[governance] EFF: Lawmakers Must Respect Freedom of Expression in Wikileaks Debate

[Katitza Rodriguez]

Greetings,

As part of our domestic work in the US, we have issued this press 
release today. Just fyi since this letter was released as part of our 
domestic work.

For the full open letter:
https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/WikiLeaks/wikileaks_open_letter_final.pdf


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[E-S] EFF: Lawmakers Must Respect Freedom of Expression in 
Wikileaks Debate
Date: 	Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:05:33 -0800
From: 	EFF Press <press at eff.org>
Reply-To: 	press at eff.org
To: 	presslist at eff.org



Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Contact:

Marcia Hofmann
   Senior Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   marcia at eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x116

Rainey Reitman
   Activist
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   rainey at eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x140

Lawmakers Must Respect Freedom of Expression in Wikileaks
Debate

Broad Coalition Calls on U.S. Government Officials to
Protect Free Speech

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
and a broad coalition of advocacy organizations sent an
open letter to U.S. lawmakers today, calling on government
officials to respect freedom of expression in the debate
over the whistle-blower website Wikileaks.

In the wake of Wikileaks' recent publications of U.S.
diplomatic cables, some lawmakers have attacked newspapers'
rights to report on the information in those documents.
Other government officials have cast doubt on Americans'
right to download, read, or discuss documents published by
Wikileaks and even the news reporting based on those
documents.  Rash legislation was proposed that could limit
the free speech of news reporting organizations well beyond
Wikileaks.  In the open letter sent Wednesday, 30 groups
urged lawmakers to remember and respect constitutional
rights as Congress continues to discuss the issues at
stake.

"By likening publishers and reporters to spies and
cyber-terrorists, some government officials have
irresponsibly created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty
leading many to question their rights to publish, read and
discuss the Wikileaks cables," said EFF Senior Staff
Attorney Marcia Hofmann.  "But American law is well settled
on these issues: the First Amendment strongly protects
publishers' right to distribute truthful political
information, and Internet users have a fundamental right to
read and debate it."

In a congressional hearing about Wikileaks last week, all
seven witnesses to the House Judiciary Committee cautioned
against attempts to suppress free speech and criticized the
overwhelming secrecy that permeates the U.S. government.
The coalition joining the open letter today similarly
called for caution against any new laws that could weaken
the principles of free expression that are vital to our
democracy.

"In a free country, the government cannot and does not have
unlimited power to determine what publishers can publish
and what the public can read," said EFF Activist Rainey
Reitman.  "We encourage a robust public debate about
Wikileaks and the secret government documents, but
lawmakers must protect the rights of all involved."

For the full open letter:
https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/WikiLeaks/wikileaks_open_letter_final.pdf


Join EFF in standing up against Internet censorship:
https://www.eff.org/pages/say-no-to-online-censorship

For this release:
https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/12/21

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at https://www.eff.org/


     -end-

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