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KW 34: Die Woche, in der wir auf die Rückkehr des Urlaubs-Kanzlers warten
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Intransparente Rechenzentren: „Ein Armutszeugnis für die Bundesregierung“
Imprisoned journalist faces horrifying conditions
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Dear Friend of Press Freedom:
An imprisoned journalist in Los Angeles has endured months of violence and medical neglect at the hands of federal agents. Plus, Disney takes a stand against the FCC’s anti-press antics, and you can too.
Imprisoned journalist faces horrifying conditions
Los Angeles-based journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias has been in ICE detention for more than 300 days. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Deputy Director of Advocacy Adam Rose wrote for The Intercept about the horrific abuse he’s endured.
The government can’t make a journalist disappear simply by locking him in a cell. But by giving him drinking water filled with fly larvae, deleting surveillance footage of federal agents shooting him, and treating his gunshot wound with vitamin D and Bengay, they’re certainly trying. Rose also discussed Parias’ case on the “This Week On Ice” podcast.
Disney fights back against the FCC
Disney filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that the Federal Communications Commission — led by Donald Trump loyalist Brendan Carr — has been retaliating against it for reporting by ABC News that the president doesn’t like.
As FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said, “It’s about time for someone to take Carr and his FCC to court over their endless campaign of intimidation and retaliation against journalism that displeases Carr’s thin-skinned boss.” We hope this will encourage other outlets to fight back too.
You can fight the FCC’s abuses too
Disney’s suit is a significant step in combating Carr’s abuse of power. But he’s seeking to accrue more power to abuse: Trump’s nominee for fourth FCC commissioner is a Carr aide who has apparently been unable or unwilling to rein in Carr’s targeting of the press. If she’s confirmed, it’ll pave the way for Trump to fire the only dissenting voice at the FCC, Commissioner Anna Gomez.
White House statements are only for the wealthiest
While the president is selling advance access to official communications he posts on Truth Social, the Justice Department is working to keep the rest of the president’s records completely hidden from the public, FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper writes for MS NOW.
That’s why FPF is suing the administration on both fronts: to stop Trump’s crooked scheme to monetize his posts and to force his administration to comply with the Presidential Records Act.
Dangerous DOJ memo expands presidential secrecy
In an unprecedented move, the DOJ has issued a memo that says executive privilege covers Trump’s communications with advisers outside the White House. That means corporate lobbyists and donors could have the ear of the president on national and foreign policy without any obligation to keep or release the records of their conversations with him.
ICE can watch you, but you can’t watch ICE
ICE has massively expanded its surveillance operations in the last five years, collecting DNA from nearly 1 million people a year, scanning irises, and paying private contractors to spy on people who criticize the agency online. Yet it can’t manage to get its agents to wear body cameras. Allowing the agency to surveil the public while evading transparency for itself is a recipe for rampant abuse.
Release of Biden recordings is a transparency win
In some much-needed good news for transparency, an appeals court just ordered the release of recordings of former President Joe Biden being interviewed by his memoir ghostwriter, tapes that came to light during a special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of classified records. A different special counsel investigated Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at the end of his first term. The Knight First Amendment Institute is trying to get access to that special counsel’s report, and is pointing to the Biden ruling as it appeals a ruling blocking the report’s release.
What we’re reading
Feds struggle to explain redactions in Epstein files compliance case
Courthouse News Service
A judge may hold Department of Justice attorneys in contempt for defying the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Good. The public has the right to access these records. If the DOJ keeps stonewalling, the judge should follow through.
‘Frontline Voices’
WBAI
Somehow, the administration putting a plane full of journalists in harm’s way as involuntary decoys isn’t even the top press freedom story this month — but it shouldn’t be overlooked. FPF’s Stern discussed the episode and the rest of the laundry list of Trump’s attacks on the press, along with Caroline Hendrie of the Society of Professional Journalists and Nora Benavidez of Free Press.
Lawmakers mull new bill to prevent lawsuits aimed at silencing free speech
WyoFile
Both red and blue states have recognized the need to protect people from abusive lawsuits designed to silence speech. Wyoming is one of the few states still without an anti-SLAPP law — its lawmakers are right to try to change that.
NewsGuild sues DHS challenging visa rule affecting foreign journalists, others
The NewsGuild-CWA
The Trump administration is trying to impose time limits on foreign journalists’ visas, which could subject their work to government review every 240 days. Thankfully, the NewsGuild and others are suing to block the move.
