Reuters reports that the January 7, 2003 decision from the Oslo, Norway Court of First Instance, acquitting teen Jon Johansen of criminal charges related to creating a utility (DeCSS) that descrambled the code for DVD players, has been appealed. The new trial is scheduled for Fall 2003. See my previous posting on the case here.
From Rep. Boucher's website, this Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act Supporter List (H.R. 107). On 2/14/2003, the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Consumer Reports published a new survey of the top six online travel booking websites. Sites are scored for credibilty, usability and content, and include CheapTickets, Expedia, OneTravel.com, Orbitz, TravelNow.com and Travelocity.
A new bill introduced in the Oregon Senate on February 25, Senate Bill 656, "Directs public libraries to install filtering software on computer terminals that provide access to Internet in children's areas or near children's areas."
The "Blogger Team" responds to some of the many questions received as a result of the announced acquisition of their company by Google.
EPIC's continuing efforts to ensure public accountability for the Total Information Awareness program through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit has yielded the release of 180 pages of important documents, most in PDF (of variable copy quality).
The documents supplied include the names, addresses and contacts for the companies that applied for Total Information Awareness (TIA) funding, the titles of their proposed projects, and acceptance of their proposals signed by Dr. John M. Poindexter, Director, Information Awareness Office. EPIC has made the documents available in four parts, as follows:
The National Consumers League, Internet Fraud Watch published two surveys on Web e-mail scams: Top 10 Internet Scams 2001 (includes data on Type of Complaint, Percentage of Total Complaints and Average Loss), and Ages of Consumers Who Filed Complaints, 2001 (includes Percentage of Total Complaints). The surveys are available in tabular format on this webpage.
The longest continuously running global e-mail scam, in operation since the 1980s, is the Nigerian e-mail fraud. Doubtless you have received such e-mails on a daily basis if you are not using blocking software. For more information, see this United States Secret Service site on what is known as Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) or "4-1-9" fraud, which refers to the section of the Nigerian Penal Code on fraud schemes.
See also this article from CNN today, Latest ID theft scam: Fake job listings. Monster.com e-mailed its users and stated "regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers."
The FTC announced individual settlements with Hershey Foods Corporation and Mrs. Fields Cookies for violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule. Specifically, the sites did not "obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting, using, and/or disclosing personal information from children."
The documents in these cases are available as follows:
The Gartner Group released a news analysis on February 20, Stolen Credit Card Case Should Prompt Card Companies to Act, in reponse to the recent hacking of a database containing millions of credit card records. Their conclusion: "The theft of 8 million credit cards reveals serious flaws in card companies' disclosure processes. Credit card issuers should improve security and notification of consumers or face onerous legislation."
See also these two related articles from the USAToday, PNC Bank cancels check cards following hacker incident and Firms targeted by hackers keep vulnerabilities secret.
Google obtained its first patent from the United States Patent Office, on February 25, for a "method of identifying documents relevant to a search query."
The patent (6,526,440), abstract states, "A search engine for searching a corpus improves the relevancy of the results by refining a standard relevancy score based on the interconnectivity of the initially returned set of documents. The search engine obtains an initial set of relevant documents by matching a user's search terms to an index of a corpus. A re-ranking component in the search engine then refines the initially returned document rankings so that documents that are frequently cited in the initial set of relevant documents are preferred over documents that are less frequently cited within the initial set."
The DOJ announced Monday that 'Operation Pipe Dreams' had resulted in the seizure of domain names that were a conduit for the sale of "illegal drug paraphernalia."
Yesterday, the DOJ announced it had taken control of the website and domain for www.iSONEWS in accordance with a plea agreement on criminal copyright charges against the site's owner for the sale of pirated game chips, in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
See also, Eminent Domain: Seizing Web Sites, March 9, 2003.
This Securities and Exchange Commission press release states that the agency filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Samuel Aaron Meltzer ("Meltzer"), referred to as a "professional Internet spammer," for committing securities fraud via the Web (SEC v. Meltzer, E.D. N.Y., Action No. CV 03 770, Judge Denis R. Hurley, 2/18/03). Meltzer is alleged to have used spam and more than two dozen websites to promote penny stocks about which he made "made false and misleading representations." The complaint is here. The current docket in this case is available here.
The Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held an oversight hearing on "Peer-to-Peer Piracy On University Campuses," February 26, 2003. The following documents and testimony are available via their website: the Witness List, Statement of Chairman Lamar Smith, testimony of Molly Broad (President of the University of North Carolina), testimony of Hilary Rosen (Chairman and CEO, Recording Industry Associaition of America) testimony of Graham Spanier (President of the Pennsylvania State University), and testimony of Dr. John Hale (Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Director, Center for Information Security, The University of Tulsa).
