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Chilling Effects of Anti-Terrorism
"National Security" Toll on Freedom of Expression
The right to free speech faces the strongest challenges during times of crisis. Whether or not any of us agree about each particular decision made to prevent public access to sensitive information, it is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's responsibility to chart any such efforts so that we as a society are at least aware of what is no longer available to us.
This page attempts to convey the chilling effect that responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have had on information availability on the Internet as well as some sense of the effect on people trying to provide this information.
Currently, this page tracks the following:
If you know of a anti-terrorism chilling effect that should be listed here, please use our contact form
Feel free to mirror this page on other websites, just please link back to the original on this page.
Websites Shut Down by US Government
DEA to Redirect Seized Websites The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said it indicted 11 Web site operators for allegedly selling illegal devices including bongs and holders for marijuana cigarettes. "Mr. Ashcroft says customers who want to visit some of their favorite drug paraphernalia websites are in for a big surprise in the days ahead. They will be automatically redirected to the website for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration," Voice of America, February 24, 2003
ATF Fails to Poindexcise Bomb Threat InfoThe first three links on this page
http://www.atf.treas.gov/press/breakingnews/threat.htm now tell you: "The Explosives, Bomb Threat and Detection Resources publications are no longer available online. You must send in a written request to the following to receive a copy:...", ATF, February 11, 2003
No URL Left Behind? Web Scrub Raises Concerns The Department of Education is in the process of a massive overhaul of its Web site to make it easier to use and to remove outdated data—and ensure that material on the site meshes with the Bush administration's political philosophy. The department will strip its ed.gov site of thousands of files, many of them old and inaccessible from the site's home page. Sometime this fall, the new Web site will be unveiled, with special sections for teachers and researchers, parents and policy wonks. But some researchers and government watchdogs say the department's decision to scrap some information based on whether it comports with Bush administration initiatives could set an unsettling precedent. The redesign thus highlights yet another question emerging from new technology: Just what responsibility do political officials have to preserve the products of those who came before, particularly if their predecessors saw the issues in a different light, Education Week, September 18, 2002
Besieged ISP Restores Pearl Vid The unedited video of journalist Daniel Pearl being murdered is back online. An Internet hosting company in Virginia, which the FBI threatened last week with federal obscenity charges, said on Monday afternoon that it would resume distribution of the horrific 4-minute video. Pro Hosters owner Ted Hickman said he and his customer, ogrish.com, decided to thumb their nose at the bureau's warnings for two reasons: (1) A realization that the FBI's threats were spurious, and the legal aid of the American Civil Liberties Union. (2) "We have decided to take the hot seat in this position, mainly because we and ogrish.com believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom of press and the First Amendment," Hickman said. "It's definitely something that I think people should be able to view if they choose to," Wired, May 28, 2002
FBI Seeks Pearl Video Ban on Net The FBI has ordered an ISP to stop distributing the unedited video of journalist Daniel Pearl being brutally murdered. A customer of Pro Hosters had posted the 4-minute video on the ogrish.com site. Pro Hosters responded by removing the video, Wired, May 23, 2002
Security Concerns Force House To Limit Access to Documents "Citing increased security concerns since Sept. 11, Congressional officials have classified as "confidential" three of the four reports issued by the House Inspector General so far this year.", LewRockwell.com, February 5, 2002
The Bell Tolls for FreeRepublic.comThe 9th District Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, will convene to hear oral arguments in re: Washington Post and Los Angeles Times v. FreeRepublic.com LLC, in what is perhaps the most important 1st amendment case of the new millennium. At issue is the propensity of FreeRepublic.com and its owner, Jim Robinson, to allow the posting of whole-length articles from news organizations nationwide a policy the Post and Times, respectively, assert infringe upon the intellectual property rights of both the news corporations and of individual writers, LewRockwell.com, February 5, 2002
Internet service remains sparse in SomaliaWhile the bulk of Somalia is still suffering from a lack of Internet access, a small number of people are still able to use the Internet in certain areas of the country. Currently, there are other companies, such as Telcom Somalia, providing Internet service in Hargeisa and Somaliland, two parts of Somalia that have broken away from Somalia, but are not officially recognized by the rest of the world, Digital Freedom Network, January 30, 2002, AllAfrica.com, January 23, 2002, BBC, January 22, 2002,
Somalia Back OnlineA new telecommunications company has opened its doors in Somalia, two months after the country's only internet provider and a major telecommunications company were closed down for allegedly supporting terrorism. "The firm, NetXchange, opened its business today ... the Somali capital, Mogadishu," BBC, January 22, 2002
http://www.ironvamc.com/ registered by UpLogon.com The veterns administration has shut down individual hospital websites hosted on non gov or edu servers, http://www.ironvamc.com/, January 7, 2002
U.S. Shuts Down Somalia Internet, links firms to terrorismThe US believes the two companies also support Bin Laden Somalia's only internet company and a key telecoms business have been forced to close because the United States suspects them of terrorist links, BBC, November 23, 2001, Newsday, November 23, 2001, NorthernLight, November 23, 2001, SiliconValley.com, November 22, 2001, Slashdot, November 23, 2001, Somalinet, November 23, 2001
Websites Shut Down by Other Governments
Be Prosecuted for Publishing Bomb-Making InfoThis article claims that Austin will be prosecuted for publishing bomb-making information. The 18 USC provision cited forbids anyone to teach or demonstrate the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or to distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction, with the intent that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence. Cryptome, August 12, 2002
Charges To Be Dropped Against Raisethefist.com Owner Federal charges will be dropped against the teen-aged operator of anti-government site Raisethefist.com, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in central California confirmed today. Sherman Austin, 18, was arrested Feb. 2 in New York at a demonstration against the World Economic Forum. He currently is being held in a federal transfer detention center in Oklahoma City, enroute to his home state of California, Newsbytes, February 15, 2002
Raisethefist.com ShutdownRaisethefist.com was an alternative media site conversing a diversity of subjects including anarchism, activism, and current events not reported by mainstream media or even what passes as alternative media were reported and commented on in an open publishing format available to the public. On January 24, 2002 approximately 25-30 individuals, mostly federal agents, but also LAPD, and LA Sherriffs Dept personnel according to one source, raided the raisethefist.com founder's home fully armed, confiscated some of his property and shut down the site along with the newly opened, laanrchists.org site that he also recently created, IndyMedia, January 27, 2002, Newsbytes, January 31, 2002
Manatee County Libraries Censor SitesYou've been censored!!! The computers for public usage at the public libraries in Manatee County Florida do not allow access to your website eff.org., January 22, 2001
Canadian Feds Shut Down Overthrow.comIndymedia, November 15, 2001
qoqaz.netReportedly shut down by British government because prosecutors allege that the site was affiliated with London-based Azzam Publications and urged support of terrorism to defend Muslims in the Caucasus, "donating money for the Taliban," and "military training for the battle," Wall Street Journal / MSNBC, October 8, 2001
Sakina SecuritiesThe Sakina Securities website at was shut down on Oct. 5, the same day the British government arrested Sulayman Balal Zainulabidin for allegedly "providing training or instruction in the making of firearms, explosives or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and inviting others to do the same," Wired News / Reuters, October 4, 2001, and Newsbytes.com, October 12, 2001
Websites Shut Down by Internet Service Provider
Al Jazeera and The Net - Free Speech, But Don't Say ThatArabic satellite TV network Al Jazeera's efforts to build an English-language web site have run into another speed bump. Akamai Technologies, whose "Accelerated Networks can stand up to unpredictable traffic and flash crowds for even the largest events," fired Al Jazeera last week. Akamai issued a statement saying it had worked "briefly" last week with Al Jazeera, but that it had decided "not to continue a customer relationship" with the channel. No reason was given for the decision, but an Al Jazeera spokeswoman told the New York Times that companies were coming under "nonstop political pressure" to refuse to do business with the channel, The Register, April 7, 2003
YellowTimes.org Shut Down!The well known alternative news publication YellowTimes org was just shut down without explanation by its hosting company! It recently published an article by an Iraqi nuclear scientist,
Law & Policy of Computer Communications, February 10, 2003