ABC vs. the Trump FCC
'The Steve Gruber Show’
Press freedom is not a partisan issue, and FPF opposes censorship no matter who is in office. Watch FPF Executive Director Trevor Timm push back on the idea that opposing Trump’s attacks on the press is left-wing hypocrisy.
Are you subscribed to our other newsletters? Sign up for news on excessive government secrecy, and for digital security tips and advice at the link below.
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Landtagswahl in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Diese antifaschistischen Maßnahmen haben die Parteien im Programm
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Mit Urheberrecht gegen offene Daten: Bayern verliert gegen Open-Data-Aktivisten
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Heimliches Filmen: Kann man Überwachungsbrillen verbieten?
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Verfassungswidrig: Was der Stopp des französischen Social-Media-Verbots bedeutet
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KI in der Migrationsverwaltung: „Es geht um Entscheidungen über Menschenleben“
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Argentinien: Überwachung mit der Kettensäge
Wednesday: Spy Hunt, Dewey Square, Boston
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The National Week of Action Against ALPRs (Automated License Plate Readers) starts on August 16th. This Wednesday, the Muslim Justice League is organizing a spy (camera) hunt in Dewey Square.
Come out on August 19th at 5:30pm near South Station to learn how to identify ALPRs from different companies and then go out on a camera hunt to find all the spy cameras the Boston Regional Information Center (BRIC) setup.
We maintain a map of surveillance cameras in Massachusetts and elsewhere at cctv.masspirates.org. Our site pulls in surveillance camera data from Open Street Map.
Before you come out, take a look at our how-to guides on mapping surveillance cameras. You can find them at cctv.masspirates.org and at our Mapping Surveillance wiki page. Some of the guides you may find most helpful are:
The app guides show people how to use the specified apps to document the cameras they find directly into Open Street Map. Finally, we also have a PDF flyer with QR codes to all the pages listed above and more you can print out and share with others:
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Absurde Entscheidung: Kartellamt verpflichtet Apple zu manipulativem Design
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Polizei und Verfassungsschutz: Was bei einer Machtübernahme durch Rechtsextreme droht
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Protest: Künstler verwirrt KI-Überwachung mit Hypnose-Shirt
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Polizeigesetz Schleswig-Holstein: „Direkt aus dem Roman 1984“
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Bundeskartellamt: Apple muss Tracking-Schutz anpassen
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Bezahlkarten für Geflüchtete: „Hoffentlich geht diesmal alles gut“
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KW 33: Die Woche, in der die Regierung ihre Geheimdienstreform beschloss
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Landtagswahl in Berlin: So wollen die Parteien die Hauptstadt nazifest machen
We sued Trump over Truth Social grift
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Dear Friend of Press Freedom:
Donald Trump selling early access to his Truth Social posts is a First Amendment foul. This week, we sued to make him stop. Plus: A climate of fear for Columbia’s student journalists, how to save the Freedom of Information Act, and safety tips for journalists on AI and doxxing.
We sued Trump over Truth Social early access grift
President Trump is selling early access to his Truth Social posts for up to $100,000 a month. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and The Intercept just sued him and his staff to stop the scheme.
The First Amendment guarantees citizens equal access to the president’s public announcements. By enriching himself through early access to his posts, which routinely announce official government policy, Trump is violating the Constitution.
“Trump’s crooked scheme is particularly outrageous because, as documented by our Trump Anti-Press Social Media Tracker, he frequently uses his Truth Social account to berate journalists and even to announce his plans to sue them and criminally investigate them,” FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “Then, he makes them wait in line behind paying customers to find out about it unless they’re willing to subsidize the platform he uses to attack them.”
Threats to student journalism at Columbia persist after encampments
A climate of fear has taken hold among student journalists at Columbia University following the school’s investigation and interim suspension of several who covered pro-Palestinian protests on campus, Sawyer Huckabee of Columbia radio station WKCR writes for FPF.
Columbia is home to a prestigious journalism school. But universities that train future journalists shouldn’t be places where practicing journalism puts students’ ability to complete their education at risk.
How to save FOIA
Three members of the FOIA Advisory Committee, which just wrapped up its latest term, told FPF this week how they would strengthen the imperiled federal records law. Setting a baseline funding floor for FOIA offices, establishing a specialized FOIA court, and maybe even using AI (with caveats) could make a difference in the current transparency crisis, experts said.
