JD Journal » freedom of speech

South Korean Blogger Jailed Without Bail

todd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:59:38 +0000

He goes by the username “Minerva,” after the Greek goddess of wisdom. He rose from anonymity in South Korea, for accurately predicting the current economic crisis. He even predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Now, the 31 year old Park Dae-Sung, is charged with going too far in an online discussion. He stated that the government had banned major financial institutions and trade businesses from purchasing U.S. dollars in an attempt to strengthen the local currency. Prosecutors are calling his information inaccurate and saying that it disrupted the foreign exchange market.

He was arrested last week, which sparked a debate about freedom of speech on the Internet and in South Korea. South Korea is considered to be one of the most technologically savvy nations in the world.

Dae-Sung had regularly denounced the method by which his government handled the economy and made regular, mostly negative, predictions about the future. He is speculated to be an economic expert and his identity was hotly debated in his home country.

He has been denied bail. Dae-Sung’s lawyer said he did not intend to harm the public.

Dae-Sung could spend up to five years in prison or be fined up to 50 million won (US$36,360).

Free Speech Lawyer, “Rumpole” Creator Dies

Erik Even — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:30:14 +0000

British author and lawyer Sir John Mortimer, the creator of legal television show “Rumpole of the Bailey,” died on Friday, aged 85.

Mortimer, who also appeared as a defense lawyer in many cases involving freedom of speech, was a prolific writer, penning a host of novels, plays and film scripts.

As well as the popular fictional barrister Horace Rumpole whom he created for television in the 1970s, Mortimer wrote many screenplays including the hugely successful small-screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” shown in 1981.

As a lawyer he successfully defended Oz magazine against charges of obscenity in 1971, the BBC said, while he also acted for Penguin Books when they published DH Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” in the 1960s.

His spokeswoman said Mortimer, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1998, had died after a long illness at his home with his family around him.

London Associate Must Cease Publishing Online Novel

Erik Even — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:04:16 +0000

London’s Allen & Overy can’t stay out of the news today.

A senior lawyer at the firm is being forced to stop publishing her erotic literary works online, due to company rules.

Associate Deidre Dare is the author of a Web-published erotic novel, “Expat.” Dare posted on her personal Web site, deidredare.com, that she was forced to stop offering new installments of her racy Internet novel.

“The author has been forbidden from publishing further chapters of Expat for the time being,” she said online. “She will resume if and when she is permitted to.”

The Telegraph said “Expat” tells the erotic tales of a woman living in Moscow who enjoys numerous sexual rendezvous with various men in each installment.