The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act has a chilling effect on First Amendment activity.
March 4, 2009
Dear Member of Congress:
When I testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act in 2006, I argued that such sweeping legislation risks criminalizing First Amendment activity as “terrorism” and chilling free speech. Members of the committee, including [...]
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Careless talk costs lives.After reading the federal complaint for the arrest of animal rights activists on Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges, which I wrote about yesterday, this case still doesn’t add up. Some of you have posted comments that if these activists had actually assaulted someone, or if there was an imminent threat of violence, they [...]
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FBI federal complaint on Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act arrests.When I first reported on the arrest of four animal rights activists in California under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, few details were available. The only information was the FBI press release (which mainstream media outlets have regurgitated nearly verbatim as news articles). I now have a [...]
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“If activists have nothing to hide, why are they wearing masks?”
I’ve heard that question over and over again. It usually comes in the form of a soundbite from someone affiliated with a corporation, industry or government agency that is attempting to smear lawful activists as “terrorists.”
Their reasoning goes something like this: If you [...]
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The weapons of terrorists?It was only a matter of time. Since the passage of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a sweeping new law labeling animal rights activists as “terrorists,” corporations and industry groups have been pushing the federal government to use their new powers. For more than two years, the law has sat on the [...]
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