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United States

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Poster in Havana shows images of Barack Obama and Raul Castro and reads "Welcome to Cuba" , REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

As US-Cuba relations thaw, what’s next for the island’s independent press?

When Obama arrives in Cuba next week for an historic visit -the first by a sitting U.S. president since 1928- he will find a media landscape that has greatly developed over the past decade.

EFF

The Foilies 2016: Awards for the worst in government responses to public records requests

March 13-19 is Sunshine Week, when open government activists around the country make noise about the need to reform laws on access to information. EFF created “The Foilies,” name-and-shame awards for agencies and officials who stand in the way of transparency and accountability.

Donald Trump at a campaign event in Fort Worth, Texas on 26 February 2016, REUTERS/Mike Stone

Donald Trump wants to make it easier to sue media

Would Super Tuesday’s big winner shift burden of proof to defendants if elected president?

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, REUTERS/Michael Dalder

U.S. State Department can do more to protect press freedom abroad

Following up on a meeting with John Kerry in 2015, international organisations urged him to implement the State Department’s journalist safety roadmap and to send a message to posts worldwide to set out new protocols on dealing with imperilled journalists.

In San Francisco, people voice their support of Apple's stance against the FBI's demands, Soraya Okuda/EFF

Apple is backed by Americans in battle with FBI

While the FBI has framed its demand as addressing a single phone, it has failed to address concerns that the implementation of the order would necessarily place at risk the security of millions of other devices and the people who use them.

Semi-hip Librarians blog

Book bans & Tor nodes: Libraries are our not-so-quiet free expression defenders

You may be surprised to learn that libraries are some of our best allies in the defence of access to information, privacy, and intellectual freedom. But this is nothing new, because these rights have always been fundamental to what libraries stand for.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with members of his national security team and cybersecurity advisors on 9 February 2016, REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

White House’s plans for privacy council fall short

While seeming to offer some promise, the newly proposed federal interagency privacy council has a limited mandate, and ultimately represents an overdue nod to privacy principles the Obama administration has repeatedly abused in practice.

Link to: How U.S. copyright law is being used to take down Correa’s critics in Ecuador

How U.S. copyright law is being used to take down Correa’s critics in Ecuador

CPJ has documented how restrictive media laws, and criminal defamation cases are used against critical outlets in Ecuador.

A protester shouts at Chicago police officers hours before the release of a video showing an officer shooting Laquan McDonald, REUTERS/Frank Polich

After 15 freedom of info requests, Chicago police release video of shooting

It took 13 months, 15 Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and a lawsuit for the city of Chicago to release the video of Laquan McDonald’s shooting by a police officer. This is only the latest example of a growing trend to restrict transparency and access to information concerning police brutality in the United States.

A Google Chromebook laptop, Luis Roca

U.S. school district embraces Google Chromebooks, but at what cost?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation presents a case study of a California father fighting his daughter’s school district over digital privacy.

Link to: U.S. Journalists’ dismissal from university grounds prompts discussion on media in public settings

U.S. Journalists’ dismissal from university grounds prompts discussion on media in public settings

Activists celebrating the resignation of the university’s president and its chancellor in the face of criticism over the school’s handling of a series of recent race-related incidents forced at least two journalists off the school’s quad after deeming the public area as a “safe space” that was off-limits to media.

Link to: Journalist arbitrarily detained in U.S. for covering protest

Journalist arbitrarily detained in U.S. for covering protest

Jack Highberger, an emmy-award winning reporter for Fox 9 (KMSP-TV) in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, was arrested Monday evening while covering a Black Lives Matter protest on the side of highway I-94.

Edward Snowden delivers remarks via video link from Moscow to attendees at a discussion on privacy, surveillance and protection of whistleblowers in Manhattan, New York, 24 September 2015, REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Inadequate protections for whistleblowers in U.S. impact on free expression, access to information

PEN American Center’s research demonstrates that gaps in existing protections for whistleblowers, failure to adequately address retaliation against them, and the Obama Administration’s use of the Espionage Act against leakers is damaging freedom of expression, press freedom, and access to information in the U.S.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after their joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, 25 September 2015, AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Obama-Xi agreement will not resolve China cybersecurity threat

One of the most touted takeaways from Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. was an agreement on the contentious issue of cyberattacks – and especially cyberespionage – against American targets.

Link to: Appeal to President Obama for pardon in case of CIA whistleblower

Appeal to President Obama for pardon in case of CIA whistleblower

Holly Sterling, Jeffrey Sterling’s wife, sent an open letter to President Obama to tell him about the real Jeffrey Sterling and ask for a presidential pardon.

Link to: U.S. state appeals court urged to protect Twitter parodies

U.S. state appeals court urged to protect Twitter parodies

Courts have long recognized that the First Amendment protects parodies. EFF has filed a brief urging a Michigan state court of appeals to apply the same protections to parodies posted on Twitter as to parodies everywhere else.