Everyone's Internet of Houston Shuns Websites A Houston Internet company was entangled Wednesday in an international controversy about Web sites that feature Palestinian and Taliban fighting personnel. It started when a radio station run by Israeli settlers in the war-torn West Bank broadcast a report about U.S. Web sites it said promote Palestinian and Taliban terrorism, in possible violation of U.S. law. Three of the Web sites can be traced electronically to equipment at Everyone's Internet of Houston, an Internet service provider. The company said it never knew about the sites until Wednesday. In fact, company chief Robert Marsh said, the sites do not do business directly with Everyone's Internet, whose services are sold and resold across the world and used to operate about a million Web sites. Nevertheless, Everyone's Internet blocked operation of the three sites Wednesday after being contacted by the Chronicle. Houston Chronicle, May 2, 2002
Palestine Type Sites Off-line "The Hamas website, as far as have been able to determine, is blacklisted because they have been declared a terrorist organization by the State Department. The goal is to prevent fundraising and recruiting by this organization." This is the link he was trying to access: http://www.palestine-info.com/hamas/ palestine-info .org, .net, and .com are all down, April 2002
Angelfire Abuse Angelfire closes site discussing issues surrounding the 750 Floridian Detainees, Counterpunch, March 20, 2002
CIA-Backed Web Privacy Firm Closes ServiceAn Internet privacy firm has closed an anonymous Web surfing service that had been partly funded by the CIA and intended to give Web users in countries such as China and Iran a way to circumvent censors, Safeweb and Washtech.com, November 20, 2001
"Rage Against The Machine" fan discussion forum was shutdown"Because the FBI called the ISP, saying there was too much anti-American rhetoric on that board" Guerrilla News, October 29, 2001
allewislive.comThis site from Al Lewis, who played Grandpa on the Munsters television show, was shut down apparently by web hosting provider Hypervine for an unknown reason, although other information from Al Lewis is available at http://www.grandpa2000.org/, Politech, October 2, 2001, and USA Today, October 16, 2001, and Internet.com, October 18, 2001, and Wired, October 26, 2001
azzam.comThis site reportedly provides "authentic news and information about Jihad and the foreign Mujahideen everywhere, by providing stories of martyrs killed in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya" and says it doesn’t encourage readers to commit illegal acts, although it notes that, according to Islamic tenets, "martyrdom operations are permissible", and was apparently shut down by multiple ISPs, at least one apparently in response to an FBI request, while the site was also apparently at one point mirrored at the now no longer available qoqaz.co.za, Wall Street Journal / MSNBC, October 8, 2001
iraradio.comThis pro-IRA site which archives all Radio Free Eireann broadcasts, has been taken down because the web service provider Hypervine felt that the Bush administration's announcement of the new Office of Homeland Security's activities threatened the ISP with seizure of their assets if they continued to host "terrorist" radio programs, so the site owners plan to reopen probably on a Canadian server after they move into their new office later this year, Politech, October 2, 2001, and Guardian Unlimited, October 11, 2001, and USA Today, October 16, 2001, and Internet.com, October 18, 2001, and Wired, October 26, 2001
Jihad-Related Sites on YahooYahoo apparently removed 55 "jihad-related" sites, Wall Street Journal / MSNBC, October 8, 2001
Websites Shut Down or Partially Removed by Website Owner
WTC Cartoon Ripped n editorial cartoon that ridicules widows of World Trade Center victims as greedy and shallow publicity hounds drew instant outrage last night from the grieving survivors. Ted Rall's drawing, "Terror Widows," abruptly yanked from The New York Times Web site yesterday, skewers the women as getting rich from charity aid and preening for TV cameras, NY Daily News, March 6, 2002
Online Companies Draw Fire For Removing 'Offensive' PostingsYahoo's message boards are erupting with the kind of free-flowing, impassioned discussions the Internet's creators always dreamed of, with postings about practically every aspect of the hunt for terrorists, the capture of Kabul and mysterious plane crashes. But what's also revealing is what is being deleted, Newsbytes, November 19, 2001
CIA FacilitiesThe Central Intelligence Agency has a large number of acknowledged and unacknowledged facilities in the United States, in addition to stations in a number of countries around the world. This facility guide provides both ground level views of these facilities, as well as overhead imagery of these facilities and their surroundings, See Archived CIA Facilities Page, October 31, 2001
Suppression Stifles Some SitesAmid the nationalistic furor sweeping the United States in wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, many government and private websites are yanking content that could be deemed unpatriotic or risky to national security, Wired News, October 25, 2001
Amazon Removes a Startling Book JacketAmazon.com has removed a photograph of a Arabic book jacket that shows a plane flying through the top of a building under construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that has a top shaped like the eye of a needle, with the only link to the World Trade Center being that the Riyadh building is being financed by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, whose $10 million donation to the Twin Towers Fund was recently refused by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, because along with expressing condolences, the prince urged the United States to re-examine its policy toward Israel, NY Times, October 29, 2001
Bert Is Evil!Although it is not clear if this happened due to strange reports of Islamic fundamentalists holding posters containing an image of Sesame Street's Bert character right next to Osama Bin Laden, the owner of this site, Dino Ignacio, explained that he removed the site because "I feel this has gotten too close to reality and I choose to be responsible enough to stop it right here," Bert Is Evil, October 18, 2001
Federation of American ScientistsSteven Aftergood, who administers the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, haspulled from more than 200 pages of previously posted information out of concern that terrorists might find them useful, including floor plans of National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency facilities and images of foreign nuclear weapons plants, Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001, and SiliconValley.com / Reuters, October 11, 2001, and WashingtonPost.com / Newsbytes, October 11, 2001, and SiliconValley.com, October 11, 2001, and ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001, and Contra Costa Times, October 18, 2001
The Flagburning PageThis owner of this site explained that because "Congress is trying to change the constitution in order to put peaceful protesters in prison" and although "I have never burned a flag, nor do I ever want to" he has "had so many death threats and assaulting emails, that I choose no longer to care about this cause. I have fought an uphill battle to protect your freedom of speech. And now I give up," The FlagBurning Page, September 19, 2001, and Internet.com, October 18, 2001, and Wired, October 26, 2001
Uncached by GoogleCathy sent an email informing us - if you search for something on Google that has been cancelled from a particular surver, you can access a "cached" version of the page in question, but since September 11, certain 'offensive' pages are un-cached and they are no longer available for viewing, Cathy Collie, November 16, 2001
Google Un-CachedGoogle has approached government agencies and private organizations, offering to remove from their "cache" the web pages that were removed from other sites, ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001, and Contra Costa Times, October 18, 2001
MSNBC Removes Item on Congressional Coverage RestrictionsMSNBC removed from an article formerly entitled "Ashcroft Seeks Sweeping Powers" and now called "House Approves $343 Billion Defense Bill" a section about how the House Judiciary Committee's Republican staffers ordered television camera crews to leave a hearing on terrorist attacks after Ashcroft spoke but before civil liberties and free-speech advocates could testify, Media Alliance Project, September 24, 2001, and Yahoo Stop Police Abuse Group, September 27, 2001
US Government Websites That Shut Down or Removed Information
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease RegistryOMB Watch, a Washington group that advocates for government accountability in budgetary and regulatory matters, says the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry dropped a report critical of chemical plant security, Newsfactor Network, October 4, 2001, and Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001
Army Corps of EngineersThe Army Corps of Engineers site that contained information about an underground military command center near Washington was moved behind a firewall so a username and password are now required for access, ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionOMB Watch, a Washington group that advocates for government accountability in budgetary and regulatory matters, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pulled a report about lack of preparedness against a terrorist attack using poison gas or other chemical agents, Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001, and USA Today, October 12, 2001 (updated October 18, 2001), and Federal Computer Week, October 16, 2001
Department of Energy, National Transportation of Radioactive MaterialsThe Department of Energy, National Transportation of Radioactive Materials site has been replaced with the note "This site temporarily unavailable, Please contact Bobby Sanchez at 505-845-5541 if you have any questions," OMB Watch Post-September 11 Environment, October 26, 2001
