitate a same-sex wedding.” The suit also claims that Stutzman’s 1st Amendment rights are being violated by trying to force her to provide for same-sex weddings.“Everyone knows that plenty of florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the state has no reason to force Barronelle to violate her deeply held beliefs,” the alliance’s senior legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt said.

LA Times: “Everyone knows that plenty of florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the state has no reason to force Barronelle to violate her deeply held beliefs,” senior legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt of the alliance said in a statement.

UPI: The suit was filed on her behalf by a group that opposes same-sex marriage, the Alliance Defending Freedom.

FRC Washington Update: After the ACLU filed a second lawsuit, Barronelle turned to our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Together, they’re countersuing Washington for violating her Christian beliefs. “Marriage has religious significance,” ADF argues, “apart from any civil significance. [Stutzman] believed that [servicing a gay marriage] would compel her to express a message with her creativity that violates God’s commands.”

The Advocate: “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions. Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs,” said Dale Schowengerdt, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is defending Stutzman.

Pink News: Attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom legal ministry, filed the new lawsuit on behalf of Stutzman on Thursday, at Benton County Superior Court, reports the Associated Press. Senior Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt, released in a statement saying: ”Everyone knows that plenty of florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the state has no reason to force Barronelle to violate her deeply held beliefs.”

Christian Post: “Everyone knows that plenty of florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the state has no reason to force Barronelle to violate her deeply held beliefs,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt in a statement. “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions. Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs. It is this very freedom that gives America its cherished diversity and protects citizens from state-mandated conformity.”

Wall Street Journal: What to make of the political scandals that are dominating the headlines and forcing the Obama administration into Nixonian damage control? Technology is finally doing to big government what it has done to big business, big media and other institutions that once could operate with nearly full control over information. The government is losing the ability to manipulate information to avoid accountability.

Baptist Press: A florist who was told by the state of Washington she must provide her services for a gay wedding is countersuing the state, saying she has served gay customers her entire career and is concerned the state’s position on gay weddings will harm religious freedom.

Think Progress: The suit claims that Stutzman is entitled to religious conscience protections that allow her to ignore nondiscrimination protections, as ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt attempted to explain to WorldNetDaily . . .

Towerload: “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions,” said Alliance Senior Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt. “Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs. It is this very freedom that gives America its cherished diversity and protects citizens from state-mandated conformity.

On Top Magazine: Dale Schowengerdt, senior legal counsel with the ADF, said Stutzman had a right to refuse service based on her religious convictions. “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions,” he said. “Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs.”

Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty: The counter suit, filed by an anti-gay-marriage group called Alliance Defending Freedom, argues that Ferguson’s suit is attempting to force Barronelle Stutzman to act contrary to her religious convictions in violation of her freedoms under the state constitution.

Seattle Post Intelligencer: “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions. Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs,” said Dale Schowengerdt, senior legal counsel with the Arizona-based group.

Seattle Times (AP): Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers claims the state is violating her religious beliefs. The Tri-City Herald reports that attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal ministry, filed the suit Thursday in Benton County Superior Court on behalf of Stutzman.

Gayopolis: Whenever there’s a lawsuit like this, scratch the surface and you’ll find the odious Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund) behind it. One more thing to thank Arizona for.

Tri-CityHerald:“Everyone knows that plenty of florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the state has no reason to force Barronelle to violate her deeply held beliefs,” attorney Dale Schowengerdt with Alliance Defending Freedom said in a statement.

NW News Network: Her lead counsel, Dale Schowengerdt says, there is no reason to use the state’s anti-discrimination law to force her to provide flowers for this ceremony. In fact, he says her religious rights and freedom are rooted in the state’s constitution.

King5.com: “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions,” said Alliance Senior Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt. “Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs. It is this very freedom that gives America its cherished diversity and protects citizens from state-mandated conformity.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Washington florist sued by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a countersuit against him Thursday.

Connie Friedersdorf at The Atlantic: The Pennsylvania Department of Health doesn’t make it impossible to report a “horror clinic” on its website, but it isn’t easy either.

LifeSiteNews: Responding to a groundswell of public opinion, the Supreme Court of India has asked the government to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that seeks to ban online pornography.

Red State: “We determined that our web filters recently detected malware at the SBC website, which resulted in the block for some service members,” Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said in a prepared statement. “The department has verified that the Southern Baptist Convention website no longer contains malware that may pose a threat to our networks and will be unblocked today.”

FRC‘: In a chilling new Federal Bureau of Investigation interrogation video just released, Floyd Lee Corkins, who stormed the Family Research Council’s (FRC) headquarters on August 15, 2012 and started firing, says that he picked his target from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) website.

