beSpacific: Legal Research Archives

Legal Research

February 01, 2012

A Guide to the Supreme Court's Review of the 2010 Health Care Reform Law

A Guide to the Supreme Court’s Review of the 2010 Health Care Reform Law, January 12, 2012

"With the Supreme Court preparing to hear oral arguments about challenges to the 2010 Affordable Care Act in March 2012, this Kaiser Family Foundation brief serves as a primer on the pending case, which challenges the constitutionality both of the law's individual mandate that requires most Americans to obtain health insurance and of provisions requiring states to expand eligibility for their Medicaid programs. The brief provides an overview of the pending case, the key constitutional questions, and the legal arguments made by the parties involved. It also outlines how the Court could decide each of the issues and the potential implications of the Court’s decisions."

Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry

CRS - Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry, Marc R. Rosenblum, Specialist in Immigration Policy, January 6, 2012

"Twenty-five years after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA, P.L. 99-603) marked the beginning of the modern era in border enforcement, this report reviews recent enforcement efforts, takes stock of the current state of border security, and considers lessons that may be learned about a quarter century of enhanced migration control efforts at U.S. borders. IRCA authorized a 50% increase in the size of the USBP, and at least 10 additional laws since then have included provisions related to migration enforcement and/or border security. Appropriations for the USBP have increased about 750% since 1989—a number which excludes many other programs related to border enforcement."

January 31, 2012

Boycott Against Scientific Journal Publisher Gathering Supporters

Wired Campus by Josh Fischman: "Elsevier, the global publishing company, is responsible for The Lancet, Cell, and about 2,000 other important journals; the iconic reference work Gray’s Anatomy, along with 20,000 other books—and one fed-up, award-winning mathematician. Timothy Gowers of the University of Cambridge, who won the Fields Medal for his research, has organized a boycott of Elsevier because, he says, its pricing and policies restrict access to work that should be much more easily available. He asked for a boycott in a blog post on January 21, and as of Monday evening, on the boycott’s Web site The Cost of Knowledge, nearly 1,900 scientists have signed up, pledging not to publish, referee, or do editorial work for any Elsevier journal. The company has sinned in three areas, according to the boycotters: It charges too much for its journals; it bundles subscriptions to lesser journals together with valuable ones, forcing libraries to spend money to buy things they don’t want in order to get a few things they do want; and, most recently, it has supported a proposed federal law (called the Research Works Act) that would prevent agencies like the National Institutes of Health from making all articles written by its grant recipients freely available."

European Union: Implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive

Implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive: "The study examines the state and the main difficulties of the implementation of Directive 2008/48/EC on credit agreements for consumers using the examples of fourteen Member States of the
European Union. The analysis focuses on fully harmonised aspects of the Directive as well as on the provisions for which the Member States were given a wide margin of appreciation in achieving the objective of the Directive and options provided by the Directive. Furthermore, new regulations and regulations requiring interpretation are dealt with. Finally, the study analyses the regulation of credit agreements which fall outside the scope of the Directive."

January 29, 2012

Report - Most Federal Judges Warn Jurors About Social Media

Jurors’ Use of Social Media During Trials and Deliberations - A Report to the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, Meghan Dunn, Federal Judicial Center November 22, 2011

"Most federal judges have taken steps to ensure that jurors do not use social media to discuss the trial in which they are involved, a recently published survey indicates. The Federal Judicial Center was asked by a committee of the policy-making Judicial Conference of the United States to survey federal judges on the issue. Its report says that 94 percent of the 508 judges who responded said they have specifically barred jurors from any case-connected use of social media. “The most common strategy is incorporating social media use into jury instructions – either the model jury instruction provided by (the Conference’s Committee on Court Administration and Case Management) or judges’ own personal jury instructions,” the report said. “Also common are the practice of reminding jurors on a regular basis not to use social media to communicate during trial or deliberations, explaining the reasons behind the ban on social media, and confiscating electronic devices in the courtroom,” the report added. Only 30 of the 508 judges reported instances of detected social media use by jurors during trials or deliberations. The survey questionnaire was sent to all active and senior federal district judges, 952 in all. The response rate was 53 percent."

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries

"The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) announces the release of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries 2012, a clear and easy-to-use statement of fair and reasonable approaches to fair use developed by and for librarians who support academic inquiry and higher education. The Code was developed in partnership with the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University. Winston Tabb, Johns Hopkins University Dean of University Libraries and Museums and President of ARL, said, “This document is a testament to the collective wisdom of academic and research librarians, who have asserted careful and considered approaches to some very difficult situations that we all face every day.”

