AltWeeklies Wire
The Gates Case Isn't About Racenew
The weeks-long hubbub over the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. by the Cambridge Police Department has centered on race, understandably. But the racial façade of the story has obscured two other bottom-line truths that should govern the "Gates-gate" conversation.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
08-06-2009 |
Civil Liberties
The RIAA vs. Free Speechnew
The US recording industry is attempting to block the free public Webcast of its courtroom proceedings against Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University grad student accused of illegally downloading music,
Boston Phoenix |
Kyle Smeallie and Harvey Silverglate |
02-05-2009 |
Civil Liberties
Judge Ungags Subway Hackersnew
Free speech has won in the struggle between the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and three MIT undergrads who claim to have uncovered flaws in the subway's electronic fare-collection system.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
08-21-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Political Humor is No Longer Welcome in Academianew
For close to two decades, academia has been in the grips of a political-correctness fury that has strangled the sense of humor that was once the campus's best-known calling card. So if you're wondering why Barack Obama had such a surprisingly negative reaction to that New Yorker cover, consider the Harvard Factor.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
07-31-2008 |
Civil Liberties
The 2008 Muzzles: Collegiate Divisionnew
In reality, college campuses are home to some of the most outrageous cases of censorship.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
06-26-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
Is Being Naked in the Public Square a Crime?new
In the finest Puritan tradition, Middlesex District Attorney Gerald Leone is crusading to save Harvard Square from the shock and awe of the nude human form. The next act of this absurd political-theater production will return to Cambridge District Court this Friday, at considerable expense to taxpayers.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate and James F. Tierney |
06-26-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Score: Constitution 5, Gulags 4new
The supreme court's recent decision not only restored habeas-corpus rights to enemy combatants, but gave all of us one our most important civil-liberty victories to date.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
06-19-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Harvard's Cops Have a Political Intelligence Unitnew
The Harvard University Police have a long record of abusing students' rights. I suspect this intelligence unit, which I also noticed photographing protesters at a campus anti-war demonstration in March, is not a recent addition.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
04-17-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
Newspapers Censor Bono's Fucking Gaffenew
The FCC's "Broadcast Indecency" rules are, in a word, bullshit.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
03-13-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties, FCC
Ring of Firenew
The deadbeat FBI fails to pay its phone bills and jeopardizes its wiretapping program.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
01-24-2008 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
Eraser Headsnew
Overzealous deans at Boston's Emerson College literally made students' rights disappear.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate and James F. Tierney |
10-25-2007 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
Archaic Laws: Often Funny, But No Laughing Matternew
There's a law against spitting on the sidewalk, but nobody enforces it ... or do they?
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate and Jan Wolfe |
10-11-2007 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
Real Judicial Activismnew
If ever there was a time, it's now; if ever there were a place it is Guantanamo Bay, where detainees have been held indefinitely without clearly defined procedures for determining their guilt or innocence of charges that are shadowy and ill-defined -- a situation that makes a joke of the rule of law.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
05-10-2007 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
Bush’s Real Motivenew
The president's persistent support of the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program represents much more than a stubborn presidential effort to catch terrorists.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
02-09-2006 |
Civil Liberties
The Devil and Judge Jonesnew
Every so often, an opinion gets to the heart of why the Bill of Rights both guarantees the free practice of religion and protects citizens against state-approved religion. Judge John E. Jones's ruling on intelligent design did just that.
Boston Phoenix |
Harvey Silverglate |
12-30-2005 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties
