Foreign dissidents facing U.S. hurdles to publishing

[Selteri]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002112639_diss08.html

n an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.

The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the First Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States.

Legal challenges

"It strikes me as very odd," said Douglas Kmiec, a constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University and former constitutional legal counsel to former presidents Reagan and Bush. "I think the government has an uphill struggle to justify this constitutionally."

Several groups, led by the PEN American Center and including Arcade Publishing, have filed suit in U.S. District Court in New York seeking to overturn the regulations, which cover writers in Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea and, until recently, Iraq.

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Snip -

Welcome to the end of our rights again.
Clang clang clang went the cell door?

[imenja]

1. This is a clear first amendment violation

Someone needs to call Floyd Abrams.

[Just Me]

2. Censorship of Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea and, until recently, Iraq.

Figures. Those are all on the PNAC list.

[KingChicken]

3. They can do what ever they want, who's going to stop them?

We need massive social upheaval and protest if we hope to block the ambitions of those trying to install a Jesusland dictatorship.

[Winamericaback]

4. How long until they start banning history books?

Wonder when they will ban Mien Kampf...

Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it is SO relevant right now *sigh*