Online Speech

The Lake Washington School Board in Redmond, WA has decided not to impose restitution or community service on three Eastlake High School students who created a Web site on which someone else posted a death threat last fall.

A settlement between student Nick Emmett and Kent School District has ended the district’s attempt to punish the student because of a Web site created on his home computer. Under terms of the settlement negotiated by the ACLU, the suburban Seattle district will not pursue disciplinary action against Emmett over the Web site and will pay his attorney fees.

In the latest ACLU case backing student rights in cyberspace, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee today ruled that public school officials cannot punish a student for free speech outside of school.

A former high school student who was suspended for creating a parody on the Internet is getting damages from the school district that wrongfully punished him.

In a precedent-setting ruling on free speech in cyberspace, a federal court in Seattle today upheld the right to speak anonymously on the Internet.

People have been free to express their opinions using pseudonyms since the early days of our nation.

Last summer, Bremerton-Kitsap Access Television took off the air the “Saturn Series,” a conceptual art show that combined assorted footage with political captions criticizing the Bush administration. With the help of the ACLU, producer Gary Nicholson regained his broadcasting privileges

The lawsuit challenges the North Central Regional Library District's use of a strict Internet filter on public computers, and its refusal to temporarily disable the filter for adult users.

A federal court in Seattle has held that people have the same right to protest in cyberspace as they do on sidewalks. U.S. District Court Judge William Dwyer ruled that people cannot be barred from putting offensive material on the Internet unless a court has found it defamatory after trial.