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Discusses the World Intellectual Property Organization's proposed Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Databases and suggests that because it disagrees with United States copyright law and the First Amendment, it should be rejected. Topics include public interests and individual property rights; journalists' reporting; and the fair use doctrine. Contains 59 notes. (LRW)

Presents three differing perspectives from American Bar Association members on whether television cameras should be allowed in the courtroom. Contends that cameras should be allowed with differing degrees of certainty: cameras truly open the courts to the public; cameras must be strategically placed; and cameras should be used only with the judge's approval. (CMK)

The Most Serious Threat Is... ABUSE OF PRIVILEGE If the post-Watergate years were a time of growing power for this country's press, the coming years will be an era of [...]

Describes the methods used by the Thatcher government to control publication of government information by the press and the recent attempt to prevent the publication of "Spycatcher" by former MI5 agent Peter Wright. The futility of government censorship and the need for guaranteed freedom of the press are also discussed. (113 notes with references) (CLB)

Presents the comments of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press regarding the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Databases. Copyright law and the First Amendment; Legislative and judicial resolutions on balance of public interests and individual property rights.

Media coverage of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing last September expended plenty of ink and video film on controversies over reproductive freedom, sexual orientation and [...]

'[W]ithout some protection for seeking out the news, freedom of the press could be eviscerated' -- Justice Byron White, Branzburg v. Hayes, 1972 For nearly forty years, journalists in the [...]

For nearly forty years, journalists in the United States have been living in a fool's paradise. The First Amendment's prohibition against laws abridging press freedom, vigorously enforced by an independent [...]

Democracy built on idea of participation by all Public participation in government decision-making is the hallmark of a democratic society. The American tradition of the town meeting, where policy issues [...]

The freewheeling world of the blogosphere seems like the last bastion of truly free speech. To publish in it doesn't require a lot of money, an expensive printing press, or [...]

The conversion of public information to electronic form has created new access barriers. Journalists are denied important information sources when courts restrict access to electronic files on personal privacy grounds.

In the twenty-five years since the Supreme Court of the United States first recognized the doctrine of “practical obscurity” inUnited States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, judges, legislators and policymakers have invoked it to justify limiting access to all kinds of digitized government records containing personally identifiable information. The idea that individuals have a privacy interest in publicly available records that trumps the rights of access was flawed from the beginning and makes even less sense today. The advent of the Internet, search engines and Big Data means that information is more widely available from a variety of sources than ever before. Attempts to create a Right to be Forgotten to force search engines to remove links to so-called “irrelevant” but accurate information are both wrong-headed and futile. As one federal judge wrote, practical obscurity is “an anachronism.” This essay argues that it is past time to retire it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]