PEN’s Free Expression Digest brings you a daily curated round-up of the most important free expression-related stories from around the web. Subcribe here. *This mailing list is currently in BETA as we work out the kinks. Please send your feedback and suggestions to [email protected]

With AT&T’s help NSA collected all internet traffic at UN headquarters
The NSA’S ability to spy on vast quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States has relied on its extraordinary, decades-long partnership with telecom giant AT&T. It provided technical assistance in carrying the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the United Nations headquarters. ProPublica/The New York Times

Contradicting authorities’ version of any militant attack officially illegal in Egypt
A new Egyptian terrorism law has gone into effect which grants government actors impunity in court and imposes fines for journalists who contradict the authorities’ version of any militant attack. REUTERS

China Shutters 50 Websites for ‘Inciting Panic’ Over the Tianjin Disaster
Beijing’s internet regulators have suspended or shut down 50 Chinese websites in the wake of last week’s explosions at a chemical warehouse in the city of Tianjin — the world’s 10th largest port — claiming they incited panic by spreading unconfirmed information about the blasts. TIME

Spanish woman fined for posting picture of illegal parked police car
A Spanish woman has been fined €800 under the country’s controversial new gag law for posting a photograph of a police car parked illegally in a disabled spot. THE GUARDIAN

Ethiopia’s Zone 9 bloggers head back to court after 15 months behind bars
Five members of Ethiopia’s Zone9 blogging collective expect to learn their fate this Wednesday, August 19, when a panel of three judges will meet at Addis Ababa’s Lideta High Court to rule on whether the defendants will walk free or or face another round of trial. GLOBAL VOICES

FBI spied on James Baldwin much more than most writers
James Baldwin’s FBI file contains 1,884 pages of documents, collected from 1960 until the early 1970s. The FBI accumulated 276 pages on Richard Wright, 110 pages on Truman Capote, and just nine pages on Henry Miller. THE INTERCEPT

Editorial: The Murder of Mexico’s Journalists
Mexican journalists are targeted by powerful criminal organizations and in some instances by government officials who don’t want their misdeeds exposed. The majority of cases remain unsolved, leaving journalists in many parts of the country with a terrible choice: they censor themselves or get silenced by a bullet. THE NEW YORK TIMES

Editorial: Azerbaijan’s Injustice
Given their fragile health, the verdicts against Leyla and Arif Yunus are death sentences. One by one, he is now throwing away the keys, hoping to silence them forever. WASHINGTON POST

Myanmar gags media linked to ousted ruling party leader
Myanmar has gagged media linked to parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann after he and his allies were purged from the ruling party leadership by President Thein Sein on Thursday months ahead of a historic general election. REUTERS