Department of TransportationOMB Watch, a Washington group that advocates for government accountability in budgetary and regulatory matters, says the Department of Transportation has limited access to the National Pipeline Mapping System of the Office of Pipeline Safety, which lays out the network of high pressure natural gas pipelines throughout the nation and the site of the Geographic Information Services section of the DOT's Bureau of Transportation Services (BTS) reportsthat "Recent events have focused additional security concerns on transportation infrastructure" and "Due to these concerns, BTS will not provide unlimited access to the geospatial data through the Internet," Newsfactor Network, October 4, 2001, and Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001, and SiliconValley.com / Reuters, October 11, 2001, and USA Today, October 12, 2001 (updated October 18, 2001), and ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001, and Federal Computer Week, October 16, 2001
Environmental Protection AgencyOMB Watch, a Washington group that advocates for government accountability in budgetary and regulatory matters, says the EPA has pulled from its site Risk Management Plans, which contain detailed information about the dangers of chemical accidents -- such as toxic plume maps and emergency response plans after a refinery explosion, Newsfactor Network, October 4, 2001, and Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001, and SiliconValley.com / Reuters, October 11, 2001, and USA Today, October 12, 2001 (updated October 18, 2001), and ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001, and Federal Computer Week, October 16, 2001
Federal Aviation AdministrationOMB Watch, a Washington group that advocates for government accountability in budgetary and regulatory matters, says the Federal Aviation Administration has pulled data from a site listing enforcement violations such as weaknesses in airport security, Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001, and ABCNews.com, October 12, 2001
Federal Energy Regulatory CommissionThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has removed documents that detail specifications for energy facilities from its website, Contra Costa Times, October 18, 2001
The Federal Government Savannah River Site What makes this more interesting is that dozens of SRS documents, if not hundreds, were (presumably) already reviewed by proper reviewers for public release, and then made available electronically via OSTI Because these documents were stored on an srs.gov server, they are no longer easily available via the OSTI search and retrieval system, And info may still be available on Google's cache. November 17, 2001
Geographic Information ServicesOMB Watch, a Washington group that advocates for government accountability in budgetary and regulatory matters, says the Geographic Information Services, which provides highly detailed maps of roads and utilities, is limiting access to federal, state, and local government officials, Newsfactor Network, October 5, 2001
International Nuclear Safety CenterSelecting the Reactor Maps link from the front page of this site generates the following message: "If you requested access to the maps of nuclear power reactor locations, these maps have been taken off-line temporarily pending the outcome of a policy review by the US Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory," while their Power Reactors database still lists city and state for nuclear plants around the world, International Nuclear Safety Center, October 18, 2001
Los Alamos National LaboratoryThe Los Alamos National Laboratory has removed a number of reports from its Laboratory Publications page, OMB Watch Post-September 11 Environment, October 26, 2001
NASA Glenn Research CenterThe NASA Glenn Research Center website notes that "Public access to many of our web sites is temporarily limited. We apologize for any inconvenience," OMB Watch Post-September 11 Environment, October 26, 2001
National Atlas of the United StatesThe Nuclear Site Locations in the United States page of this site is missing though listed as a result with a broken link and no cache on a Google search for "nuclear site location map", National Atlas of the United States, October 18, 2001
Nuclear Regulatory CommissionTheNuclear Regulatory Commission is displaying only "only select content" while "performing a review of all material" on their website, although most of the information has been there for years and "nothing top secret was on the Web site to begin with," according to William Beecher of the NRC, ABCNews.com, October 12, 2001, and USA Today, October 12, 2001 (updated October 18, 2001), and ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001, and Federal Computer Week, October 16, 2001, and Contra Costa Times, October 18, 2001
Rocky Flats nuke plant site shut downColorado Daily, November 13, 2001
U.S. Geological SurveyThe U.S. Geological Survey has removed a number of pages from its Registered Online Water-Resources Reports database (search for "removed"), OMB Watch Post-September 11 Environment, October 26, 2001
US Government Requests to Remove Information
Government Puts New Controls on Public Access to Weapons InfoThe White House has placed new controls on government information about weapons of mass destruction and is telling agencies to clear Web sites of even unclassified data that could help terrorists, SiliconValley.com, March 21, 2002, Newsbytes, March 21, 2002,
New York Pulls Info from the WebThe New York state government has quietly ordered its state agencies to remove information available from government Web sites as a security precaution. The new policy is aparently one of the most far-reaching and restrictive of any government in the U.S., NY Times, February 26, 2002
State Pulls Data From Internet in Attempt to Thwart TerroristsThe Pataki administration has quietly ordered state agencies to restrict information available on the Internet, including bridge plans and power-plant maps, NY Times, February 26, 2002
Libraries Cull Collections to Make Feds Happy Under federal orders, two Vermont schools destroyed copies of a document about water supplies that had raised security concerns after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The University of Vermont and Castleton College got letters last fall from the U.S. Government Printing Office instructing them to destroy the little-known document, "Source Area Characteristics of Large Public Surface Water Supplies." And The Feds recently sent out a letter to 1300 libraries across the country, asking them to destroy a particular document about water supplies. The libraries cheerfully complied, Politechbot, February 12, 2002
FBI Advises Security Review of Web ContentThe FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center on Thursday advised providers of water, energy, transportation, finance and other critical infrastructures to evaluate the content of their Web sites from a security perspective, Newsbytes, January 18, 2002
White House May Restrict Government Info on Germ Warfare The Bush administration is considering whether to restrict distribution of government documents that describe how to make germ weapons, White House officials said Sunday. U.S. stockpiles of offensive germ warfare agents were destroyed nearly three decades ago as part of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. But the government kept the blueprints for manufacturing such weapons, and continues to sell them, Associated Press, January 13, 2002
On the Public's Right to Know The Day Ashcroft censored FreedomIn a memo that slipped beneath the political radar, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft vigorously urged federal agencies to resist most Freedom of Information Act requests made by American citizens, SF Chronicle, January 6, 2002
Al-JazeeraBush administration national security adviser Condoleezza Rice called network executives to request that they "exercise judgment" in broadcasting messages from Osama bin Laden received through the Al-Jazeera satellite network while Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed the broadcasts may contain "some kind of message", and in response CNN, Fox, and other networks agreed to review statements before airing them, Associated Press, October 10, 2001
Globalsecurity.orgAccording to John Pike of Globalsecurity.org, low-level military officials requested he remove data he had gathered from military websites, ABCNews.com / Good Morning America, October 15, 2001, and Wired, October 26, 2001
Voice of AmericaJournalists from the Voice of America who obtained an interview with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar managed to publish a modified version of the interview only after struggles within the Bush administration, Washington Post, September 26, 2001
Fellow Diego Garcians"Appropriate authorities" ask DG web site to remind folks of the dangers of passing useful information to potential enemies, DG Website, September 16, 2001
Media Professionals Terminated or Suspended
Harvard U.'s English Department Cancels Lecture by Poet Who Has Strongly Criticized Israel Harvard University's English department has canceled a lecture planned for Thursday by Tom Paulin, an award-winning poet and professor at the University of Oxford, after complaints from students and faculty members about Mr. Paulin's political views, particularly his harsh critiques of Israel, Chronicle, November 13, 2002
Pics and Strips The Ombudsman of the Washington Post wrote Sunday that they substituted the 10/13/02 edition of "The Boondocks" because it compared President Bush to HitlerWashington Post, October 20, 2002, U Comics, October 20, 2002
Boondocks The wording: - Whoa. Some people in other countries are comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler because of his warmongering. - That's preposterous. Even I would never compare Bush to Hitler... I mean, Hitler was democratically elected, wasn't he?, Karlsbjerg, October 20, 2002
N.J. Poet Laureate Won't Resign The state's poet laureate defended a poem he wrote implying that Israel knew of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in advance, and rebuffed the demand of Gov. James McGreevey that he resign and apologize. Amiri Baraka asserted that the meaning of his poem, "Somebody Blew Up America," has been distorted. "It is a poem that aims to probe and disturb, but there is not any evidence of anti-Semitism," Star Tribune, October 3, 2002
