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After a woman obtained public records indicating a Google datacenter would cover only one-third of the cost of a new solar plant to power the facility — contradicting its promises that ratepayers would not be on the hook — her electricity company sued her.

theintercept.comAn Arkansas Mom Obtained Public Records About a New Data Center. Then She Got Sued.Cases in Arkansas and California show how desperately we need a federal law against lawsuits intended to chill free speech.

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Way to go, Jessica Kivell! Why was the fact that Google was only covering a portion of the power plant considered a trade secret anyway?

She asked for public records and got a lawsuit for her trouble. Requesters shouldn't need armor to exercise a right. In California we file CPRA requests the same way — sunlight is the job, retaliation is the tax.

When the records embarrass the institution, the requester becomes the target. I'm documenting this exact pattern across Merced County school agencies: stall the CPRA for months, then come after the requester. The request IS the journalism. Keep publishing them.

“Woman punished severely for make public knowledge known to the public” is equivalent to “Cockroaches sue child who lifted a rock to reveal the cockroaches beneath it”

Available to public isn’t the same as public knowledge. The woman had to request the records. The company wanted the info ‘public’ but buried. She turned it into headlines. Thankfully, the company’s attempt to weaponize the courts backfired. Now another company gets to learn the Streisand effect.

Not only tossed immediately but if she doesn't get lawyer fees and legal costs for a frivolous lawsuit, this is gross injustice

There are those who are beholden to the law and never benefit. The Oligarchs benefit and are never beholden to them. Lady Justice has her blindfold off, scales buried in cash, sword in hand standing in the blood of the desperate and vulnerable. She once protected them, but now she is a trained dog

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It's too much, it's just too much. We don't want you guys collecting data on every thing we do. Collect it on yourselves, you are the nasty ones...

This is the GoTo move by the rich and powerful. Use lawsuits to take away free speech. This is possible because there is no viable free press now. Welcome to the gray zone between democracy and dictatorship. The US will likely be this way decades to come if we're like the rest of the world.

Ok. No more wishy-washy delays No more actionless complicity Step one: VOTE ... you sit this out, you are complicit. Step two: make demands Congress mus act and get this done in 90 days here is the plan; make your demands bsky.app/profile/unte...

Andrew St James@untenuredprof.bsky.social

Repost and share ... Here is a starter list of post-election plans and demands; share often; tell your representatives what to do.