Yes, the government is getting more secretive
FPF Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper explains in a video how the Trump administration is intentionally starving the public of information by slashing the FOIA workforce — and hiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers instead. Use our action center to tell Congress to ensure that FOIA offices remain fully staffed and open, because Americans want more transparency, not less.
Watch this if you’re a journalist using AI
While AI tools can be a godsend for journalists strapped for time and cash, they also have risks, like having your information shared in response to a legal request or used to train AI models. FPF’s Chief Security Programs Officer Harlo Holmes breaks down how you can use AI tools without endangering yourself or your sources.
And read this if you think you might get doxxed
Important stories can bring a lot of attention to the reporters who share them, for better and worse. Dr. Martin Shelton, deputy director of FPF’s digital security team, runs through the steps journalists can take before their stories go live to protect against malicious actors collecting and publishing their personal information.
What we’re reading
Judge clarifies that reporter Catherine Herridge doesn’t have to pay $800-per-day contempt fines as she pursues Supreme Court appeal
Deadline
The fine Herridge faces is paused, but the threat to journalist-source confidentiality remains. Only a Supreme Court ruling in Herridge’s favor and a strong federal shield law can stop it.
Get outraged, and active, about the Trump-toadying FCC
American Crisis
Brendan Carr’s out-of-control agency is remaking the media in Trump’s image. Former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan runs down how to fight back.
Judge throws out DOE’s blanket ‘still interested’ FOIA policy
Federal News Network
It’s diabolical for an agency to ignore FOIA requests for years, then close them if the requesters don’t remind the agency that they still want the records.
Florida seeks to scrutinize The New York Times’ editorial process
Politico
Maybe Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who’s behind this harassing demand, should open his own books. He’s been accused of corruption, including by a member of his own party.
Attorney seeks help from higher court in getting reporter’s notes back
The Assembly
Gagging a journalist, holding her notes for more than three years, and then hiding behind procedural rules to block her appeal is outrageous.
Iowa governor’s office insists executive privilege can block release of staff emails
Courthouse News Service
Expanding the exemptions to public records laws, like making up a new “executive privilege” exemption for staffer emails, helps elected officials operate in secret, without accountability.
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Interview: Einblicke in Chats, in denen Menschen die Flucht nach Ceuta planen
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Verhaltenserkennung in Mannheim: 10.000 Filme für ein Hallelujah
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Geheimdienstreform: Geschichtsvergessen und gefährlich
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X, Mastodon und Bluesky: Was Aufmerksamkeit wert ist
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KI-Sprachmodelle für die Verwaltung: „Das sind Annahmen, die sich schwer belegen lassen“
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Gutachten des Bundestages: Haber-Verfahren verstößt gegen Grundrechte
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Angebot an LVMH: Gefährliches Überwachungs-Werkzeug breitet sich aus
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Geheimdienstreform: „Der Schutz von Journalist:innen wird systematisch abgebaut“
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Einheitliche EU-Regeln: Wie weit ist Deutschland beim digitalen Gewaltschutz?
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Genug für 600 Millionen Menschen: Warum verbraucht KI so viel Wasser?
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KI und Rechenzentren: Bundesregierung weiß nicht, wieviel Wasser ihre Ausbaupläne schlucken werden
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Degitalisierung: Fortschritt
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KW 32: Die Woche, in der wir mit Sorge und Hoffnung nach Sachsen-Anhalt blickten
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Lobbyismus zum Digitalen Euro: „Banken fürchten um ihre Profite“
Stop the Pentagon’s secrecy grab
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Dear Friend of Press Freedom:
Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has, by our count, paid at least $15,000 in fines for refusing to reveal a confidential source. Plus, the Pentagon tries to hide millions of records from the American public, and a win in Puerto Rico for the press.
Congress must reject terrible Pentagon records policy
Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department is pushing a proposal that would exempt “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) from the Freedom of Information Act. Given the rampant abuse of CUI markings across the department — and the fact that FOIA already shields both properly classified material and sensitive unclassified data — this is just the latest move by the Pentagon to escape accountability.
That’s why Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) led a broad coalition of transparency organizations, press freedom advocates, and watchdog groups in urging four Congressional committees to reject the proposal, which FPF Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper wrote about for MS NOW.
Ruling protects Puerto Rican journalists
Some good news: On Tuesday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling preventing the enforcement of the so-called Fake News Law in Puerto Rico, which would have criminalized spreading false information about public emergencies. Two journalists who had challenged the law argued that it would dissuade journalists from reporting developing news for fear of being prosecuted if the facts shifted. FPF, along with the University of Georgia’s First Amendment Clinic, Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and PEN American Center filed a legal brief in support of the journalists.