Republican Taliban in Vermont Vermont Public Television station revoked its invitation to Peter Freyne to appear on VPT. It is not clear whether he has been permanently or temporarily banished. But the response by VPT appears to be a case of extreme sensitivity leading to an unfortunate muzzle on Freyne's admittedly rambunctious mouth for referred to the conservative Republicans of Chittenden County as the "Taliban," Free Expression Network Clearinghouse, March 29, 2002
Another Prize-Winning Journalist Fired His name is Tim McCarthy, and for the last seven years, he's been the editor of the Courier, a weekly newspaper in Littleton, New Hampshire, owned by Salmon Press. Last year, he won the "Editorial Writer of the Year" award from the New Hampshire Press Association, and previously he'd won that award from the New England Press Association. But on February 13, he was fired. McCarthy cites two factors in his dismissal: His repeated editorializing against George W. Bush's recklessness, and his defense of a cartoonist who was under the gun for a controversial panel criticizing the President, The Progressive, March 9, 2002
Daniel Pearl Sequence of EventsDaniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal’s South Asian bureau chief, disappears on his way to a meeting with Islamic extremists in Karachi. Pearl was investigating links between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, the alleged shoe bomber arrested on a Paris-to-Miami flight in December with explosives in his sneakers. The Wall Street Journal and other media receive an email from "The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty" containing a photo of Pearl. The group accuses Pearl of being a CIA spy and demands freedom for Pakistani detainees held in Cuba. In an email response, The Wall Street Journal asks for Pearl's release. A second email warns that Pearl will be killed within 24 hours. It is later extended to 48 hours. Sheik Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, the fundamentalist leader Pearl was scheduled to interview on the day of his disappearance, is arrested in Pakistan. Gilani denies involvement. Secretary of State Colin Powell says that the U.S. will not negotiate, MSNBC, January 2002
CNN and Fox News receive emails claiming that Pearl is dead and his body could be found in a Karachi cemetary. The emails turn out to be hoaxes. Pearl's wife, a French freelance journalist who is seven months pregnant, appeals for his freedom. Pakistani police identify Ahmad Omark Saeed Sheikh, a British-born Islamic militant, as a prime suspect. Three men are charged with sending the original emails; they claim the photos came from Saeed. Saeed is arrested and flown to Karachi for questioning. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says he believes Pearl is still alive. Saeed confesses to the kidnapping and says that Pearl is already dead. Pakistan rejects Saeed's claim and predicts a breakthrough within 48 hours. Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman says that investigations are going on with the "same intensity and vigor" as in the past. WSJ executive Steven Goldstein says the company is hopeful that Pearl will be freed soon. The U.S. embassy in Pakistan receives evidence that Pearl has been killed. The U.S. State Department announces a $5 million reward for information leading to the apprehension of Pearl’s killers; Pakistani President Musharraf consoles the reporter’s widow at a meeting in Islamabad. Pearl's family is creating a foundation in his name, MSNBC, February 2002
Marian and MeWhen Michael Moore's publisher insisted he rewrite his new book to be less critical of President Bush, it took an outraged librarian to get it back in the stores, Salon.com, January 7, 2002
Baraboo News Republic cans Todd PerscheHe was canned for expressing alternative viewpoints in his cartoons regarding how Big Brother was "turning out civil rights upside down," The Progressive, January 2002
BoonducksAaron McGruder has seen his anti-war content comic strips stripped from the pages of newspapers across the country, The Progressive, January 2002 and McGruder talks about societal hypocrisy, censorship, U.S. policy and media lunacy, Alternet, November 5, 2001
The Spectrum Retracts a Pulitzer Prize-Winner Steve Benson's CartoonThe Cartoon was much a chagrin for the Spectrum when local veterans threatened to cancel their subscriptions if it didn't issue an apology, apology given, The Progressive , January 2002
Publisher Halts DistributionPublisher HarperCollins had informed Michael Moore that they will not be selling/distributing his new book "Stupid White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation" --already printed -- because the content is offensive. Fwded by Jordana Signer in re to message from Ann Sparanese, Head of Adult & Young Adult Services at Englewood Public Library, December 16, 2001
Sun Advocate Staff Reporter Jackie Anderson Forced to QuitHer column on "War is not the only action available to us. Seeking Justice is action. Making peace is action" was never published. In fact, the Sun went another direction - Prowar. And Ms. Anderson was a part of the fallout, The Progressive, January 2002
KSCO cancels showOn Oct. 6, leftist talk-show host Peter Werbe had his program terminated, Metro Santa Cruz, October 24-31, 2001
Author JailedThis is the high-profile case where the Victorian Attorney General the Dishonorable Robert Justin Hulls is trying to jail Australia's leading corruption author Raymond Hoser for publishing the truth in the two "Victoria Police Corruption" books, Smuggled.com October 31, 2001
Politically IncorrectWhen ABC satirist Bill Maher said on his show, "Politically Incorrect," that "we have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away -- that's cowardly," three ABC affiliates, including Washington's WJLA-TV, answered viewer complaints by yanking subsequent episodes from the air, Arianna Online, September 24, 2001, and Washington Post, September 26, 2001
Daily Courier Fires ColumnistThe Daily Courier publisher Dennis Mack fired columnist Dan Guthrie for writing about President Bush "hiding in a Nebraska hole" following terrorist attacks, TBO.com / Associated Press, September 26, 2001
National Review Cans Columnist Ann CoulterThe National Review told conservative columnist Ann Coulter her writing is no longer welcome after one of her columns declared, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity," while the Washington Times refused to run the terrorism column in the first place, Washington Post, October 2, 2001
Other Employees Terminated or Suspended
Writing Instructor Loses Job for Discussing Iraq War in Class Forsyth Technical Community College (FTCC) writing instructor Elizabeth Ito has been dismissed for taking a brief part of her class to discuss the war in Iraq. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, January 27, 2004
Teacher Sues District For Violating Free Speech About Bin Laden A substitute teacher filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday, saying his school district violated his free speech rights for remarks he made that were perceived as supportive of Osama bin Laden. John B. Gardner, 52, of Stanton Heights, was suspended Sept. 20, 2001, after he wrote phrases in a newspaper margin that he said were related to a book he was writing on how to overcome adversity. He was later reinstated. One of the phrases read: "Osama bin Laden did us a favor ... He vulcanized us, awakened us and strengthened our resolve." Another said, "We're going to be stronger because of it," Associated Press, October 3, 2002
Lawmakers Protest Palestinian Speaker at Sept. 11 Conference Conservative lawmakers are demanding that a college cancel the appearance of a Palestinian leader at conference marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but the school has refused. Colorado College invited Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi to debate Israeli political adviser Gideon Doron at the three-day conference beginning on the anniversary. The debate is scheduled for Sept. 12, Chronicle, August 30, 2002
Professors' Group Enters Al-Arian FrayThe American Association of University Professors said Wednesday it will send a team of investigators to the University of South Florida this spring to examine the university's treatment of controversial professor Sami Al-Arian, St. Peterburgs Times, February 7, 2002
University of South Florida Moves to Fire Computer Engineering Professor Al-ArianAl-Arian was banned from campus after he appeared in late September on the Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, St. Petersburg Times, December 20, 2001 and St. Peterburgs Times, December 19, 2001
Photography Museum Director Resigns Over Afghanistan ExhibitThe woman who led Daytona Beach Community College's photography museum for 10 years has resigned, claiming college administrators censored her by telling her to cancel an exhibit on Afghanistan, Daytona Beach News Journal, December 13, 2001
OCC Professor Reinstated, but Issue RemainsAlthough cleared, teacher objects to what he calls a reprimand. Muslim students angered by his classroom remarks say little after decision, LA Times, December 12, 2001
College Replaces Damra as LecturerCleveland Islamic leader Fawaz Damra will not be teaching a Lakeland Community College course about Islam after the college notified him that it wants to avoid controversy, The Plain Dealer, December 12, 2001
UM Employee Fired Over Sept. 11 RemarksWhen terror struck America on Sept. 11, a University of Miami medical technician who was turning 22 that day said aloud, ``Some birthday gift from Osama bin Laden!'' ... Miami Herald, November 16, 2001
UCLA Library Assistant Suspended for Critical EmailA library assistant at the University of California at Los Angeles was suspended without pay for one week, then later returned to work with full pay and the incident removed from his record, after sending a mass e-mail message criticizing American support for what he called apartheid policies in Israel and the bombing of Iraq, Daily Bruin Online, October 4, 2001, and American Libraries, October 15, 2001, and Daily Bruin Online, October 25, 2001
Related Incidents
