Free speech has its limits. There are freedoms we sacrifice within the First Amendment as a collective society. The Supreme Court has determined this in certain cases, such as the Miller v California ruling against obscene speech. Other exceptions of the First Amendment include refusing protections for child pornography ownership and production, a speech we... Continue Reading →
CNN, throw caution to the wind
Over the past few weeks, those with an interest of a truly free press were keeping a close eye on the battle between the White House and CNN's White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. After the White House pulled Acosta's press pass, unheard of prior to this instance, CNN pursued legal action against the Trump administration... Continue Reading →
When it’s more than a meme.
Towards the end of 2017, a new meme started popping up around Twitter and Tumblr with the premise of users directly interacting with the government agents surveilling them. And I'll admit, at the time I found them pretty funny. It seemed to be the nihilist, "everything sucks so we might as well make a joke... Continue Reading →
#Filter
Every day, it is the job of a journalist to expose the truth. But, is ironic how while their jobs are to expose the truth, they are also expected to keep secrets. In Emily Bells’s Journalism After Snowden, she elaborates on the journalist’s need to protect the secrets of his or her sources. Along with... Continue Reading →
Teaching Digital Security
Living in a post-Snowden America is strange. We know about the reality of the surveillance state, we know about the NSA’s ability to track our every move, we even know about the very real possibility of our own names being one of the 1.2 million on the government watch list. We know all of these... Continue Reading →
Hate Speech & Social Media
Gab.com is a social network that promotes itself as a safe haven for free speech and an alternative to Twitter and Facebook. It was also used by the man responsible for the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting last month. In response to the shooting and wide spread criticism of the platform, Gab CEO and founder Andrew Torba... Continue Reading →
Hot Water !
Facebook is once again in the news. According to the Times, Facebook did not disclose to congress that the Russian interference was happening much longer than they had admitted. This was a shock to their democrat "friends." In the past YouTube and Facebook were under fire because of the Russian interference during the presidential interference.... Continue Reading →
The Fall of the Free Press, Part Three: How to Pick It Back Up.
In part three of my series on the White House's attacks on the free press this past week, I will discuss my support of solidarity from the press corps moving forward as well as what legal actions are being taken to stand up to Trump. (Check out parts one and two to get caught up.)... Continue Reading →
First Amendment Fires.
This week, preparing for this blog there were two main issues that I wanted to discuss, both different but both very important in our country currently. One a violation of the first amendment and the other a life and death natural disaster. One involves the White House suspending a CNN reporter’s credentials, the President of... Continue Reading →
Let it Snowden
It’s the holiday season. You hop on the metro, paying with your Charlie card, heading inbound to Copley. You notice there’s a Starbucks next to the store, so you naturally go inside to buy your usual, double short latte with almond milk. You need all the energy you can get, anticipating the lines in the... Continue Reading →