According to Rosen's testimony, "More than 2.6 billion music files are illegally downloaded every month on unauthorized P2P systems. Of this number, a significant percentage of the transfers occur over campus networks."
See also Lawmakers Demand That Colleges Crack Down on Illegal File Sharing.
Last week, Israel's Haaretz Daily published an article, Big Brother is watching you - and documenting, detailing statements made by eBay's Director of Law Enforcement and Compliance, Joseph E. Sullivan, at the CyberCrime 2003 conference. Mr. Sullivan's presentation, "eBay: Working with Law Enforcement," was made behind closed-doors, but according to the article, was recorded. Sullivan allegedly stated in part "that eBay is willing to hand over everything it knows about visitors to its Web site that might be of interest to an investigator."
A new report from the Internet Access Devices Service, Multimedia and Wireless Functionality: Changing the Way Consumers Perceive PDAs ($$$), summarized in this press release, indicates that the market for multi-functional handheld devices that include web access will continue to grow over the course of the next several years, outpacing the demand for PCs.
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced "a cell phone user bill of rights.... aimed at improving wireless service and making competition an ingrained part of the wireless industry. Schumer's bill would mandate number portability between companies; create a box with contract and service information on solicitations and contracts, and authorize the FCC to monitor cell phone quality."
Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a report yesterday, highly critical of the FBI, that identified serious problems impacting the FISA process: FBI Oversight in the 107th Congress by the Senate Judiciary Committee: FISA Implementation Failures - An Interim Report.
Senators Release Committee Report on FISA Implementation Failures and Introduce Sunshine Bill - Press release from Senator Leahy about the bipartisan report. See also the Sectional Analysis of the Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act of 2003.
In response to the issues raised as a result of their investigation, Senators Leahy and Grassley announced the introduction of the Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act of 2003 (PDF), or the FISA Sunshine Bill (S. 436). The bill is an effort to balance national security issues with civil liberties, and one element would require that: "Surveillance on public and university libraries pursuant to administrative subpoenas, or 'National Security Letters,' issued under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) be reported to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees."
The official DOJ response to the report is here.
The March 2003 issue of the ABA Journal features an article, Lawyers Who 'Blawg'. Subtitled, "Attorneys Are Finding Fans (and Some Fame) Posting Legal Commentary on the Net," the article spotlights Howard Bashman’s How Appealing, Goldstein and Howe's SCOTUS Blog, Denise Howell's Bag and Baggage, and Martin Schwimmer's Trademark Blog.
The U.S. Department of Education launched a new resource it is sponsoring to facilitate efforts involving disabilities and rehabilitation services via technology applications and other programs. The Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) website provides links to a range of services, and will coordinate government-wide activities that support the goals of the President's 2001 New Freedom Initiative (NFI).
Overture Services, Inc. has made its second major Internet search engine acquisition in one week's time. On February 18, the company announced the purchase of AltaVista for $140 million in cash and stock. On February 25 came the announcement of the acquisition of the FAST Web Search(TM) algorithmic search, AlltheWeb.com(TM), and FAST PartnerSite(TM) paid inclusion services from Oslo, Norway-based Fast Search & Transfer. The deal is for $70 million in cash, as well as an additional $30 million from a three year incentive plan.
Check out Word Spy, a resource that provides definitions of new words and phrases, as well as ones already in use that have taken on new meanings. What makes the site especially interesting is that it includes 'example citations' for each entry that illustrate the use of the word or phrase in context (with a paragraph or more of an article), using references from major national and international news and journal sources.
This site apparently caught the attention of Google, whose trademark counsel sent the owner this correspondence on February 24. It states in part, "We ask that you help us to protect our brand by deleting the definition of "google" found at wordspy.com or revising it to take into account the trademark status of Google." Word Spy had used the word in question as a verb, as is now quite common in both conversation and online references. Perhaps this previous posting on Google is worth another look, as well as this article from PC Magazine, Is Google Invading Your Privacy? See also Protecting Google Brand "Tricky Business."
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), an agency created post 9/11, is accepting comments on its proposed plan to create a new data mining program, the Aviation Security-Screening Records database. EPIC submitted comments to TSA stating that the system "would infringe on the Constitutional right of association and travel."
Washington Times columnist Nat Hentoff delivers a pointed commentary on the "sequel to the Patriot Act.... an assault on the Bill of Rights drafted without consultation with Congress."