January 27, 2012

CRS - International Trade: Rules of Origin

International Trade: Rules of Origin. Vivian C. Jones, Specialist in International Trade and Finance; Michael F. Martin, Analyst in Asian Trade and Finance, January 5, 2012

"Determining the country of origin of a product is important for properly assessing tariffs, enforcing trade remedies (such as antidumping and countervailing duties) or quantitative restrictions (tariff quotas), and statistical purposes. Other commercial trade policies are also linked with origin determinations, such as country of origin labeling and government procurement regulations. Rules of origin (ROO) can be very simple, noncontroversial tools of international trade as long as all of the parts of a product are manufactured and assembled primarily in one country. However, when a finished product’s component parts originate in many countries—as is often the case in today’s global trading environment—determining origin can be a very complex, sometimes subjective, and time-consuming process. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency responsible for determining country of origin using various ROO schemes. Non-preferential rules of origin are used to determine the origin of goods imported from countries with which the United States has most-favored-nation (MFN) status. Preferential rules are used to determine the eligibility of imported goods from certain U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) partners and certain developing country beneficiaries to receive duty-free or reduced tariff benefits under bilateral or regional FTAs and trade preference programs. Preferential rules of origin are generally specific to each FTA, or preference, meaning that they vary from agreement to agreement and preference to preference."

January 26, 2012

TRAC Report - DHS Referred Most Federal Criminal Prosecutions in October 2011

TRAC: "The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2011 the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to enforce immigration and customs laws accounted for 59% of all federal criminal prosecutions. The government reported 8,038 new prosecutions for these DHS matters as compared with a total of 13,628 from all sources. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.3 percent over the previous month. These comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys."

CRS - Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline: Legal Issues

Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline: Legal Issues, January 23, 2012

"In 2008, TransCanada Corp. applied for a presidential permit from the State Department to construct and operate an oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border in a project known as Keystone XL. The Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil produced from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries. The permit application was subjected to review by the State Department pursuant to executive branch authority over cross-border pipeline facilities as articulated in Executive Order 13337. After several phases of review, on November 10, 2011, the State Department announced that it would seek additional information about alternative pipeline routes before it could move forward with a national interest determination. In response, several pieces of legislation were introducedThis report reviews those legal issues. First, it suggests that legislation related to cross-border facility permitting is unlikely to raise significant constitutional questions, despite the fact that such permits have traditionally been handled by the executive branch alone pursuant to its constitutional “foreign affairs” authority. Next, it observes generally that state oversight of pipeline siting decisions does not appear to violate existing federal law or the Constitution. Finally, the report suggests that State Department’s implementation of the existing authority to issue presidential permits appears to allow for judicial review of its National Environmental Policy Act determinations."

January 25, 2012

West LegalEdcenter and NALP Foundation Release Study of Law Firm Professional Development

News release: "The majority of law firms in the United States and Canada expect to increase their reliance on electronic forms of lawyer development in the next 24 months, although associates in those firms say they prefer mentoring and on-the-job training to hone their skills. Details regarding this important disconnect, along with other key findings about the landscape of professional development inside law firms, are available in a first-of-its-kind research report published by the NALP Foundation in partnership with West LegalEdcenter, a Thomson Reuters business. The report, “Leading Law Firm Professional Development: A Comprehensive Study of Professional Development Staffing, Resources and Program Delivery Modes,” examines the perspectives of more than 200 law firm administrators responsible for professional development functions and nearly 1,500 associates from firms ranging in size from less than 10 lawyers to more than 1,000 lawyers. The data for this study was collected in late 2010 and early 2011 from online questionnaires."

CRS - Presidential Signing Statements: Constitutional and Institutional Implications

Presidential Signing Statements: Constitutional and Institutional Implications - Todd Garvey, Legislative Attorney. January 4, 2012

"Presidential signing statements are official pronouncements issued by the President contemporaneously to the signing of a bill into law that, in addition to commenting on the law generally, have been used to forward the President’s interpretation of the statutory language; to assert constitutional objections to the provisions contained therein; and, concordantly, to announce that the provisions of the law will be administered in a manner that comports with the administration’s conception of the President’s constitutional prerogatives. While the history of presidential issuance of signing statements dates to the early 19th century, the practice has become the source of significant controversy in the modern era as Presidents have increasingly employed the statements to assert constitutional and legal objections to congressional enactments. President Reagan initiated this practice in earnest, transforming the signing statement into a mechanism for the assertion of presidential authority and intent. President Reagan issued 250 signing statements, 86 of which (34%) contained provisions objecting to one or more of the statutory provisions signed into law. President George H. W. Bush continued this practice, issuing 228 signing statements, 107 of which (47%) raised objections. President Clinton’s conception of presidential power proved to be largely consonant with that of the preceding two administrations. In turn, President Clinton made aggressive use of the signing statement, issuing 381 statements, 70 of which (18%) raised constitutional or legal objections. President George W. Bush continued this practice, issuing 161 signing statements, 127 of which (79%) contain some type of challenge or objection. The significant rise in the proportion of constitutional objections made by President George W. Bush was compounded by the fact that his statements were typified by multiple objections, resulting in more than 1,000 challenges to distinct provisions of law. Although President Barack Obama has continued to use presidential signing statements, the Obama Administration has used the interpretive tools with less frequency than previous administrations—issuing 20 signing statements, of which 10 (50%) contain constitutional challenges to an enacted statutory provision."

