Apr 19, 2016 | Civil Liberties, mic
Published: The Good Men Project (April 19, 2016) Last week I had a conversation with Mark Schierbecker, and it has put me in a bit of a bind. I reached out to him for an interview because I care about First Amendment issues and he has, without question, qualifications to discuss them. While covering a student protest at the University of Missouri, a professor named Melissa Click led a mob of...
Apr 12, 2016 | Civil Liberties
Published: The Huffington Post (April 12, 2016), The Good Men Project (April 9, 2016) The First Amendment may technically apply only to Americans, but its underlying principle is the foundation for individual liberty everywhere. When each human being can speak his or her mind without fear of repression, we all win; when even one person is pressured into silence, culturally or politically,...
Mar 7, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Elections - Presidential (2016), Internet Culture, Science and Technology
Published: The Daily Dot (March 7, 2016) When it comes to Internet freedom, it is entirely possible that the 2016 presidential election will be remembered as one of the most consequential events in the history of cyberspace. This may seem like a bold conclusion, but when you consider the competing attitudes on Internet issues not only between Democrats and Republicans but within the major...
Feb 22, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Internet Culture, Supreme Court and Other Judicial Issues
Published: The Daily Dot (February 22, 2016) When it comes to the field of cyber law, it’s rather ironic that the next Supreme Court justice will replace the late Antonin Scalia. After all, the famous constitutional originalist revealed in 2012 that, if he had his druthers, his successor would be University of Chicago law professor Frank Easterbrook, a man who once compared studying Internet law...
Feb 14, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Internet Culture, Supreme Court and Other Judicial Issues
Published: The Daily Dot (February 14, 2016) Say what you will about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia–and pundits and people on both the left and the right have been doing just that since his passing on Saturday–but when it comes to Internet freedom, he may have been one of the great legal minds of our time. Let’s start with a 2005 case in which an Internet service provider named Brand X...
Jan 6, 2016 | Civil Liberties, mic, Race and Racism, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (January 6, 2016) January 7th marks the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris that left 12 dead and 11 wounded. As we reflect on the greater meaning of the tragedy that occurred that day, a series of complex lessons present themselves, encompassing many of the most crucial issues facing the United States today—from the importance of defending free...
Dec 22, 2015 | Civil Liberties, mic, Religion and Religious Issues, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (December 22, 2015) Forget about the terrorists. At his rate it seems like we’re determined through our own fear to allow the terrorists to win. Allow me to explain. Let’s start with the rash of school closings that have occurred over terrorist threats. The first (and without question most patently absurd) was the “clock boy” incident from earlier this year, when a...
Dec 2, 2015 | Civil Liberties, mic, Military-Industrial Complex/Security State, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (December 2, 2015) It’s official: The NSA was legally required to terminate its bulk phone record collection program this week. That may not provide much comfort if you happen to use the Internet (and particularly if you communicate using social media)—but it's a major win worth acknowledging. If you’re wondering why the government can still monitor what you do online...
Nov 27, 2015 | Autobiographical, Civil Liberties, Education, Internet Culture, Millennials
Published: The Daily Dot (November 27, 2015) It’s hard to follow the recent flurry of college protests without being reminded of President Harry S. Truman, who famously said that “there is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.” As the media continues to fete attention on high-profile student demonstrations at Yale, Wesleyan, Princeton, and the University of Missouri, one...
Nov 11, 2015 | Civil Liberties, Education, Internet Culture, mic
Published: The Huffington Post (November 11, 2015), The Good Men Project (November 10, 2015) This is an editorial for my fellow liberals. Because progressive ideas on political and social issues often challenge conventional assumptions, liberalism as an ideology depends on freedom of speech for survival. It isn't enough that the state be prohibited from suppressing dissenting political opinions;...