Agency Denies Dropping Project's Funding After Anti-war Comments
A programmer of a secure, free operating system claims the U.S. research agency cut off grant money after he made an anti-war statement to a major newspaper, but officials denied the grant had been canceled, Associated Press, April 18, 2003
Text of Tim Robbins speechTranscript of actor's address to National Press Club, WorldNetDaily, April 16, 2003
Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer's Speech on Liberty, Security, and the CourtsFirst, the current situation: Post September 11 civil liberties issues fall into three categories. The first includes the rights of detainees. The second category involves statutes increasing the government's information-gathering powers, for example, laws making it easier for the government to obtain a magistrate's approval for a search or wiretap, to proceed without approval in certain emergency situations, to listen to certain terrorist-related lawyer/client conversations (though these conversations cannot be introduced into evidence). The third category includes those matters that might happen, but so far have not, for example, trials before military tribunals. Consequently, from a judicial perspective, the civil liberties cases involving detainees now seem more urgent, US Supreme Court, April 14, 2003
Supreme Court Justice Scalia Bans Media From Event Where He's Accepting Free-Speech Award
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia banned broadcast media from an appearance Wednesday where he will receive an award for supporting free speech, ABCNews, March 19, 2003
A Response to Paul M. Menges Regarding the Ethical Considerations of Providing Polygraph Countermeasures to the PublicA St. John’s College Library visit by a former public defender was abruptly interrupted February 13 when city police officers arrested him about 9 p.m. at the computer terminal he was using, handcuffed him, and brought him to the Santa Fe, New Mexico, police station for questioning by Secret Service agents from Albuquerque. Andrew J. O’Conner, 40, who was released about five hours later, said in the February 16 Santa Fe New Mexican, “I’m going to sue the Secret Service, Santa Fe Police, St. John’s, and everybody involved in this whole thing.” According to O’Connor, the agents accused him of making threatening remarks about President George W. Bush in an Internet chat room, American Library Association, February 25, 2003
Santa Fe Police Detain Library Patron
over Chat-Room Visit
Paul M. Menges, a federal polygraph examiner and instructor who currently teaches the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute's countermeasure course, argues in a recent article titled "Ethical Considerations of Providing Polygraph Countermeasures to the Public" (Polygraph, Vol. 31 [2002], No. 4, pp. 254-262), that publicly making available such information is unethical and concludes with the suggestion that it should be outlawed, Antipolygraph.org, February 24, 2003
Scientists Discuss Balance of Research and Security Leading scientists began talks today on whether and how to withhold publication of scientific information that could compromise national security. The discussions at the National Academy of Sciences follow a raft of post-Sept. 11 restrictions on research into some 64 substances that could be used in biological weapons. The discussions were also partly an effort to fend off potential government censorship or other steps to control unclassified research that the new domestic security law terms "sensitive," New York Times, January 10, 2003
DOJ Confirms FBI Agents Snoop in Libraries The Department of Justice has confirmed in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats that FBI agents have snooped around public libraries to learn the reading and Internet-surfing habits of suspected terrorists,
L.A. Daily Journal, January 6, 2003
Government Openness at Issue as Bush Holds On to RecordsThe Bush administration has put a much tighter lid than recent presidents on government proceedings and the public release of information, exhibiting a penchant for secrecy that has been striking to historians, legal experts and lawmakers of both parties, New York Times, January 3, 2003
George W. Bush's Constitution It is hard to imagine that America would look kindly on a foreign government that demanded the right to hold some of its own citizens in prison, incommunicado, denying them access to legal assistance for as long as it thought necessary, without ever charging them with a crime. Nevertheless, that is the position that George Bush's administration has tried to defend in the courts with regard to American citizens whom it has deemed to be "enemy combatants," Villiage Voice, January 3, 2003
Jailed in U.S. Snafu, Man Disillusioned
Faramarz Farahani walked into a California immigration office thinking he was about to do his civic duty. He ended up being handcuffed, then flown to a crowded jail at the other end of the state, where he tried to sleep on a concrete floor in a five-day ordeal that left him bewildered,
Globe and Mail, December 26, 2002
Jewish Professors Back DivestmentThe national movement to pressure universities to pull their investments from Israel has been battered this year by critics who call it divisive and anti-Semitic. But it has shown remarkable staying power in large part because of an unusual group of supporters: Jewish professors. Hundreds of college professors nationwide have signed petitions calling for divestment from Israel, among them several dozen Jewish professors who call their signatures an act of political conscience. As the fall semester draws to a close, many have found themselves - not always
purposely - becoming spokesmen for a cause that has deeply split their campuses, Boston Globe, December 21, 2002
Are We Protecting Secrets or Removing Safeguards? Immediately after witnessing one of the planes crash into the South Tower, my brother logged onto the Internet at his office in lower Manhattan and starting hunting for information. He was looking for an escape route for his wife and 4-year-old daughter, who were in their apartment across the street from the Twin Towers. An architect, he found Web sites that described the towers' structure and dimensions, which helped him think through likely collapse scenarios. He used this information to develop a plan for reuniting with his family and ultimately gaining safe passage by police boat from lower Manhattan. But who knows if someone else might have sought out this same information for nefarious purposes, such as to plot the attacks themselves?, Washington Post, November 24, 2002
Grounded A federal agency confirms that it maintains an air-travel blacklist of 1,000 people. Peace activists and civil libertarians fear they're on it. Barbara Olshansky was at a Newark International Airport departure gate last May when an airline agent at the counter checking her boarding pass called airport security. Olshansky was subjected to a close search and then, though she was in view of other travelers, was ordered to pull her pants down. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may have created a new era in airport security, but even so, she was embarrassed and annoyed, Salon.com, November 15, 2002
Patriot Act Causes Libraries to Review Records Attached to each staff phone in the Berkeley Public Library is a dark pink laminated card advising employees on how to handle subpoenas. "If a person comes to you to serve a subpoena on the library, say that you are not in a position to act on it," the card reads. "Do not attempt to give them the information they are looking for," San Jose Mercury News, October 20, 2002
The Echelonization of America: NSA to spy domestically? "Where do we draw the line between the government's need for (counter-terrorism) information about people in the United States and the privacy interests of people located in the United States? This line-drawing affects the focus of NSA's activities, foreign versus domestic... the type of data NSA is permitted to collect and how, and the rules under which NSA retains and disseminates information about U.S. persons,"U.S. Senate, October 17, 2002
Scientists Complain that Data Disappear Under 9/11 Worries AFTER SEPT. 11, many feared that the war on terror would inspire mass government restrictions on free speech. And a fistful of public critics of the war (Bill Maher and two small-town journalists) were indeed fired, boycotted or suspended. Most of that hysteria died down soon enough - but not at our universities, Baltimore Sun, October 15, 2002
Press Freedom Gets Slaughtered In Survey In the five years of the annual survey, said Kenneth A. Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center in Nashville, this is the first time "almost half of those surveyed said that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. About 49% said the First Amendment gives us too much freedom, up from 39% last year and 22% in 2000," EditorandPublisher.com, October 7, 2002
On Campus, Violence 'Speaks' AFTER SEPT. 11, many feared that the war on terror would inspire mass government restrictions on free speech. And a fistful of public critics of the war (Bill Maher and two small-town journalists) were indeed fired, boycotted or suspended. Most of that hysteria died down soon enough - but not at our universities, philly.com Daily News, October 4, 2002
Wartime Censorship Is Alive And Well and Living On Campus. Following Sept. 11, many of us feared that the war on terror would result in massive government restrictions on free speech. And almost immediately after the attacks, a fistful of public critics of the war (Bill Maher and two small-town journalists) were indeed fired, boycotted, or suspended. Most of that hysteria died down soon enough-but not at our universities. A year later, on college campuses, we are still suspending professors and beating up students with unpopular viewpoints. And what's more, we do all this under the pretext of fostering openness and free expression. Wartime censorship is alive and well, but it's happening only in our colleges, our "laboratories of democracy," Slate, September 19, 2002
Rights and New Reality Secret deportation hearings, U.S. citizens denied due process while in custody. These evoke memories of dictatorships and undermine the health our democracy, LA Times, September 10, 2002