From FindLaw's Writ: If the Supreme Court Holds That Public Libraries Cannot Require Software Filters, Are There Other Ways to Protect Children on the Web? Oral arguments in this case are scheduled to begin on March 5. Also, see the American Library Association CIPA web site.
Forbes offers worried Blackberry users a review of alternative products which may come in handy in light of the current legal battle underway between Research In Motion and NTP.
On Monday, the Senate passed, by a vote of 84-0, the Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003, or the 'PROTECT Act' (S. 151). For reference, please see Senate Rpt. 108-002 - The PROTECT Act of 2003.
This legislation will assist law enforcement in their efforts to track and identify pedophiles using the Internet, and permit the use of relevant images and graphics in prosecuting such cases. In addition, this bill is seen as a response to the April 16, 2002 Supreme Court decision, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (00-795), 198 F.3d 1083, that overturned most of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA).
See also the Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy, co-sponsor of the Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools against the Exploitation of Children Today Act (PROTECT Act) of 2003.
This PCWorld article, Are Spammers Hiding Behind Students? indicates that students at Tufts University accepted payment to route spam through the institution's network. See also: Tufts student to be disciplined for using university network for spam.
On February 21, Microsoft announced the Windows Rights Management Services For Windows Server 2003. The company also released a white paper, Microsoft Rights Management Solutions for the Enterprise: Persistent Policy Expression and Enforcement for Digital Information, that details new digitial rights management applications for the Windows OS. According to Microsoft, they have "combined and extended rights management technologies developed for use with music, eBooks, and videos to help safeguard enterprise information."
The Herald reports that implementation of the Windows Rights Management Services will raise the level of corporate monitoring of computer generated documents, and have a significant impact on how internal corporate documents and e-mails are used, disseminated, stored and purged. The software can "restrict who may view, copy or forward e-mails or sensitive information" and "can automatically delete files after they reach a certain expiration date."
See also CNet's article, Microsoft expands rights management tool, which highlights how a range of rights to documents within an organization can be established and closely regulated according to specific users, so as to ensure confidentiality and security.
Search engine Google is often the subject of news articles, but the February 15 announcement of the company's purchase of the popular Blooger software has generated a steady stream of commentary and speculation in the blogging world and in the 'mainstream' press.
What follows are several recent articles worth reviewing on the growing impact of this private company on the experiences of daily Web users.
The February 2003 issue of Spectrum (PDF), from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), published an article, beginning on page 7, "Supreme Court Hears Case on Copyright, Mickey Mouse and Congress." Please see my previous post here for background on Eldred et al. v. Ashcroft, Attorney General.
See also Larry Lessig's February 20 article in the Financial Times, Exclusive rights to stagnate, in which he states that the U.S. patent law system is "broken," and warns that Europe should not emulate our mistakes.
The ABA Law Practice Management Section recently launched a new e-zine, Law Practice Today, that focuses on "law practice marketing, management, technology, and finance." From the February 14 issue, an article by attorney Joseph Kashi, Systematic Discovery and Organization of Electronic Evidence, focuses on how "gaining an early, effective, and systematic approach to your electronic discovery efforts can make or break your case."
This commentary from the Lakeland, Florida Ledger clearly states the ramifications of cost-cutting plans by the state's governor which will result in dismanteling a unique and valuable historical library collection developed over the course of 157 years. There is an effort underway to petition the legislature via collecting digital signatures to block implementation of the library's closure. Further information on the library's future is provided in this Library Journal article (registration req'd), and vai the Orlando Sentinel, Bush to split apart State Library.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services commissioned a recently published study from the Information Institute at Florida State University, Public Libraries and the Internet 2002: Internet Connectivity and Networked Services, (PDF) to evaluate the extent of Internet connectivity in U.S. public libraries. The results, gleaned from 1,100 respondents, indicate that almost all public libraries have Internet connections and provide them to the public. 50% of these connections are high-speed. Approximately 75% of responding libraries indicated they do not use filtering on public access workstations.
The Federal Trade Commission is sponsoring two free workshops, Technologies for Protecting Personal Information: The Consumer Experience (May 14, 2003), and Technologies for Protecting Personal Information: The Business Experience (June 4, 2003), according to this February 21 press release. See also the text of the Federal Register notice on these workshops, for which written comments must be submitted by April 23.
From the Capital Hill newspaper Roll Call, you may access web links to state legislatures, including audio and or video proceedings as available.
For librarians around the country, concerns about the Patriot Act and patron privacy rights have only increased in the wake of recent news about the administration's proposed Patriot II legislative initiative.
