Thursday, October 24, 2002

No free speech in France and Germany. According to a Harvard report, Google removes some anti-abortion, pro-Nazi, white supremacy and anti-semitic site listings. Here are some of the sites. Google says it does it to conform with some countries' laws. Nevertheless, the European Reporters Without Borders just ranked the USA below France and Germany in its first worldwide press freedom index. It says:
The poor ranking of the United States (17th) is mainly because of the number of journalists arrested or imprisoned there. Arrests are often because they refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings.

In the USA, a reporter who is a witness to a crime can be compelled to testify. Just like everyone else. That's the way it ought to be.

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