Support Rises for Internet Censorship Information wants to be free. For years, that's been the rallying cry for proponents of an unfettered Internet. But since Sept. 11, many Americans are having second thoughts about what belongs online, according to survey results released yesterday. More than two-thirds of Americans cut officials wide slack in deciding what to keep off government Web sites, to thwart terrorists, according to findings by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The month-long telephone survey queried 2,501 adults on attitudes toward, and uses of, the Internet since the terror attacks. About two-thirds of them agree that officials should deny information to terrorists even if that deprives the public, and a similar percentage approves of steps already taken to strip sensitive material from government Web sites, Star-Ledger, September 6, 2002
Cloak of Secrecy Douglas County librarian Jamie LaRue jumped on the Internet on Sept. 11 when he heard that planes had hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He wanted to know all he could learn about Osama bin Laden, even reading Web sites sympathetic to the apparent mastermind of the attacks. Only later did it occur to him that his research was building a record that might make him a suspect in the eyes of the government, Rocky Mountain News, September 5, 2002
FBI will Tap into Personal Profiles "Just about anything that you want to know about anybody is available in a commercial database," said DeCastro of San Francisco. Most people don't have a clue that such databases compile information from a variety of sources, linking their names to their Social Security numbers, credit profiles, employment histories, travel records, court records, personal interests and chronic health conditions. And now, under changes ordered by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the FBI is moving to use commercial databases in its efforts to prevent acts of terrorism in the United States, San Diego Union-Tribune, September 3, 2002
Terrorist Attacks Brought New Surveillance Laws Worldwide Governments worldwide have made it easier for authorities to augment citizen databases and eavesdrop on telephone and online conversations in order to fight terror, according to a survey of privacy regulations released Tuesday. The report, written by privacy activists Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International, show the United States was not alone in passing new laws that value increased security over personal privacy, Chronicle, September 3, 2002
France to Mark Sept. 11 with Terror conference, Movies, Memorials French and American officials will gather in Paris Sept. 11 to remember the victims of last year's terror attacks and to discuss the challenges posed by the war against terrorism, organizers said Tuesday. A two-day terrorism conference begins with a ceremony in Luxembourg Gardens, where officials will gather at an oak tree planted earlier this year in dirt brought in from ground zero and other attack sites, Chronicle, September 3, 2002
Protesters Planning Demonstrations for Meetings of World Bank and IMF Anti-globalization demonstrators, relatively subdued since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, are preparing a clamorous return to the streets this month when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meet, Chronicle, September 3, 2002
Navy Begins War Exercises on Vieques While Protests Fizzle in Wake of Sept. 11 Attacks Fighter jets buzzed over Vieques on Tuesday as activists shied away from their usual raucous protests, fearful of stiff jail sentences and fines in a post-Sept. 11 climate, Chronicle, September 3, 2002
Israel's Supreme Court Approves Expulsions of Relatives of Palestinian Terror Suspects In a landmark decision, Israel's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Israel can expel relatives of Palestinian terror suspects from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, Chronicle, September 3, 2002
North American Muslims Ponder Effect of 9/11 on Them Convention goers say liberty, understanding coexist with profiling, prejudice, Chronicle, September 2, 2002, Chronicle, August 31, 2002
Terror Concerns Cause Decline in Refugee Admissions Tightened security imposed after Sept. 11 has, at least temporarily, prevented thousands of people living in squalid refugee camps from starting a new life in the United States, Chronicle, September 2, 2002
New Anti-terror Law Strengthens Hand of German Authorities Ahead of Sept. 11 Anniversary New laws allowing German authorities to prosecute members of foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters have come into force, and the nation's security services reportedly have been put on alert ahead of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Chronicle, September 2, 2002
Pakistan Hopes Nationals to be Released from Guantanamo Prison Most of the Pakistani prisoners being held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba are not linked to al-Qaida and Pakistani authorities hope they will be freed soon, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday. "Our impression is that the majority ... are not linked to al-Qaida," spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan told a news conference. "We are in touch with the U.S. authorities for their repatriation." Khan said as many as 58 Pakistani prisoners are currently held at the prison in eastern Cuba where nearly 600 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects have been sent following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Chronicle, September 2, 2002
WAR ON TERRORISM Legal Affairs Spy court to review prosecutors' powers Ashcroft's appeal for looser rules goes to panel, Chronicle, September 2, 2002
Lindh Seeks Forgiveness John Walker Lindh wants Americans to forgive him for joining the Taliban military, where he met other Westerners, and is now telling federal agents what he knows, his lawyers say, Chronicle, August 31, 2002
Sensenbrenner Aants Answers on ActU.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner said Monday he'll play hardball with Attorney General John Ashcroft over a congressional demand for detailed information about the Patriot Act, the post-Sept. 11 law giving the government broad powers to investigate terrorism. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said he would "start blowing a fuse" unless Ashcroft's Justice Department gives answers by Labor Day week to 50 written questions about the act raised by the House Judiciary Committee in June, Journal Sentinel, August 19, 2002
Judge Wants More Evidence in Case of American-Born Detainee A federal judge said Friday the government must give him more evidence to explain why it is detaining an American-born man captured in Afghanistan. "This case appears to be the first in American jurisprudence where an American citizen has been held incommunicado and subjected to an indefinite detention in the continental United States without charges ... and without access to a lawyer," U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar in Norfolk, Va., said, Associated Press, August 19, 2002
INS Flouts High Court on Prisoners, Critics Say In Zadvydas v. Davis the Supreme Court ruled the INS couldn't detain convicted aliens indefinitely without threatening due process. But according to a newly filed class action and a recent court ruling the INS is doing just that. Federal Judge John Bates in Washington, D.C., freed a Liberian jailed for nearly four years after finding the INS' assertion that they were awaiting travel documents "simply, blatantly false," The National Law Journal, August 15, 2002
Internet Good Friend to Terrorists Airmen in the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base work to make such an attack tougher. They scour the Internet for potentially compromising information, thinking and acting like the enemy. They can't, however, yank the information when they find it.They simply show commanders where their base might be vulnerable. Such information once was the domain of powerful nations with satellites, spy planes and billion-dollar budgets. The Internet and high-quality satellite pictures from private companies put the information a click and a credit card away. The threat from easily available information - coined "open-source intelligence" - is real, Gazette, August 11, 2002
Bush Administration Routes TIPS Calls to TV Show "America's Most Wanted" In a development bordering on what the American Civil Liberties Union called "surreal," the on-line magazine Salon.com today revealed that the Department of Justice is forwarding incoming Operation TIPS calls to the Fox-owned "America's Most Wanted" television series.Salon.com, August 6, 2002
Dissent, Public Safety Core of Debate Ed Whitfield and his followers just wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration during President Bush's recent visit to the Triad, making it clear that not all Americans are gung-ho for the war on terrorism. Police, sheriff's deputies and the U.S. Secret Service simply wanted to protect the nation's chief executive in a time of great national tension. The two goals met head-on during Bush's July 25 visit, when the protesters were stopped as they walked along a public road on which motorists traveled freely. They had to discard their protest signs before being allowed to proceed along Grandover Parkway in southwest Greensboro, News & Record, August 04, 2002
Judge Orders Release of Sept. 11 Arrestee Names The U.S. Justice Department must release in 15 days all the names of those it has arrested and detained in its investigation of the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks. "The federal government's power to arrest and hold individuals is an extraordinary one. Here, the government has used its arrest power to detain individuals as part of an investigation that is widespread in its scope and secrecy," U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said in the 45-page ruling, Reuters, August 2, 2002