From Sunday's Ohio Toledo Blade, this article, Libraries fear loss of privacy as FBI searches for terrorists, illustrates the conflicting positions at issue involving public access to the Web and e-mail as it impacts the fight against terrorism.
In December 2002, The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association (ALA) announced a series of training institutes across the country, to begin February 27-28 in Washington, D.C, titled "Lawyers for Libraries." The purpose of these institutes is to "ensure that attendees know about the most up-to-date, accurate and relevant legislation and case law related to the First Amendment in libraries."
The Washington Post reports that ISP giants and rivals Microsoft and AOL are working together to help craft legislation on the federal and state level to fight the uncontrollable tide of spam that plagues their respective subscribers, which total over 140 million. To provide some perspective on the enormity of the problem, AOL alone claims to block about 780 million spam e-mails bound for customers each day.
In related news, a survey by Assurance Systems concluded that "opt-in" e-mail is routinely blocked by major ISPs, with AOL ranking third on the list with an 18% non-delivery rate.
The FCC published a press release on the new rules for network unbundling of incumbent local phone carriers. See this Washington Post article, Vote on Internet Access Favors Phone Companies, for more details, and from the New York Times, High-Speed Service May Cost More.
The Virginia House yesterday passed and adopted HB 2426 - Posting certain information on the Internet; prohibitions, in response to growing public concerns about privacy and ID theft. The bill "provides that beginning July 1, 2003, no state agency or court clerk shall post on a state agency or court-controlled website any document that contains the following information: (i) an actual signature; (ii) a social security number; (iii) a date of birth identified with a particular person; (iv) the maiden name of a person's parent so as to be identified with a particular person; (v) any financial account number or numbers; or (vi) the name and age of any minor child."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Sentencing Project jointly requested (PDF) that the U.S. Sentencing Commission not increase sentences for federal computer crimes (18 U.S.C. 1030, Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers). The Commission is seeking comments as it reviews current guidelines as required by the Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002.
A book shop is Montpelier Vermont, Bear Pond Books, instituted a policy to purge the records of customer purchases upon their request. This action was taken in response to provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the government to force disclosure of customer buying records as part of their effort to "enhance domestic security against terrorism."
Minnesota's pioneering Internet privacy legislation, S.F. No. 2908, that regulates spam, protects the privacy of Internet consumers and regulates the dissemination of personal data about Internet users, is under attack just as it is scheduled to take effect March 1. AOL and other industry groups are seeking to introduce new legislation to "limit the responsibility of ISPs to provide information to customers."
Global media publisher Bertelemann, an investor in the pioneering music file swapping company Napster, was sued in federal district court in New York by fellow music publishers, for $17 billion. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, details from the 18 page complaint "allege that Bertelsmann contributed to the wide-scale infringement of their copyrighted works by funding Napster, a now-defunct online file-swapping service that once teemed with pirated music." The story was also reported by ZDNet here. For a copy of the docket in this case, 03-CV-1093, Leiber, et al v. Bertelsmann, AG, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Civil Docket, click here. Please be advised that you will have to update this docket to obtain the most current information available.
In related news, global market research company Ispos Reid issued a press release on their survey, "An Estimated 26 million Americans Have Burned Rather Than Bought Music." See also associated charts in PDF indicating file-sharing usage by age and gender, projected population of file-sharers, and prevalence of file-sharing usage by age.
The FTC released statistics indicating that consumer complaints related to cross-border consumer fraud almost doubled in 2002. See their 2002 Cross-Border Fraud Trends Report (PDF). Information was compiled from complaints received via the government's cooperative Consumer Sentinel database, a working partnership that receives input from state, federal and international law enforcement agencies and consumer advocacy groups.
Please be advised that the new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security standards is a very long PDF document (289 pages). It is the text of the "final Rule adopting HIPAA standards for the security of electronic protected health information to be implemented by health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers." The text will also be available in today's Federal Register. The rule takes effect April 21, but compliance by most institutions is not required until 2005. See this article, Patient info practices change, for background on how the new rules will impact hospitals.
The Center for Democracy and Technology issued a press release and a report (PDF) contending that a recent Pennsylvania law (18 Pennsylvania Statutes Sec. 7330) requiring ISPs to remove or disable access to Internet pornography upon notification by the state Attorney General violates constitutional principles of due process. The law also results in the blocking of sites with no objectionable content due to the prevalence of shared IP addresses among unrelated sites. See also my posting today referencing Ben Edelman's report on IP addresses and censorship issues.
