On RT America, I discuss the recent court ruling in a lawsuit where an unnamed telecommunications company (believed to be Credo) challenged the gag provisions in FBI national security letters.

A US district court in California found in a decision made public on Friday that Nondisclosure or gag provisions of National Security Letters “significantly infringe upon speech regarding controversial government powers.” The provisions were found to violate the First Amendment and the “separation of powers principles.” The court also determined the provisions were effectively preventing public debate on surveillance.

Before his sentencing hearing, Andrew Auernheimer, who was convicted on one of charge of conspiracy under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and one charge of fraud involving personal information, declared in a statement that he was going to jail for “arithmetic.”

Twenty-six year-old security researcher, known as “Weev,” was sentenced to forty-one months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered pay $73,000 in restitution to AT&T.

Emad Burnat is the Palestinian director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, “5 Broken Cameras.” He is the first Palestinian to be nominated for an Academy Award.

He traveled to the United States this week because the Academy Awards ceremony is this weekend. It is common for nominees to be in attendance. But on Tuesday night, US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained and held him at the Los Angeles International Airport. They threatened to send him back to Palestine before the ceremony.

The War of on Terror continues with a new grave threat – people writing things on the internet. The government is now trying to find ways to counter “online radicalization to violence” a phrase so broad it could mean practically anything.

Society needs weapons against cyberbullying, which can be a seriously harmful activity, and against libel that is shielded by anonymity. But somehow, surprise surprise, neoliberal governments are using those worthy goals, in Great Britain now (but in New York last month), to advance a sledgehammer attack on internet anonymity.

A man who confronted then-Vice President Dick Cheney over the Iraq War and was arrested by Secret Service agents for “assaulting” Cheney had his appeal to the Supreme Court unanimously rejected.

The State Department has taken action against one of its employees, Peter Van Buren, which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) believes is in retaliation for criticism of the State Department’s reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Here’s an “unauthorized” interview with Van Buren.

Puzzlingly still-employed UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, of last fall’s infamous “silent treatment” walk of shame (and worst Buick Enclave commercial ever), has been sued for infringing on the free speech rights of students pepper-sprayed during campus #Occupy protests by campus police.

You wouldn’t think handling a notebook or a camera could be a hazardous line of work. But according to the latest global Press Freedom Index, abuse and oppression of reporters has made journalism an increasingly risky job in many countries. The past year has even left a notable taint on the U.S. press, despite the country’s mythos as a beacon of free expression.

Remember how worked up conservatives used to get over China’s charging the families of executed prisoners (political and otherwise) for the cost of the bullets used to kill them?

Funny how the killing of free speech in America doesn’t seem to bother them at all.