Terrorism Measure Worries Librarians Wisconsin librarians are agonizing over a new federal law giving FBI agents power to demand records of what people are reading, a measure fueled by efforts to prevent terrorism. Libraries don't like snooping into the lives of library users, but because Congress passed the law just days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the nation, librarians feel compelled to comply, say library officials across southeast Wisconsin,Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 8, 2002
No Data on ECC computers No suspicious or terrorism-linked information was discovered on the Edison Community College computer hard drives seized by Collier County sheriff's deputies, Naples News, July 6, 2002
Not Aware of FBI Snooping in Colorado The FBI is prying into the nation's public library records in the name of homeland security. But so far, not in Colorado,Rocky Mountain News, July 5, 2002
US Cartoonists Under Pressure to Follow the Patriotic Line Nine months after the attacks of 11 September, leading American political cartoonists say they are under intense pressure to conform to a patriotic stereotype and not criticize the actions of Mr Bush and his "war on terror", Independent/UK, June 23, 2002
FBI Checking Library Records Ken Starr couldn't get the records, but now the FBI has a new law, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act and is using it. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, about 8% of the libraries had been contacted for information about their patron's reading habits, Washington Post, June 23, 2002
What Country Is This? Prisoners declared enemy combatants do not have the right to a lawyer and the American judiciary cannot second-guess the military's classification of such detainees, the Justice Department argued yesterday in a brief to an appeals court, Washington Post, June 20, 2002
MIT Seeks to Preserve Openness Amid Security Measures The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has become the first major academic research institution to outline a policy designed to protect intellectual openness on campus amid growing pressure to limit access to sensitive information and materials as part of the war on terrorism, Washington Post, June 14, 2002
Top-Secret Prisoners in the USA >During his six months at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, Anser Mehmood spent 123 days in a supermax lockdown facility, where guards slammed his face into a wall and threatened to kill him. His crime? Overstaying a tourist visa, AlterNet, June 3, 2002
Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public's Right to Know >"In the days immediately following September 11, the United States government embarked on a path of secrecy unprecedented in recent years. The atmosphere of terror induced public officials to abandon this country's culture of openness and opt for secrecy as a way of ensuring safety and security," The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Spring 2002
FBI Gets More Powers for Domestic Surveillance The FBI on Thursday won additional powers to conduct domestic counterterrorism surveillance that critics said could trample on Americans' constitutional rights, Reuters, May 30, 2002, FACT, June 2, 2002
Relevations of Pre-9/11 Attack Require Repeal of PATRIOT ACT The storm of questions and criticism following revelations that the Bush Administration had numerous warnings of an impending hijacking attack before the September 11 tragedy have focused primarily on the Nixon-era mantra, "what did he know, and when did he know it?" But, even if a Congressional investigation agrees with Bush Administration protestations that the warnings weren't specific enough to know what to do, Bush Administration policy AFTER September 11 is going to require some explaining, Boston Herald, May 20, 2002
Police Sets Policy on Taping and Photography "I was flying from Dublin to LA, directly over a city called Galdthab, Greenland (which translates to "God's home") when the pilot came over the intercom with the news that we would be returning to Dublin and then explained why. The plane was silent. It was September 11th and I knew instantly that life would never be the same for America. It was the first opportunity for modern Americans to experience the reality of war on our soil, and that is exactly what all of us experienced together, the cold, brutal, unflinching, horror of war," Boston Herald, May 19, 2002
Woody Harrelson on 9-11 "I was flying from Dublin to LA, directly over a city called Galdthab, Greenland (which translates to "God's home") when the pilot came over the intercom with the news that we would be returning to Dublin and then explained why. The plane was silent. It was September 11th and I knew instantly that life would never be the same for America. It was the first opportunity for modern Americans to experience the reality of war on our soil, and that is exactly what all of us experienced together, the cold, brutal, unflinching, horror of war," Voice Yourself, May 12, 2002
Secret U.S. Court OK'd 934 Warrants Despite the war on terrorism, the government said Tuesday it requested and won approval for fewer warrants last year for secret wiretaps and searches of suspected terrorists and spies. The government received court approval for 934 of the secret warrants in 2001 under a powerful U.S. surveillance law, down from 1,003 in 2000. Experts puzzled over the slight decline in one a measure of the war on terrorism inside the United States. Yahoo News, April 30, 2002
Patriot Act Hinders Net Freedoms Some lawmakers and civil libertarians are attacking the 6-month-old Patriot Act, saying it has "created the danger that Americans will be afraid to communicate freely over the Internet," CNET News.com, April 25, 2002, The Hill, May 2, 2002
Law Makers Defend Secret Warrants Local legislators are defending two new laws that limit public access to court documents. The laws, which took effect this week, stop the public from gaining access to search warrants and affidavits. It deems them nonpublic records. Lawmakers - who unanimously voted for the measures in the Senate and House of Representatives - said the laws protect crime victims, informants and witnesses from criminals and the media. But civil libertarians and First Amendment lawyers argue they invite police abuse and curtail public scrutiny, Oakland Press Online, April 25, 2002
Legislature Gives Police Power to Search Without Telling You Why Two new laws, which took effect Monday as part of anti-terror efforts, also shield from public scrutiny the reasons for police searches. Defense lawyers and civil libertarians are outraged at the laws, which make search warrants and supporting documents such as affidavits non-public records. "If you think the police did secretive work before, just wait," defense attorney William Cataldo said. "It gives more power to the ignorant and more power to those who would take your rights," , Oakland Press Online, April 24, 2002
Capitol Hill Raises Free Speech Concerns in re to the "Patriot ACT" On Thursday, April 25, members of the Free Expression Network, Senator Russ Feingold and Rep. Patsy Mink will mark the six-month anniversary of the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act by raising concerns over threats to free expression that have arisen since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press will speak about threats to press freedom, FreeExpression.org, April 23, 2002
On Gag Rules, Spy Tools and Freedom of Speech JOHN ASHCROFT wants to know what you're reading. That's but one chilling implication of the USA Patriot Act, which was rushed into law following the Sept. 11 tragedy, ostensibly to expand the tools authorities use to catch spies and terrorists. Combine it with new Bush administration policies obscuring the public's view of government and limiting access to public records and presidential papers, and what emerges is a pattern of assaults on the First Amendment, cloaked in swagger about national security and patriotism, Baltimore Sun, April 22, 2002
Quilt - Pray for New YorkFiber artist Janet Ghio creates quilts in her studio in the attic of her house. Ghio’s quilt, ‘Pray for New York,’ is now in the traveling exhibit ‘America: From the Heart.’ When she heard stories about everyday people committing acts of heroism on Sept. 11, Janet Ghio saw hope. She wants people who view her “Pray for New York” quilt to see the same thing. The Columbia fiber artist, who has been making decorative art quilts for five years, decided to create a Sept. 11 quilt shortly after the attacks, Digital Missouri, April 22, 2002
The New War on Freedom Give Me Liberty, or Give Me . . . What? Security?Last week marked the anniversaries of three landmark events that paved the way for the further erosion of our personal freedoms we face today - Waco, Oklahoma, and ..., Zwire.com, April 21, 2002
Amoral Logic of 'Collateral Damage'Last fall, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. government launched its so-called war on terrorism, aiming first to destroy al Qaeda and that organization's Taliban enablers in Afghanistan. Much of the U.S. military action in Afghanistan has taken the form of bombing and other aerial attacks on supposed enemy personnel, structures and equipment. The situation on the ground, however, has proven to be less than transparent: It has been difficult to distinguish friend from foe, innocuous civilian from armed fighter. Thus, lies the 'collateral damage', Zwire.com, April 18, 2002
High Noon for Ashcroft, Stewart, and the Defense BarIn April 9, the attorney general of the United States strode before the press to proudly brandish his proof that his war on terrorism is succeeding. Brushed aside by him were the hundreds of detainees he's held for months for minor violations of immigration regulations—without any links to terrorism. Also ignored was that day's decision by a federal court judge in Detroit that Ashcroft's closings of immigration hearings around the country are unconstitutional, VillageVoice, April 15, 2002
