White House Threatens Science Blog Over Use of Logo, Electronic Frontier Foundation

"When Keith Cowing made an innocuous post about a meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on his long-running science policy blog, Space Ref, he didn't imagine that it would trigger a phone call from the White House. But that is exactly what happened, and the White House was not calling to congratulate him on his excellent science policy coverage. Cowing's offense? Including an image of the seal of the Executive Office of the President of the United States in his blog post. According to Cowing, White House staffer Rick Weiss objected to the seal's placement in proximity to an ad, which White House lawyers worried might be construed as an endorsement of the product."

White House bullies science blog over use of logo, TG Daily

"Cowing's use of a government logo isn't deceptive either. The seal is clearly used in relation with the news article and the ad is no closer on his blog than ads are on news websites and in most newspapers and magazines. In actuality, the seal of the Executive Office of the President of the United States is widely used all over the internet. Sometimes it's even used in close proximity to advertising. The threatening calls from the White House seem more like attempts to curb free speech than anything else. It's quite pathetic actually. It raises the question; doesn't the White House have better things to do than bully bloggers who are involved in free speech? Sadly we live in a world where the White House needs more training on how the First Amendment works."

White House Threatens Blog For Accurately Using White House Logo, Techdirt

"The latest involves the White House, who apparently got upset that blogger Keith Cowing (of SpaceRef.com -- a blog about science/space policy) included the White House logo in his post about a meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In response, the White House actually called Cowing and demanded he take down the logo."

Weißes Haus: Anruf nach Verwendung ihres Logos, gulli

"Blogger Keith Cowing staunte nicht schlecht, als er vor ein paar Tagen einen Mitarbeiter des Weißen Hauses am Telefon hatte. Der rief ihn nicht etwa an, um ihm für seinen Eintrag zu gratulieren. Er wurde vielmehr aufgefordert, das offizielle Siegel des Weißen Hauses aus seinem Blog zu entfernen. Die verwendete Grafik sei einer Anzeige gefährlich nahe, so die Erklärung der Rechtsabteilung."