USA Archives - Page 21 of 28 - Index on Censorship

US extends sanctions against Belarus

The United States’ sanctions against Belarus have been extended for one year in the hope of pushing for democratic reform. A White House spokesman reported that the executive order stood in opposition to corruption, censorship and human rights abuses. Despite acknowledging the 2008 release of three political prisoners, the report emphasised that “serious challenges remain”.

Anonymous member jailed over Scientology cyber attacks

Brian Mettenbrink of Nebraska was sentenced this week to one year in prison and a $20,000 fine for orchestrating the DDoS attacks against the Church of Scientology’s website in 2008. Mettenbrink admitted to being a member of the group Anonymous, who staged a series of online attacks on Scientology websites as a protest over the religion’s censorship of the internet.

Obama to sign Freedom of Press Act

President Obama is to sign the Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act today. The bill is designed to identify countries where press freedom is being violated, as well as promoting, protecting and “strengthening the independence of journalists and media organizations”. It is also committing $2m into publishing an “Annual Report on the Status of Freedom of the Press Worldwide”.

Filmmaker ordered to release Amazon footage to oil company

On 6 May, a US federal judge ruled that Chevron could subpoena footage from “Crude”, a documentary about the company’s involvement in the pollution of the Amazonian rainforest in Ecuador. Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in favour of Chevron’s request to view 600 hours of outtakes from the documentary. Joseph Berlinger, director of the documentary, said turning over footage to the courts would violate journalistic privilege and undermine a lawsuit in Ecuador.

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