Congresswoman McKinney Presses for Investigation of Bush Administration Links to 9-11 The need for an investigation of the events surrounding September 11 is as obvious as is the need for an investigation of the Enron debacle. Certainly, if the American people deserve answers about what went wrong with Enron and why (and we do), then we deserve to know what went wrong on September 11 and why. Are we squandering our goodwill around the world with what many believe to be incoherent, warmongering policies that alienate our friends and antagonize our allies? How much of a role does our reliance on imported oil play in the military policies being put forward by the Bush Administration? And what role does the close relationship between the Bush Administration and the oil and defense industries play, if any, in the policies that are currently being pursued by this Administration , Truthout, April 12, 2002
Lawyer Helped in a Terror Plot, Indictment Says Federal prosecutors charged yesterday that a New York lawyer helped one of her clients, an imprisoned Egyptian sheik who was convicted of plotting a wave of terror in New York City, continue to direct terrorist operations from his prison cell in Minnesota. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who announced the charges in New York, said the lawyer, Lynne F. Stewart, helped Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman pass messages to leaders of the Islamic Group, a terrorist organization he once led in Egypt. The government accused her of covering up her activities for Mr. Abdel Rahman, the blind Muslim cleric who is serving a life sentence for his 1995 conviction in a terrorist plot to blow up New York landmarks and is still regarded as the spiritual leader of the Egyptian group, New York Times, April 10, 2002
Secret Evidence Admitted>A federal judge ruled Friday that the government can use secret evidence in justifying its decision to freeze the assets of a Bridgeview-based Islamic charity that U.S. prosecutors suspect is linked to terrorism, Chicago Tribute, April 6, 2002
School Shuns SpeakerFor Kate Crockford, a senior at Holliston High School, Harmony Week turned out to be filled with conflict. In light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the current crisis in the Middle East, Crockford invited a speaker to talk Wednesday to two assemblies about civil liberties and ethnic scapegoating - issues she deemed pertinent to the school's weeklong examination of racism, sexism, and classism, among other matters. But speaker Nancy Murray's portrayal of the Middle East bloodshed as an issue of land control - with maps showing Israeli expansion into occupied territory - rather than the result of nationalistic or religious disputes sent some teachers and administrators reeling. School officials called off the second assembly and asked Murray, director of the Bill of Rights Education Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, to leave. Teachers told Murray, who made clear that she was not speaking for the ACLU, that they disagreed with her presentation and found it one-sided. Crockford was stunned and disappointed. ''For adults to become so frightened and immediately throw up a wall simply because they disagreed with someone's opinion - I find it absolutely saddening,'' said Crockford, 18, president of the high school's Gay Straight Alliance, Boston Globe, April 5, 2002
Funding Cuts for SymbolismThe Missouri House sent a message to the University of Missouri yesterday, a message worth nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. During final House debate on the Higher Education Budget legislators adopted three amendments that cut the budget committee's recommendations for UM funding. The cuts were made in retaliation against University policies and employee behavior, Digital Missouri, April 4, 2002
Panel Faults Restricts Imposed Since 9/11 A panel that spanned a range of opinions from U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) to ACLU President Nadine Strossen --- with authorities on law enforcement and the media in between --- Wednesday condemned legal restrictions adopted by the Bush administration and Congress after Sept. 11, Access Atlanta, April 4, 2002
Justice Dies in the DarkOpenness is a hallmark of this nation's legal system. The founding >fathers knew that secret court proceedings give cover to corrupt or tyrannical judges and sloppy prosecutors, that judges who can hide can easily abuse power. Yet shortly after the September terrorist attacks, immigration judges around the country slammed shut the doors of their courtrooms, barring the public, the press and even relatives of the oh-so-vaguely accused men and women rounded up by the thousands under blanket orders from the attorney general. A federal judge could decide this week whether this secrecy should stand. We hope she agrees that it should not, LA Times, April 3, 2002
Pro-Gov't Biase in Courtroom?Judge T.S. Ellis III denied the defense motions. He only granted Lindh lawyers additional access to some narrow categories of information and held out the possibility that they could gain access to witnesses in the future, WSWS.com , April 3, 2002
Terrorist Web Site Hosted by U.S. FirmA Web site glorifying recent suicide attacks in the Middle East that is hosted by a U.S. company is sparking legal and ethical questions about whether Internet service providers and hosting companies should be held accountable for content on their networks and Web pages, Newsfactor , April 2, 2002
Bookstore Privacy? Bookstores nationwide, large and small, have chipped in about $30,000 >to help pay Meskis' legal fees as she defends reader privacy in a battle now before the Colorado Supreme Court. Joyce Meskis resisted Thornton police efforts to see the store's records of what was inside a large Tattered Cover envelope found in the trash in Thornton, Rocky Mountain News, April 1, 2002
FBI raids pro-Republicans The target of an anti-terrorist raid in the United States last week provided funds for an Islamic group with close ties to the Republican party and the White House. The Safa trust, a Saudi-backed charity, has provided funds for a political group called the Islamic Institute, which was set up to mobilise support for the Republican party. It shares an office in Washington with the Republican activist Grover Norquist, The Guardian , March 25, 2002
Colin Powell Has a List. And, Trust Me--You Don't Want to Be On ItThe list in question, or rather the lists, concern groups that the government labels foreign terrorist organizations, or FTOs, along with funders, supporters and business entities that aid them. The State Department list of FTOs, created by the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and first issued in 1997, currently includes twenty-eight groups. Since September 11, other lists have proliferated, The Nation , March 25, 2002
Aid for Poor Urged as a Tool to Fight Terror World leaders from Peru to the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau seized on US security concerns yesterday to plead for more aid at a United Nations development conference, arguing that eradicating poverty is the best way to prevent terrorism, The Globe , March 22, 2002
Iraq to US: Eliminate Your Weapons of Mass Destruction Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has called on the United States to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction, suggesting it undergo "psychiatric supervision" for its new nuclear weapons strategy that targets seven countries, including Iraq. "America must eliminate the first of its weapons of mass destruction before asking the rest of the world to do the same," Saddam said on Wednesday while receiving a delegation of chemists and pharmacology experts, Albawaba , March 21, 2002
New Law on Secret Evidence>Employing a controversial strategy, the U.S. Justice Department says it plans to use secret evidence to justify the financial sanctions it imposed on a Chicago-area Muslim charity as part of its effort to choke off terrorist funding after Sept. 11, Chicago Tribune, March 15, 2002
Ashcroft Personnel Moves Irk Career Justice Lawyers Attorney General John D. Ashcroft has moved in recent months to consolidate his control over the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, turning over control of sensitive issues traditionally handled by career lawyers to more conservative political appointees. On a variety of issues, including voting rights and employment discrimination, Ashcroft aides have moved to limit the input of career employees, in some cases meeting with defendants without informing the career lawyers handling the cases or allowing them to be present, Washington Post, March 14, 2002
USA: Post 11 September Detainees Deprived of Their Basic Rights Six months on from the 11 September attacks, a significant number of people detained in the USA in their aftermath continue to be deprived of some basic rights under international law, and many appear to have been detained arbitrarily, Amnesty International, March 14, 2002
The War on Dissent WidensAmericans for Victory Over Terrorism (AVOT) declared their intention to "take to task those groups and individuals who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the war we are facing." Those groups and individuals, AVOT claims, need to be resisted both here and abroad. A full-page AVOT advertisement carried in the March 10 Sunday New York Times pointed to radical Islam as "an enemy no less dangerous and no less determined than the twin menaces of fascism and communism we faced in the 20th century." At the same time, the $128,000 ad lambasted those at home "who are attempting to use this opportunity to promulgate their agenda of 'blame America first,'" AlterNet, March 12, 2002
US Sends Suspects to Face TortureThe US has been secretly sending prisoners suspected of al-Qaida connections to countries where torture during interrogation is legal, according to US diplomatic and intelligence sources. Prisoners moved to such countries as Egypt and Jordan can be subjected to torture and threats to their families to extract information sought by the US in the wake of the September 11 attacks, The Guardian , March 12, 2002
9/11 Fund To Discriminate Against Gays In an appearance on the Sunday, March 10 broadcast of NBC's "Meet the Press," Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (a fund created by Congress and run by the Department of Justice), said that gay partners of the heroes of September 11th will not necessarily be eligible for the same compensation as heterosexual family members who lost their loved ones. According to Feinberg, lots and lots of people will receive compensation under |