UK Report: Serious Economic Crime - A boardroom guide to prevention and compliance

Serious Economic Crime - A boardroom guide to prevention and compliance, January 2012 [312 pages, UK government]

"It is significant that, for this first edition of Serious Economic Crime [Combating major fraud and corruption], published by White Page in association with the Serious Fraud Office, lawyers from the private sector – more usually known for defending clients against allegations of serious fraud – have been asked to contribute to, and indeed edit, the publication. Until relatively recently, the way in which defence lawyers and the SFO were likely to interact was as part of the traditional model of the investigation and prosecution of serious fraud. This would often involve, as far as the suspect was concerned, high-profile arrests and the simultaneous execution of several search warrants early in the morning, followed perhaps by a series of interviews under caution over many months, the eventual bringing of charges, heavily fought interlocutory hearings, battles over disclosure, and ultimately the often lengthy adversarial trial process. While it is certainly the case that all of these things still occur regularly, a large part of the discussion in this book is about a new, more consensual approach towards corporate crime on the part of the SFO, how that is operating in practice, and how it is likely to develop."

January 23, 2012

FTC, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Pledge to Work Together to Protect Consumers

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have signed an agreement to coordinate efforts to protect consumers and avoid duplication of federal law enforcement and regulatory efforts. “The FTC has always been committed to protecting consumers and legitimate companies from bad actors in the financial marketplace,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “Now we have another cop on the beat, and this agreement ensures that businesses will not be double-teamed by the two agencies.” “Entering this agreement with the FTC is important to making sure markets for consumer financial products are getting efficient and effective federal government oversight,” said Richard Cordray, Director of the CFPB. “We are both motivated by the same thing: To do right by consumers. We look forward to this partnership.” The two agencies signed a memorandum of understanding. It is available here."

EPIC: Supreme Court Upholds Fourth Amendment in GPS Tracking Case

"Today the Supreme Court unanimously held in U.S. v. Jones that the warrantless use of a GPS tracking device by the police violated the Fourth Amendment. The Court said that a warrant is required "[w]here, as here, the government obtains information by physically intruding on a constitutionally protected area," like a car. Concurring opinions by Justices Sotomayor and Alito urged the court to focus on the reasonableness of the suspect's expectation of privacy because physical intrusion is unnecessary to surveillance in the digital age. EPIC, joined by 30 legal and technical experts,filed a "friend of the court" brief. EPIC warned that, "it is critical that police access to GPS tracking be subject to a warrant requirement." For more information, see EPIC: US v. Jones, and EPIC: Location Privacy"

January 21, 2012

Less Forgiven? Race and the Bankruptcy System

Lawless, Robert M. and Cohen, Dov, Less Forgiven? Race and the Bankruptcy System (January 21, 2011). BROKE: HOW DEBT BANKRUPTS THE MIDDLE CLASS, Katherine Porter, ed., 2012. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1745138

"For a consumer considering bankruptcy, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 are options with vastly different consequences. In Chapter 7, a consumer earns a quick discharge after turning over all nonexempt or unencumbered assets to the bankruptcy trustee. In over 90% of Chapter 7 cases, the debtor has no such assets, and the case is a quick administrative affair that allows the debtor to emerge with the proverbial “fresh start.” In contrast, Chapter 13 requires a debtor to devote all of his or her disposable income to repayment to creditors over a 3- or 5-year plan. A Chapter 13 debtor can earn a discharge only after completing the repayment plan, yet only approximately one-third of Chapter 13 debtors complete their plan. With a federal bankruptcy law, one would expect the ratio of Chapter 7 to Chapter 13 cases to be fairly uniform across the country. In fact, huge regional variation exists. In the upper Midwest, only one Chapter 13 is filed for about every ten Chapter 7 cases, while many Southern states about half of all bankruptcies are Chapter 13 cases. Previous scholarship has attributed these differences to local legal culture, concluding that historical norms and the preferences of bankruptcy professionals drive consumers’ chapter choices. This chapter identifies a different variable that is associated with chapter choice: the debtor’s race. African American debtors file Chapter 13 at over twice the rate of debtors of other races. The effect remains after controlling for geographic location, financial variables, home ownership, and other factors that seem likely to affect chapter choice. To earn forgiveness for their debts, African Americans are more likely to have to make some restitution under a Chapter 13 plan, while persons of other races are more likely to be given full forgiveness under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Their over-representation in Chapter 13 means that African Americans are more likely to have to wait years for a discharge of their debts and pay higher attorneys fees for relief. The data show association but cannot show causation. The data cannot tell us whether African Americans are being discriminated against by being guided into repayment plans when others are not, or whether African Americans are choosing Chapter 13 out of a moral obligation to repay."

