While many journalists are relieved that Bradley Manning was acquitted of the charge that he aided the enemy, we shouldn't forget how hard the government pushed for that conviction.
What's really worrisome is Google's gradual but unmistakable shift away from the principles of openness and innovation it once championed. Google might not be evil yet, but it's reserving the right to go there.
Last week Free Press and other public interest groups filed a legal challenge to Gannett's deal to buy 20 Belo TV stations.
And on Monday, we learned that this wave of TV mergers is only accelerating.
When I was growing up, I loved dystopian stories where the protagonists fought against “The Man.” The omniscient but shadowy enemy was always all-seeing and all-knowing, a seemingly indomitable foe.
The biggest news of the week was the near-victory of an amendment in the House of Representatives that would have defunded the National Security Agency's bulk phone-data-collection program.
In the last few months, a wave of mergers has threatened to further erode the already sad state of local TV news around the country.
Well, we aren’t standing for it. On Wednesday, Free Press filed official paperwork to block Gannett’s acquisition of 20 TV stations from Belo.
UPDATE: Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to the defense appropriations bill, which would have cut funding for the National Security Agency's phone-record-collection program, just lost by a vote of 217–205. Don't be upset — this is an AMAZING moment.
Surveillance again dominated the news this week. Members of Congress started speaking up about the National Security Agency’s spying programs, lawsuits piled up on the NSA's doormat and a couple of hackers turned a Verizon signal booster into a personal wiretapper.
