"In a split decision, a federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of six animal-rights activists charged under a terrorism statute with using their Web site to incite threats and vandalism against a company that tests products on animals.

The 2-1 decision on Oct.14 was the first federal appellate court ruling on a constitutional challenge to the law.

Defense lawyers call the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty case only the latest example of the government’s infringing on activists' free speech. One compared it to the pursuit of communists and civil-rights activists a half-century ago."

The Associated Press had the story October 9, 2009. [2]