From Google Village, this posting, Google, Privacy, Blogs and Alternatives to Search, continues the thread of discussion on growing concerns about powerhouse search engine Google's approach to privacy issues that some liken to long standing complaints about Microsoft's products and services.
SB 1, the California Financial Information Privacy Act, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 18. The bill would require that financial institutions allow customers to exercise the choice of "opting-in" or "opting-out" to determine whether their personal data is shared with affiliated groups, as well as sold to third parties.
Professor Anita Ramasastry of the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle has published a commentary worth review, Patriot II: The Sequel Why It's Even Scarier than the First Patriot Act. See my previous postings here and here on this controversial draft legislation that was leaked even before it was made available to members of Congress.
Web Sites Sharing IP Addresses: Prevalence and Significance, a study by Benjamin Edelman of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, establishes that "more than 87% of active domain names are found to share their web servers with one or more additional domains, and more than two third of active domain names share their web servers with fifty or more additional domains." These findings have significant ramifications on large scale efforts to block and censor web content, as well as efforts to do so on a local or state level.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) issued a press release warning job seekers about privacy issues related to posting their resumes online. Personal data from online resumes can be mined, including phone numbers and email addresses, then compiled, aggregated and sold without the author's permission or knowledge. This is according to a study undertaken by researcher Pam Dixon, titled Resume Data Base Nightmare: Job Seeker Privacy at Risk. Also by Pam Dixon, see her resource Online Job Seeker Web Sites: Tips to Safeguard Your Privacy.
The California Medical Board is targeting doctors who provide services to patients via the Internet without the benefit of an in-person consultation. Many patients obtain a wide range of prescriptions in this manner, and according to this Sacramento Bee article, the state has levied fines totaling $48 million against six out-of-state doctors. The fines will be contested, and according to Dave Thornton, Chief of Enforcement for the Board, "there is no guarantee the state will ultimately collect the fines."
"Terrorism Forces Us to Make a Choice, Don't Be Afraid, Be Ready." This is the introduction to the new website launched today by the Homeland Security Department, called Ready.gov. The site provides information in three main areas: Make a Kit of Emergency Supplies, Make a Plan, and Be Informed, which covers how to respond to threats from biological, chemical, explosions, nuclear blast and radiation. Ok, are you scared yet!
The full-text of the EU Treaty of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union in 2004 is available here (Word). An Analysis of the Accession Treaty (Word) is here, and an Analysis of the accession Treaty (PDF) is here.
The ACLU, on behalf of a group of civil liberties organizations and several Arab-American organizations, filed an appeal (PDF) with the Supreme Court on February 18 in re: The Sealed Case of the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review (FISA) (PDF) decided November 18, 2002. This controversial decision, the first in the history of FISA, gave wide latitude to the DOJ to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance using methods including wiretapping, and reading e-mail communications. The ACLU press release is here, and a related article on CNN via AP, is here.
Fast Search & Transfer™ (FAST) announced that another major e-commerce site, Dell.com, has deployed FAST Data Search™ to power the site's search function. Dell joins AT&T, IBM, InfoSpace, Reed Elsevier (Scirus.com), Reuters and Terra Lycos, among others.
In related news, the competition between Google and AllTheWeb for the accolade as "best" search engine continues with the release of a new bench test study. The results indicate that "AllTheWeb just needs to increase the frequency of their robot crawls and Google would have some formidable competition."
From the Overture press release: Overture Services, Inc., the world's leading provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, and AltaVista Company, a pioneer in Web search technology, and a majority owned operating company of CMGI, Inc., announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Overture will acquire AltaVista's business for $140 million in cash and stock.
The March 2003 issue of Scientific American includes an article, Some Rights Reserved, on the non-profit Creative Commons licensing project that promotes a new avenue of sharing copyrighted works while retaining different levels of rights of authorship. See my previous post on this topic here.
ICSU (International Council of Scientific Unions) launched a new online global discussion forum focused on ensuring universal access to scientific knowledge. There are currently 26 articles posted on the site from authors around the world, and issues addressed include copyright, privacy, digital rights and the free and unfettered publication and distribution of scientific research via the Web.
Interested in a photo guide of members of the 108th Congress? You are in luck, as GPO recently released the Congressional Pictorial Directory (S. Prt. 108-2). The PDF guide features black and white photos of the Senate and House Leadership, Senate Officers and Officials, House Officers and Officials, Capitol Officials, Members (by States), Delegates and Resident Commissioner, State delegations (by districts), and an Alphabetical list of Senators (A-Z) and Representatives.