January 19, 2012

2012 US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy Now Available

"The 2012 Taxonomy contains updates for accounting standards and other improvements since the 2011 Taxonomy as used by issuers filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued proposed improvements to the taxonomy in the fall of 2011, allowing users of the taxonomy to provide feedback on the updates and the opportunity to become familiar with and to incorporate new element names for their filings. We encourage users to read the release notes and other provided guidance and supporting documents, which contain the details of these changes."

January 18, 2012

House of Representatives House Launches Transparency Portal

Sunlight Foundation: "Making good on part of the House of Representative's commitment to increase congressional transparency, today the House Clerk's office launched http://docs.house.gov/, a one stop website where the public can access all House bills, amendments, resolutions for floor consideration, and conference reports in XML, as well as information on floor proceedings and more. Information will ultimately be published online in real time and archived for perpetuity. The Clerk is hosting the site, and the information will primarily come from the leadership, the Committee on House Administration, the Rules Committee, and the Clerk's office. The project has been driven by House Republican leaders as part of an push for transparency. Important milestones include the adoption of the new House Rules in January 2011 that gave the Committee on House Administration the power to establish standards for publishing documents online, an April 2011 letter from the Speaker and Majority Leader to the Clerk calling for better public access to House information, a Committee on House Administration hearing in June 2011 on modernizing information delivery in the House, a December 2011 public meeting on public access to congressional information, and finally the late December adoption of online publication standards."

January 17, 2012

LLRX: Forensic Bibliometrics: Information Quality Assurance in Scientific Literature

Forensic Bibliometrics: Information Quality Assurance in Scientific Literature: Everyone is familiar with the "corrections" columns in newspapers and the errata pages in the backs of books. But those corrigenda are a far cry from identifying the problems created when authors deliberately offer for publication fraudulent results. Research misconduct and the publication of fraudulent results in scholarly publications and news media has become a growing concern in many disciplines. Ken Strutin has researched, annotated and compiled core documents that address the causes of misconduct, spotting faked data, and repairing the damage to the information stream.

Authentication of Primary Legal Materials and Pricing Options

Authentication of Primary Legal Materials and Pricing Options, December 2011

"The recent passage of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) has brought to the forefront the issue of costs of authenticating primary legal materials in electronic format. This white paper briefly reviews five methods of electronic authentication. These methods are based on trustworthiness, file types, effort to implement, and volume of electronic documents to be authenticated. Six sample solutions are described and their relative costs are compared. The white paper also frames the legal landscape and background of authentication for primary legal materials in electronic format, and provides context and points to applicable resources. The aim of this collective effort is to promote the understanding of costs related to authentication and invite further discussion on the issue...It is not intended to offer legal advice. Please consult an attorney for assistance with specific concerns or advice."

January 16, 2012

Stanford Law Review: The Iraq War, the Next War, and the Future of the Fat Man

The Iraq War, the Next War, and the Future of the Fat Man, by Stephen L. Carter, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Yale Law School. January 16, 2012 - 64 Stan. L. Rev. Online 46 - Essays

"Preemptive warfare is a form of self-defense that occurs when your adversary has the tanks massed on your border, ready to attack. Preventive warfare is aimed at keeping your adversary from gaining the means to attack you. Both the law and the ethics of self-defense have tended to frown on preventive warfare, not least because it has no logical stopping point. But America’s recent wars have all been, in one way or another, preventive—aimed less at foiling current plans than at stopping future ones."