“The First Circuit got this exactly right,” FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “Recent U.S. history clearly demonstrates that ambiguous and overbroad statutes restricting speech will inevitably be abused to crack down on dissent and journalism. It’s a question of when, not if.”
Fauci hubbub obscures Trump recordkeeping failures
Much has been made about Dr. Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions during a contentious congressional hearing last week about the COVID-19 pandemic. But Fauci’s work can only be scrutinized because he preserved over a thousand pages of records on government servers — the kind of recordkeeping the Trump administration seems to have forcefully abandoned.
In an op-ed in MS NOW, FPF’s Harper describes the government-wide assault on record preservation and accountability that contrasts sharply with the Fauci records dump.
The US Virgin Islands need transparency
There’s been a lot of posturing about transparency by legislators in the U.S. Virgin Islands, journalist Shirley L. Smith, a native of the islands, wrote for FPF. But these same officials have neglected to strengthen the territory’s archaic and ineffective public records laws, despite scrutiny over some of their relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, who owned two islands there.
Smith writes that it’s past time to change the public records laws to hold officials personally liable for illegally withholding public records, impose stringent penalties on violators, implement effective enforcement, and require agencies to produce records by a specific deadline.
It’s getting dark in the Sunshine State
Florida was once celebrated for having some of the nation’s strongest public records and open meetings laws. But a disturbing pattern of official stonewalling, secrecy, and retaliation against critics indicates that the state has abandoned its commitment to free expression and open government. Most disturbing: A new law that gives state officials the power to designate organizations as domestic or foreign terrorist groups and penalizes “promoting” them, which some reporters fear could be used to punish writing about banned groups.
Bobby Block, executive director of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, wrote for FPF about what’s happening in the “Free State of Florida.”
Come to our webinar on how to fix FOIA
The FOIA Advisory Committee just wrapped up its latest term, and it’s got ideas for how to strengthen this vital but imperiled federal records law. We’ll hear from three committee members on the proposals and how they could help journalists’ investigations. Join us next Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 2 p.m. ET to learn more.
What we’re reading
Justice Dept. subpoenas Times freelancer in effort to identify sources
The New York Times
On the heels of a batch of failed subpoenas to New York Times journalists and their relatives, the paper revealed that yet another reporter, a freelancer who reported on a failed Navy SEAL mission in North Korea, has been fighting a subpoena since February. Congress needs to pass the PRESS Act and end these alarming attempts to commandeer and surveil the press.
David Ellison: In defense of the Paramount-Warner deal
The New York Times
What a great platform for Paramount CEO David Ellison to publicly deny promising President Donald Trump a CNN overhaul or $20 million in free advertising in exchange for merger approvals, or to speak out against the president’s bullying of journalists he employs — weird he didn’t do any of that.
‘60 Minutes’ Epstein banking story didn’t air after Sharyn Alfonsi exit, Dem senator claims
Mediaite
Despite Ellison’s NYT op-ed and the rest of his and his father’s “poor billionaires” charm offensive, the news pages aren’t cooperating — every week we learn more about the scope of editorial interference at CBS under their watch.
Israeli strike that killed journalist in Lebanon was war crime, say rights groups
The Guardian
The evidence is clear that the Israeli military knew, or should have, that Lebanese journalists Zeinab Faraj and Amal Khalil were civilians, “but attacked them anyway, and then prevented paramedics from rescuing them for hours,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. Meanwhile, Ellison’s CBS hired a producer known for covering up Israel’s U.S.-funded massacre of their colleagues in Gaza.
Film producers warn Paramount-Warner merger could restrict access to news archives
Reuters
Like documentaries? Then you probably don’t want the two largest privately held news archives — the lifeblood of documentary film — under the same ownership. Especially when that ownership kisses up to politicians by censoring their critics.
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Landtagswahl in Sachsen-Anhalt: So wollen die Parteien die autoritäre Wende aufhalten
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Verwaltungsdigitalisierung: Digitalminister Wildberger wiederholt alte Fehler
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Australien zieht Bilanz: Fünf erste Lehren aus dem Social-Media-Verbot
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Dubiose Praktiken: Palantir drückt sich vor Steuern
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Queerfeindliche Gewalt: „Gewalt beginnt nicht erst auf der Straße“
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Harte Kritik am Thüringer Polizeigesetz: „Verfassungsrechtlich ist das nicht tragbar“