Via EPIC, this February 18, 2003 decision from the Supreme Court of New Hampshire determines liability in a case that involved the use of an information broker, ID theft and pretexting that resulted in the murder of 19 year old Amy Lynn Boyer in 1999.
The February 2003 issue of D-Lib Magazine features five articles on providing expert, thorough and interactive research services to users through collaborative online technology applications.
CNN reports on an announcement by Visa and Mastercard (which does not appear on either of their respective websites) revealing that a hacker accessed the records of up to 2.2 million accounts via a contractor (Data Processors International) that processes their credit card transactions. According to CNN "the affected accounts make up about one-third of 1 percent of the 560 million MasterCard and Visa cards in the United States." According to a Washington Post article, the exposed database contained 8 million records of customer data, including accounts from American Express as well.
On February 13, the Joint Committee on Taxation released a 3-volume report (PDF) that took a year to complete: Report Of Investigation Of Enron Corporation And Related Entities Regarding Federal Tax And Compensation Issues, And Policy Recommendations. You may access each of the volumes as follows: Volume I: Report; Volume II: Appendices A & B; Volume III: Appendices C & D.
See also: Report reveals Enron's tax schemes.
Fellow Washingtonian Carolyn Elefant has a new blog, My Shingle, "for and about solos and small firms." This content rich site includes an On-Line Guide to Creating A Law Practice and a featured report, The Bars, Reviewed that surveys state bar and ABA services and materials available for solos and small law firms.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a press release on February 14 authorizing the deployment of ultra-wide band technology (UWB). See this San Diego Union Tribune article, Federal regulators ease restrictions on technology that can see through walls, for more details.
As noted in my January 17 posting, BlackBerry parent Research in Motion is involved in a patent infringement dispute in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia with NTP Inc., that may result in an end to Blackberry's rein over the wireless handheld market. Today's New York Times reports that NTP Inc. filed new court documents last week citing Research in Motion's "unfair" lobbying of the Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine disputed patents in the case.
This is from Google Watch, a site that obviously has an agenda, and it certainly is not hidden:
9 reasons why Google deserves your nomination for Big Brother of the Year.
The final version of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace was released by the White House on February 14. An overview of the report from the National Journal is worth a read. See also this Washington Post article, Cyber-Security Strategy Depends on Power of Suggestion.
Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing has an extensive and interesting review of the facts and speculation associated with Google's purchase of Pyra Labs, the company that created the crest in the blogging wave with their user-friendly application, Blogger. Dan Gillmor broke the story on February 15, Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time. See also, Puzzling Out Google's Blogger Acquisition and Google + Blogger = Mainstream Weblog Acceptance?
As a follow-up to my February 12 posting on the expansion of the .edu domain by the Department of Commerce, which begins on April 15, see this article, Is Commerce 'dumbing down' the '.edu' domain name? Along with accredited colleges and universities, the .edu domain will now host technical and distance learning programs (including cosmetology, funeral services and accupuncture). Educase, the sole registrar for the .edu domain, has a link to the eligability requirements.
Congress has approved a far reaching preservation program which will allow the Library of Congress to collect and provide access to a potentially vast database of digital content. The Librarian of Congress issued a press release on February 14 detailing the background and goals of this pioneering $99.8 million project, Preserving Our Digital Heritage: Plan for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (PDF). For more information, see this Chronicle of Higher Education article.
American Lawyer Media, Inc. (ALM) announced the launch, in April, of a new quarterly magazine, Law Firm Inc.(TM), "designed to provide law firms with information and practical advice on a wide variety of business, operations and management issues."
On Feburary 13, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) introduced a bill that would lead to the establishment of a Homeland Intelligence Agency, "to replace FBI units that failed to uncover the September 11 terrorists and still cannot find suspected al Qaeda operatives in the United States." A fact sheet on the bill is here, and the text of the legislation, in PDF, is here.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance industry trade group issued a press release, in PDF, discussing recommendations it made to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to combat global Internet piracy. In addition, the group published a study, 2003 Special 301 Report on Global Copyright Protection and Enforcement, that reviews piracy in 63 countries and contends that U.S. trade loses from activities in 52 of these countries totaled $9.2 billion in 2002. The report provides detailed data on which countries should remain on the USTR Priority Watch List.
This law.com article reviews the two major applications under consideration as standards for electronically archiving court documents: "Portable Document Format (PDF) designed especially for long-term archiving, called PDF-Archive or PDF-A. The second format is Extensible Markup Language (XML)."
The Kojo Nnamdi Show on public radio station WAMU in Washington, D.C. broadcast a segment on Tuesday, February 11 titled, Browsers and Search Engines, in which computer technology experts presented their views on the best search engines and browsers. This link comes via Pete Basofin.