January 13, 2012

EPIC - FOIA Documents Reveal Homeland Security is Monitoring Political Dissent

"As the result of EPIC v. DHS, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, EPIC has obtained nearly thee hundred pages of documents detailing a Department of Homeland Security's surveillance program. The documents include contracts and statements of work with General Dynamics for 24/7 media and social network monitoring and periodic reports to DHS. The documents reveal that the agency is tracking media stories that "reflect adversely" on DHS or the U.S. government. One tracking report -- "Residents Voice Opposition Over Possible Plan to Bring Guantanamo Detainees to Local Prison-Standish MI" -- summarizes dissent on blogs and social networking cites, quoting commenters. EPIC sent a request for these documents in April 2004 and filed suit against the agency in December. For more information, see EPIC: EPIC v. Department of Homeland Security: Media Monitoring."

EPIC: FTC Adds Google+ to Antitrust Investigation

EPIC: "Bloomberg News has reported that the Federal Trade Commission has expanded its antitrust investigation of Google to include Google's social networking service, Google+. The report comes after Google announced that it would include personal data gathered from Google+ in the results of users' searches, a move that led EPIC to urge the FTC to investigate the company. EPIC said that "Google's business practices raise concerns related to both competition and the implementation of the Commission’s consent order," referring to a settlement that the FTC reached with Google that establishes new privacy safeguards for users of all Google products and services and subjects the company to regular privacy audits. Google first confirmed the FTC’s antitrust investigation in June 2011. Recently, the Senate held a hearing on Google's use of its dominance in the search market to suppress competition, and EPIC urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google's use of Youtube search rankings to give preferential treatment to its own video content over non-Google content. For more information, see EPIC: Google/DoubleClick and EPIC: Federal Trade Commission."

January 12, 2012

EPIC Urges Trade Commission to Investigate Google Search

EPIC: In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC has called for an investigation of recent changes by Google to Google Search, the dominant search algorithm on the Internet. EPIC cited Google's decision to include personal data, such as photos, posts, and contact details, gathered from Google+ in Google Search results. “Google’s business practices raise concerns related to both competition and the implementation of the Commission’s consent order,” EPIC said, referring to a settlement that the FTC reached with Google that establishes new privacy safeguards for users of Google products and services and subjects the company to regular privacy audits. Recently, the Senate held a hearing on Google’s use of its dominance in the search market to suppress competition, and EPIC urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google’s acquisition of Youtube, which allowed Google to give preferential treatment to Google's own video content. For more information, see EPIC: Google/DoubleClick and EPIC: Federal Trade."

New GAO Reports - Federal Elections on a Weekend, Securities Research

Elections - Views on Implementing Federal Elections on a Weekend, GAO-12-69, January 12, 2012
Securities Research - Additional Actions Could Improve Regulatory Oversight of Analyst Conflicts of Interest, GAO-12-209, January 12, 2012

Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries Over the Decade Ending 2009 Dev

Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries Over the Decade Ending 2009, Dev Kar and Sarah Freitas1, December 2011

"Last year’s report, analyzing flows through 2008, produced a figure for that year of $1.26 trillion. We anticipated that the figure for 2009 might be even larger. However, the global financial crisis and slowdown in world trade combined to reduce illicit flows for the last year of the decade to a range of US$775 billion to US$903 billion. These are still staggering drainages from the poorer countries of the world. The average across the three last years of the decade remains above US$1 trillion annually. We continue to regard these estimates as very conservative, since they do not include smuggling, the mispricing of cross-border services, or the mispricing of merchandise trade that occurs within the same invoice exchanged between exporters and importers. China continues to lead the world, with most of the illicit outflows occurring through trade mispricing. Following are a number of oil exporting countries, with illicit outflows evidenced primarily through balance of payments accounts."

Related postings on financial system

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2012: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2012: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)

"The U.S. Supreme Court has called America’s colleges and universities “vital centers for the Nation’s intellectual life,” but the reality today is that many of these institutions severely restrict free speech and open debate. Speech codes—policies prohibiting student and faculty speech that would, outside the bounds of campus, be protected by the First Amendment—have repeatedly been struck down by federal and state courts. Yet they persist, even in the very jurisdictions where they have been ruled unconstitutional; the majority of American colleges and universities have speech codes. FIRE surveyed 392 schools for this report and found that 65% maintain severely restrictive speech codes—policies that clearly and substantially prohibit protected speech. That this figure is so large is deeply troubling, but there is a small silver lining: It represents a decline in the percentage of schools maintaining such policies for the fourth year in a row."

Fraud of the Day Website

"The Fraud of the Day is a forum dedicated to educating government about how fraud is perpetrated and the solutions to stop it. When you visit the “Fraud of the Day,” you’ll find Larry Brnson's commentary; links to other news, events, and resources pertaining to government fraud; and video commentary from tax fraud expert, Andy Bucholz, and social services fraud expert, Ron Rigores."

