News
Net Neutrality: What’s at Stake and Why It Matters
On December 14, 2017, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to eliminate the robust net neutrality protections put in place by the Obama Administration in 2015.
ACLU v. NSA: How Greater Transparency Can Reduce the Chilling Effects of Mass Surveillance
In 1981, President Reagan issued Executive Order (E.O.) 12,333, which has since come to serve as a general charter for mass intelligence surveillance.
A Possible Alternative to Secretive DNA Analysis
In October, MFIA worked with ProPublica to lift a protective order on the source code for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s (OCME) “Forensic Statistical Tool” (FST).
The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016: A New Era of Government Openness?
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was first enacted in 1966, establishing the structure of FOIA as we know it today. Since then, the story of FOIA has included a tug-of-war between greater government openness and greater government secrecy, as different administrations have favored or disfavored openness.
When Silence Isn’t Golden: How Gag Orders Can Evade First Amendment Protections
Trials must be conducted at law, rather than in the press, and courts sometimes feel the need to assert control of the outflow of information around judicial matters to preserve the fair trial rights of litigants.
China’s Cybersecurity Administration Cracks Down on Free Speech
According to a CAC report, between April to June of this year, the agency revoked over 3,918 ICP licenses (permits required for Chinese-based websites to operate in China), revoked over 810,000 user accounts on various websites, issued warnings to 172 of the 443 websites it has investigated, and transferred 316 cases to Chinese police authorities for criminal investigations.