From the press release: Now available via GPO Access are the 1986 to 2000 compilations of the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA). These compilations are divided into four volumes broken down as follows, with each of the volumes covering the years 1986 through 2000: Volume I: Titles 1-16, Volume II: Titles 17-27, Volume III: Titles 28-41 and Volume IV: Titles 42-50.
Stuart Urwin has launched a new online service for librarians and information professionals that provides a fully searchable current awareness database of association meetings, exhibitions and trade shows, book fairs, and training courses. The site is called Library Events, and also offers a free monthly newsletter update.
This ACLU press release contends that the recently released draft of what has been dubbed Patriot II, tentatively titled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, will erode basic constitutional civil liberties.
Also see this OMB Watch analysis of how the Patriot II legislation will impact the public's right to know.
The music and film industries are expanding their crusade against file-swapping from college campuses to corporate cubicles. See this RIAA press release, dated February 13. As part of their effort, they are distributing a publication titled, A Corporate Policy Guide to Copyright Use and Security on the Internet (PDF) to Fortune 1000 companies.
Verizon has requested a stay in Judge John D. Bates' (United States District Court for the District of Columbia) ruling in favor of RIAA, compelling Verizon to release personal customer data on a subscriber who downloaded copyrighted music. See my previous post on this issue here.
This Business Week article details the choices available for e-filing, as well as associated costs and challenges involved in this process. See also these related articles: Free tax E-filing may not be so easy and IRS regroups on business filing.
Microsoft appealed to the 4th Circuit to reverse a lower court decision forcing the company to include Java programming language in new releases of Windows XP. See my previous posts on this issue here, here and here.
The Center for Democracy and Technolgy (CDT) filed an amicus brief (PDF) in the Supreme Court on February 10 in the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) case, supporting the lower court decision (210 F. Supp 2d 401) overturning the requirement that federally funded libraries must filter Internet access to patrons.
See also the library of briefs related to this CIPA case maintained by the American Library Association on their CIPA webpage, and this press release: ALA files Supreme Court response to government documents.
According to Mary Alice Baish, Associate Washington Affairs Representative, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), there are more than 30 organizations who support providing public access to all CRS reports on the Internet. Please see Senate Resolution 54, submitted by Senators Leahy, Lieberman, and Harkin, "...to make Congressional Research Service, CRS, reports, and other Senate documents, accessible over the Internet to the American people."
The efforts of Senators Ron Wyden and Harry Reid to block the progress of the Total Information Awareness surveillance program through an amendment (S. 59) added to the omnibus spending bill to discontinue its funding, have been successful.
For additional information on this legislation and the Democratic-led initiative to terminate this government sponsored data mining program targeted at U.S. citizens, see an article in today's New York Times here, and an article from Reuters AlertNet here.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released a strategic plan (PDF) detailing the goals and objectives of the Total Information Awareness Program, as required by the Senate as part of the Defense Authorization Act of 2003.
Copyright Issues Relevant to the Creation of a Digital Archive: A Preliminary Assessment.
The Department of Commerce is extending the use of the .edu domain beyond colleges and universities to now include a wide range of "educational institutions," according to this Reuter's report.
Congressional Research Service Products: Taxpayers Should Have Easy Access. From the report: "$81 million of tax-payer money funded the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in FY 2002. CRS authors products at the request of current Members of Congress, many of whom become lobbyists, but CRS products are made difficult if not impossible for the public to access. CRS also operates both the CRS website and the Legislative Information System (LIS) website, which are arguably the best sources of information regarding the legislative process of the United States. However, they are not available to the public in any form."
See also this press release stating that Senator's McCain and Leahy "will be announcing the re-introduction of Senate sunshine legislation that would make many Congressional Research Service (CRS) products as well as other public records of the Senate and Congressional committees available on the internet."
Postings will be lighter than usual this week due to travel schedule. Please stay tuned, and thank you.
The advocacy group Public Integrity issued a press release on February 7 detailing their research on a previously secret 120 page draft of what is being called the "Patriot Act II" legislation, which apparently has not been shared with the House Judiciary Committee. This draft was written by the staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The draft document, titled The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, provides a section by section analysis of this new legislation granting the government new and expanded powers to fight terrorism through means which are already being utilized including: domestic surveillance, data-mining, law enforcement acitivities, new limitations on freedom of information, and a decrease in judicial review.