January 08, 2012

Maldives: Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism

Maldives: Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, January 2012 - IMF Country Report No. 12/1

"This report summarizes the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures (AML/CFT) that were in place in the Republic of Maldives at the time of the on-site visit (October 17–28, 2010) and shortly thereafter. It describes and analyzes these measures and offers recommendations on how to strengthen certain aspects of the AML/CFT system. It also assesses the Maldives’ level of compliance with the 40+9 Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)."

Maldives: Report on Observance of Standards and Codes—FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, January 2012, IMF Country Report No. 12/2

January 05, 2012

FTC Action Bans Payment Processor from Using a Novel Payment Method to Debit Accounts

News release: "A payment processor and two of its principals are now banned from using a new payment method to process electronic payments under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which resolves charges that they debited consumers' bank accounts without their consent. The settlement furthers the FTC's ongoing efforts to protect financially-strapped consumers during the economic downturn by scrutinizing not only merchants, but all parties who participate in defrauding consumers."

January 03, 2012

LLRX - Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Completely Updated

Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Completely Updated - December 2011: Sabrina I. Pacifici's comprehensive, current awareness guide focuses on leveraging a wide but selected range of reliable, focused, predominantly free websites and resources to effectively track, monitor, analyze, background and review current and historical data, news, reports, and profiles on companies, markets, countries, people, and issues, from a global perspective. Sabrina's guide is a "best of" web resource that encompasses search engines, databases, alerts, publisher specific services and tools, along with links to content targeted sources produced by leading media organizations, governments, academia, NGOs and independent researchers.

Updated edition of Locating the Law: A Handbook for Non-law Librarians

"The Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL) Public Access to Legal Information (PALI) Committee has just posted the updated edition of Locating the Law: A Handbook for Non-law Librarians. We've corrected links, added a few more sources, and moved the "Common Abbreviations in the Law" from the end of Chapter 2 to Appendix B. You can view individual chapters or the entire publication in one large PDF (274 pages)." [June Kim, Senior Reference Librarian, UCLA Law Library]

January 01, 2012

UK Lord Chief Justice extends Live Text-Based Communication from Court

Guidance on Live, Text-Based Communications from Court: "This Practice Guidance (the Guidance) applies to court proceedings which are open to the public and to those parts of the proceedings which are not subject to reporting restrictions. It is issued (as Guidance and not a Practice Direction) following a consultation relating to the use of live, text-based communications. Those consulted included the Judiciary, the Secretary of State for Justice, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Bar Council, the Law Society, the Press Complaints Commission, and the Society of Editors in addition to interested members of the public via the Judiciary website.
2) The Guidance clarifies the use which may be made of live text-based communications, such as mobile email, social media (including Twitter) and internet enabled laptops in and from courts throughout England and Wales. For the purposes of this Guidance these means of communication are referred to, compendiously, as live, text-based communications."

December 31, 2011

Chief Justice's Year-End Reports on the Federal Judiciary

Chief Justice's Year-End Reports on the Federal Judiciary, 2011: "Some observers have recently questioned whether the Judicial Conference’s Code of Conduct for United States Judges should apply to the Supreme Court. I would like to use my annual report this year to address
that issue, as well as some other related issues that have recently drawn public attention. The space constraints of the annual report prevent me from setting out a detailed dissertation on judicial ethics. And my judicial responsibilities preclude me from commenting on any ongoing debates about particular issues or the constitutionality of any enacted legislation or pending proposals. But I can provide some clarification on how the Justices address ethical issues and dispel some common misconceptions."

Treasury Committee on Foreign Investment in U.S - Annual Report to Congress

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, 2011 Annual Report to Congress, Report Period CY 2010, December 2011 - Issued December 2011

"The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is an inter-agency committee authorized to review transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person (“covered transactions”), in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States. CFIUS operates pursuant to section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 (FINSA) (section 721) and as implemented by Executive Order 11858, as amended, and regulations at 31 C.F.R. Part 800."

