US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that he is resigning. Trevor Timm of Freedom of the Press Foundation says he's been the worst AG where press freedom issues are concerned since Nixon's John Mitchell.

See Runa Sanvik's feature on this

Phil writes, "Runa Sandvik of Freedom of the Press Foundation is systematically documenting the arrests of journalists in Ferguson, Missouri made during protests of the August 9 officer-committed shooting death of Michael Brown."

These arrests are a gross violation of the reporters' First Amendment rights, and attempts to prevent journalists from lawfully doing their job on the streets of Ferguson are illegal.

Today, a total of 19 Pulitzer Prize winners have issued statements in support of journalist James Risen and in protest of the Justice Department's attempt to force Risen to testify against his sources. — Read the rest

"I have a question for all the well-meaning people who praise President Obama for 'banning' torture," asks Barry Eisler. "Would you also find it helpful for the president to ban kidnapping? Child abuse? Mail fraud? Maybe you would. After all, no one likes kidnapping, child abuse, or mail fraud. — Read the rest

First they were told they'd be allowed to read the report, then the offer was withdrawn. Why was it made in the first place?

Standagainstspying.org, a coalition that includes The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Greenpeace, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and other groups, flew a 135-foot thermal airship over the million-square-foot NSA facility in Bluffdale, Utah today.

Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation says, "We just helped the Project of Government Oversight (POGO) install SecureDrop. As you may have seen, they were just subpoenaed for over 700
whistleblower records related to the Veteran's Affairs scandal, which
they have been critical to uncovering."

EFF, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Software Foundation and The Tor Project have launched The Tor Challenge, a campaign to encourage people to run Tor nodes. "Tor is a powerful tool that helps you stay anonymous online. It can protect your privacy as you browse the Internet and circumvent government censorship of the webpages you visit. — Read the rest

One year ago today

Help crowd-fund a court stenographer for the trial of accused Wikileaks source Bradley Manning: The trial of Bradley Manning begins on June 3, 2013 The Freedom of the Press Foundation is crowd-funding donations to hire a court stenographer to record trial transcripts. — Read the rest

Mashable has a nice profile of First Look's Micah Lee.

It's now been over a month since the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to force the Obama administration to declassify parts of the Committee's landmark report on CIA torture, and the public still has not seen a word of the 6,000 page investigation. — Read the rest

Hillary Clinton made her first extended public remarks about Edward Snowden late last week, and unfortunately she misstated some basic facts about the NSA whistleblower and how events have played out in the last year. Here's a breakdown of what she said and where she went wrong:

Clinton: "If he were concerned and wanted to be part of the American debate, he could have been… I don't understand why he couldn't have been part of the debate at home." — Read the rest

"Judges at the lowest levels of the federal judiciary are balking at sweeping requests by law enforcement officials for cellphone and other sensitive personal data, declaring the demands overly broad and at odds with basic constitutional rights," reports the Washington Post. — Read the rest

I am grateful to the committee for their recognition of the efforts of those involved in the last year's reporting, and join others around the world in congratulating Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Ewen MacAskill, and all of the others at the Guardian and Washington Post on winning the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. — Read the rest

In a Guardian op-ed, Trevor Timm writes:

The CEOs of the major tech companies came out of the gate swinging 10 months ago, complaining loudly about how NSA surveillance has been destroying privacy and ruining their business. They still are.

A first since they began reporting on the material leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, landing in the United States. There have been concerns that the US might detain them if they entered the country.

#Glenngreenwald and #LauraPoitras arrive safely at JFK airport.

One year ago today

In case you missed: Bradley Manning has a voice: The Freedom of the Press Foundation this week released surreptitiously recorded audio leaked from the Bradley Manning military pre-court martial hearing at Fort Meade.

Five years ago today

DIY funerals:
A movement toward home after-death care has convinced thousands of Americans to deal with their own dead. — Read the rest

Border agents detain American citizens for hours and seize laptops and phones without evidence or suspicion, Moreover, reports Trevor Timm, journalists are a frequent target.

In a disturbing ruling for democracy, a lower court in United Kingdom announced today that the detainment of journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda was lawful under the Terrorism Act, despite the fact that the UK government knew Miranda never was a terrorist. — Read the rest