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---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 09:17:20 -0400 From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com> To: politech at politechbot.com Subject: FC: EFF plans to help Seattle IMC fight gag order
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,43339,00.html
Journalists Protest Gag Order
By Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)
5:00 p.m. April 25, 2001 PDT
WASHINGTON -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation will represent a
Seattle journalist collective that is the target of a police probe and
court-imposed gag order.
On Saturday evening, FBI agents visited the downtown offices of the
Independent Media Center and handed the group a court order --
apparently related to the Quebec City trade summit -- that also
instructed the media organization not to publish the contents of the
order.
That unusual event grabbed the attention of the civil liberties
organization, which is stepping into the fray and hopes to persuade a
federal judge to lift the gag order. Other groups also may be part of
the legal team.
"It is possible that the gag order may come off very soon," says Lee
Tien, an EFF staff attorney. "I would be on the lookout."
[...]
"There are a few limited situations in which there are legal gag
orders," says Doug Honig, public education director for the ACLU's
Washington state chapter. He gave three examples: Testimony before a
grand jury, a trial where the judge tells the attorneys not to give
interviews, and an out-of-court settlement.
"In this situation we don't understand why there was a gag order in
the first place," Honig said. "It certainly shouldn't be the case that
a government official would tell an organization that they can't talk
about a situation.... Based on what we've heard so far, we don't know
why there was a gag order."
[...]
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