December 28, 2011

New GAO Reports: Higher Education and Disability, Commercial Spectrum

Higher Education and Disability - Improved Federal Enforcement Needed to Better Protect Students' Rights to Testing Accommodations, GAO-12-40, November 29, 2011. "Federal enforcement of laws and regulations governing testing accommodations is largely complaint-driven and involves multiple agencies. While Justice has overall responsibility for enforcing compliance under the ADA, Education and HHS have enforcement responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act for testing companies that receive federal financial assistance from them. Education and HHS officials said that they investigate each eligible complaint. Justice officials said they review each complaint at in-take, but they do not make a determination on every complaint because of the large volume of complaints it receives. Justice has clarified ADA requirements for testing accommodations primarily by revising its regulations, but it lacks a strategic approach to targeting enforcement."
Commercial Spectrum - Plans and Actions to Meet Future Needs, Including Continued Use of Auctions, GAO-12-118, November 23, 2011
Border Security - Additional Steps Needed to Ensure That Officers Are Fully Trained - GAO-12-269, December 22, 2011
Hardrock Mining - BLM Needs to Revise Its Systems for Assessing the Adequacy of Financial Assurances, GAO-12-189R, December 12, 2011

December 27, 2011

iPhone Application Support for FedCtRecords (Federal Court Records)

"This application allows public access to court electronic records for Federal District Courts across the United States. Users MUST be registered, have a valid PACER account, to use this application. New users may register here PACER. This application is 'CASE SEARCH' only, therefore documents CANNOT be filed using this applciation, users can only view documents and information that is currently filed. It is important to note that a PACER account is separate from any filing account. A PACER account is required for document access in all federal courts."

Via iPhoneJ.D. Review: FedCtRecords - access PACER from an iPhone

UN: Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict September

Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict, September 2011. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

"The purpose of this paper is to bring more conceptual clarity to the issue of children and justice in times of armed conflict by examining relevant legal provisions, academic discussions and a number of case studies. It attempts to articulate how children who have suffered grave violations during armed conflict can access justice and how the current system deals with child victims and witnesses. It also explores the issues surrounding responsibility of children who may have committed international crimes during conflict, the nature of their accountability and where they should be placed in the spectrum between total impunity and total responsibility."

December 26, 2011

CRS - U.S. Nuclear Cooperation with India: Issues for Congress

U.S. Nuclear Cooperation with India: Issues for Congress, Paul K. Kerr, Analyst in Nonproliferation, December 15, 2011

"India, which has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and does not have International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards on all of its nuclear material, exploded a “peaceful” nuclear device in 1974, convincing the world of the need for greater restrictions on nuclear trade. The United States created the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as a direct response to India’s test, halted nuclear exports to India a few years later, and worked to convince other states to do the same. India tested nuclear weapons again in 1998. However, President Bush announced July 18, 2005, he would “work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation with India” and would “also seek agreement from Congress to adjust U.S. laws and policies,” in the context of a broader partnership with India...The Obama Administration has continued with the Bush Administration’s policy regarding civil nuclear cooperation with India. According to a November 8, 2010, White House fact sheet, the United States “intends to support India’s full membership” in the NSG, as well as other multilateral export control regimes."

Model Laws for a Safer America: Seven Regulations to Promote Responsible Gun Ownership and Sales

"Model Laws for a Safer America is designed for use by activists and elected officials nationwide seeking to close dangerous loopholes in our federal regulatory system. This unique publication provides sample language for state and local laws to: 1) require background checks on all gun purchasers; 2) license firearm owners; 3) register all firearms; 4) regulate firearms dealers and ammunition sellers; 5) require the reporting of lost or stolen firearms; 6) impose a waiting period before the sale of a firearm; and 7) limit firearm purchases to one per person every 90 days. The publication also includes a discussion of common opposition arguments and legal issues. Model Laws for a Safer America is the latest publication from Legal Community Against Violence. Other LCAV [Legal Community Against Violence] publications include:

BJS: Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008

Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 - Annual Rates for 2009 and 2010. Alexia Cooper and Erica L. Smith, BJS Statisticians

"The nation’s homicide rate fell to 4.8 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2010, its lowest level in four decades, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today. Much of the decline was in the nation’s largest cities, those with a population of one million or more, where the homicide rate dropped dramatically from 35.5 homicides per 100,000 residents in 1991 to a low of 11.9 per 100,000 in 2008. The sharp increase in homicides from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, and much of the subsequent decline, is attributable to gun violence by teens (age 14 to 17) and young adults (age 18 to 24). Despite the recent decline, the number of gun homicides committed by teens and young adults in 2008 remained similar to the counts of the mid-1980s. Most murders were intraracial. From 1980 through 2008, 84 percent of white homicide victims were murdered by whites and 93 percent of black victims were murdered by blacks...The number of homicides known to involve adult or juvenile gang violence has quadrupled since 1980, increasing from about 220 homicides in 1980 to 960 homicides in 2008. From 1980 to 2008, gang violence increased from one percent to six percent of all homicides. During this same period, gun involvement in gang-related homicides increased from 73 percent to 92 percent."