The draft document can take minutes to download due to its length, so Public Integrity has made it, and related documents, available in several parts, all in PDF, or you may choose to download the complete 120 page PDF version:
The National Journal reports that opposition to the government's Total Information Awareness Project continues to gain momentum. Sen. Ron Wyden, who spearheaded a bill to limit spending on the program, spoke this week with a coalition of advocacy groups including the ACLU, in an effort to ensure that the upcoming conference report will adopt the moratorium on funding for TIA.
The URAC (a non-profit charitable organization that establishes standards for the health care industry) and Consumer WebWatch (a non-profit that "seeks to improve the credibility of online information", are partnering on a project to improve consumer access to health data on the web. Their study will entail benchmarking the quality of health related information on the Web, discerning how consumers are using this information, and strategies to make this process more successful.
Palo Alto California's Mayor Dena Mossar announced a settlement of lawsuits brought against the City Council by The Palo Alto Weekly and the San Jose Mercury News concerning e-mail correspondence that was not disclosed to the public.
The Council held a closed door meeting on October 30, 2002 during which time they disseminated e-mail concerning what they determined was a private issue.
The Council has now released all the e-mails, and in a futher move, "will make available copies of e-mails from September 1 to the present time, sent by Council Members to staff and staff responses concerning items on the council agenda." The San Diego Union heralded the Council as "a trailblazer in open governance."
There has been an increased focus on e-lawyering lately, although the provision of free and fee-based services online has been underway for years. Two recent resources from the ABA on how lawyers are using email and the Web to market and deliver services to clients are: Some Call It eLawyering: Is It a Brave New World or an Ethical Quagmire? and the eLawyering Site, a web-based discussion group.
GPO Access recently made available The Privacy Act Issuances, 1995, 1997 1999, and 2001 Compilations Online. The fully searchable database uses a template to enter information in the following fields: Full text of the Privacy Act Notices, Agency, System Number, or System Name, and also supports Boolean searching. The data entails "descriptions of Federal agency systems of records maintained on individuals and procedures or "rules" federal agencies follow to assist individuals who request information about their records."
Micah U. Buchdahl of HTMLawyers, Inc. has published his IMA (Internet Marketing Attorney) web site reviews and awards. Well worth a read, Micah has spent considerable time evaluating the sites of the 250 largest law firms in the United States, and ranking them according to his determination of their merits in the following categories: design, content, usability, interactivity, intangibles. He uses an easy to read chart format, with a rating system (1-10, with 10 being the best) that results in a total score listed at the far right hand side of each entry.
From Writ, this article, Can Europe Block Racist Websites from its Borders? refers to the Additional Protocol to the Convention on cybercrime, concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems, ETS No.: 189. This treaty is now open for signature by the States which have signed the Treaty ETS 185, the Convention on Cybercrime.
Sometimes all you need is a simple, clear picture to see the implications of complex issues. This Reuters graphic illustrates the history of the U.S. Budget Surplus/Deficit from the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson in 1963 through the current Bush administration.
From PC Magazine, this review and comparison of ten popular applications to combat spam on your home PC, as well as a six applications for use by IT departments and ISPs.
The Editor & Publisher of the Salina Journal states his opposition to new legislation (PDF) that would permit the designation of a website as the official government source of publications, in place of community newspapers, which are inexpensive or free, and widely available.
EPIC announced it filed an amicus brief (PDF) with the Supreme Court in Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms v. City of Chicago. The case involves the Freedom of Information Act and privacy issues related to witholding data on the illegal purchase of firearms in the city. See this EPIC page for more details.
As previously reported, college and university students are under growing scrutiny for downloading digital files using campus provided ISP access. Brown University is the latest institution in the news to formalize efforts to control the parameters of student use of file sharing applications. Keeping the DMCA (PDF) firmly in mind, and with an awareneess of their escalating bandwidth costs, the university is instituting an education program and implementing policies for the abuse of Internet privileges.
In related news, Rebecca Cohn of the California assembly introduced House Resolution No. 5--Relative to online piracy, adopted by committee on 1/28/2003. It states in part that the "Legislature further requests corporate, governmental, and educational institutions to implement employee policies and technical measures to ensure that their networks are not being misused to infringe copyrighted works.."
The 2002 National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS), co-sponsored by the Center for e-Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business tracks the following data:
From the press release: "The survey suggests companies should accept some personal use of the Internet at work as not only inevitable, but as positive to the organization. Totally segregating work from personal activities might result in a net decline in work performed, not to mention lower workplace morale."
See also The Harris Poll® #8, February 5, 2003. This poll found that Internet access continues to grow but at a declining rate, with 67% of adults (140 million people) now online, including 57% with Internet access at home.