Tech Crunch: Governments, even democracies, are not always fans of transparency. According to Google’s brand new transparency report, “government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown”, doubling since the second half of 2012 (1,054 requests vs. 2,285). Brazil took the gold medal of the censorship olympics, with 697 requests, while the United States took 2nd place, with 321 requests.

Religion Clause Blog: The court imposed a 10 month suspended sentence on Say, indicating that he would be imprisoned only if he commits a similar crime again within the next 5 years.

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: A Florida bill would ban “knowingly transmit[ting] or post[ing]” to any web site, a “photograph or video that depicts nudity of another person” coupled with “personal identification information” of that other person, “for the purpose of harassing the depicted person or causing others to harass the depicted person.” “Harass” is defined as “to engage in conduct directed at a specific person that is intended to cause substantial emotional distress to such person and serves no legitimate purpose.”

Digital Journal: Police in Bangladesh say they have arrested four atheist bloggers for “defaming” Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. The police action follows calls from Islamic fundamentalist groups for a crackdown on secular bloggers.

Findlaw: The appellate court, however, agreed with the First and Tenth Circuits that downloading images and videos containing child pornography from a peer-to-peer computer network and storing them in a shared folder accessible to other users on the network amounts to distribution under federal law. | U.S. v. Richardson IV

ZeeNews.com: Dhaka: Three atheist bloggers in Bangladesh were today arrested here on charges of defaming Islam, as the government set up the country’s first cyber crime tribunal to prevent exploitation of religion on the Internet.

NBCNews: The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country’s private, civilian-run infrastructure.

Reuters: A federal appeals court rebuked a Connecticut judge on Tuesday for allowing his views on Facebook and the growth of child pornography to influence the sentence he handed a woman in a case unrelated to the Internet.

allAfrica.com: The Media Monitoring Committee together with the Communication Commission of Kenya are working to have a law that will require internet service providers to install ISP addresses to all computers to help in monitoring the origin of inappropriate messages.

AP: Gov. Chris Christie says he’ll take the fight to legalize sports gambling in New Jersey to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

Religion Clause Blog: In a consent order in Hunter v. Board of Trustees, Salem Public Library, (ED MO March 5, 2013), a Missouri federal district court ordered the Salem, Missouri public library to refrain from reactivating on its public computers filters that blocked websites relating to the categories “occult” or “criminal skills.”

Bloomberg: The Feb. 28 Virginia ruling is the first appellate decision addressing the application of the First Amendment to lawyer blogging, according to Bloomberg BNA Law Reports. The question of when and how attorneys may market themselves via blogs and websites has become a hot topic in legal circles. | Hunter v. Va. State Bar

Albert Mohler: The moral effects of pornography are, by now, well attested. The scourge of pornography has brought ruin and harm into the lives of millions of our friends and neighbors, destroying marriages, distorting sexuality, and poisoning minds. Even so, the pornography industrial complex continues to grow, representing one of the most lucrative segments of the Internet economy.

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania have sent a letter requesting that school officials at Governor Mifflin School District in Berks County stop using Internet filters that violate students’ First Amendment free speech rights. The district uses a “sexuality” filter that blocks sites that express support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and an “intolerance” filter that blocks political advocacy sites that are labeled as intolerant.

AP: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a bill legalizing Internet gambling, making his state the third in the nation to offer online betting.

National Post: Canada’s controversial 20-year-old legal definition of hatred is set to be updated or even overturned on Wednesday, as the Supreme Court of Canada rules in the case of William Whatcott, a born-again anti-gay pamphleteer who ran afoul of Saskatchewan’s Human Rights Code.

AP: In the age of instant information, globe-spanning viral videos and the World Wide Web, can a thoroughly wired country become a porn-free zone? Authorities in Iceland want to find out.

LifeNews: On January 28, in my capacity as social media manager for a coalition of national black pro-life leaders, I set up accounts on Facebook and Twitter to promote our upcoming demonstration in Los Angeles of the NAACP Image Awards on February 1.

Christian Post: Neil Clark Warren, Christian co-founder and CEO of the popular online dating site eHarmony, recently spoke on how he believes the same-sex marriage debate has “damaged his company,” and that he hopes America can “be more harmonious” on the issue.

Telegraph: Iceland could become the first Western democracy to attempt censorship of the internet under radical proposals to block online pornography.

Forbes: What’s the big deal, right? Just like Skype! Or ooVoo or any number of other video chat apps for the desktop. Except there’s no intermediary! This demonstration uses a relatively new protocol called WebRTC that promises to change the way we all use the internet.