See also NYT: Easing Restrictions on Gun Permits - In the past 30 years, states across the country have made it easier for people to obtain permits to carry concealed guns. State laws vary but are primarily distinguished by whether the permit process is “shall issue,” in which the authorities must grant a license to anyone who meets certain basic legal requirements, or “may issue,” in which they are afforded discretion in their decisions."

DOJ Reaches $335 Million Settlement to Resolve Allegations of Lending Discrimination by Countrywide

News release, December 21, 2011: "The Department of Justice today filed its largest residential fair lending settlement in history to resolve allegations that Countrywide Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries engaged in a widespread pattern or practice of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in their mortgage lending from 2004 through 2008. The settlement provides $335 million in compensation for victims of Countrywide’s discrimination during a period when Countrywide originated millions of residential mortgage loans as one of the nation’s largest single-family mortgage lenders. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in conjunction with the department’s complaint which alleges that Countrywide discriminated by charging more than 200,000 African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher fees and interest rates than non-Hispanic white borrowers in both its retail and wholesale lending. The complaint alleges that these borrowers were charged higher fees and interest rates because of their race or national origin, and not because of the borrowers’ creditworthiness or other objective criteria related to borrower risk."

WSJ: Countrywide Victims Sought - "The Justice Department faces the daunting task of tracking down more than 210,000 alleged victims and determining how to compensate them, following its landmark settlement with Bank of America's Countrywide unit."
Related postings on financial system

December 25, 2011

What Can We Learn from Law School? Legal Education Reflects Issues Found in All of Higher Education

What Can We Learn from Law School? Legal Education Reflects Issues Found in All of Higher Education, Julie Margetta Morgan, Center for American Progress, December 2011

"This report explores the field of legal education with the hope that putting a magnifying glass to this small part of higher education will help us better understand the problems that face all colleges. It details the steady rise in law school enrollment, despite high tuition rates and a heavy reliance on student loan debt. And it describes the unpleasant surprise that awaits law students upon graduation: Though a few lucky grads will make more than $130,000 per year, most new lawyers can expect annual salaries of around $63,000. With monthly loan payments near $1,000, graduates are finding that membership in the legal profession is not the golden ticket they thought it would be. These observations show that in legal education — as in the rest of higher education — forces such as rising tuition and limited availability of jobs are changing the value proposition of earning a degree. Schools, students, and policymakers, however, are slow to respond."

EFF - the major trends influencing digital rights in 2011

News release: "As the year draws to a close, EFF is looking back at the major trends influencing digital rights in 2011 and discussing where we are in the fight for a free expression, innovation, fair use, and privacy. The government has been using its secrecy system in absurd ways for decades, but 2011 was particularly egregious. Here are a few examples...

December 21, 2011

Governmental Tracking of Cell Phones and Vehicles: The Confluence of Privacy, Technology, and Law

CRS — Governmental Tracking of Cell Phones and Vehicles: The Confluence of Privacy, Technology, and Law. Richard M. Thompson, Law Clerk. December 1, 2011

"Technology has advanced considerably since the framers established the constitutional parameters for searches and seizures in the Fourth Amendment. What were ink quills and parchment are now cell phones and the Internet. It is undeniable that these advances in technology threaten to diminish privacy. Law enforcement’s use of cell phones and GPS devices to track an individual’s movements brings into sharp relief the challenge of reconciling technology, privacy, and law...This report will briefly survey Fourth Amendment law as it pertains to the government’s tracking programs. It will then summarize federal electronic surveillance statutes and the case law surrounding cell phone location tracking. Next, the report will describe the GPS-vehicle tracking cases and review the pending Supreme Court GPS tracking case, United States v. Jones. Finally, the report will summarize the geolocation and electronic surveillance legislation introduced in the 112th Congress."

December 15, 2011

New Report: Obama Administration Makes Transparency Gains; Challenges Remain

News release: "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and OpenTheGovernment.org released a joint report, Measuring Transparency Under the FOIA: The Real Story Behind the Numbers, analyzing the government’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) data for 2010 and how it compares to the previous administration’s data...The results paint a very mixed picture on the FOIA front, with agencies generally processing more requests more quickly, but also increasing their reliance on the FOIA’s nine exemptions to withhold more information from the public. Our analysis revealed an even more alarming truth: the government’s FOIA data is flawed, making it impossible to assess key areas of progress and casting doubt on its overall reliability. As a result, what started as a statistical report on agencies’ handling of FOIA requests ended as an expose of the problems with the data and tools the government has developed to measure its progress in implementing the FOIA."

Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 Years Later

Kaiser - Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 Years Later - A Report on the States’ Allocation of the Tobacco Settlement Dollars

"Since the states settled their lawsuits against the tobacco companies in November 1998, our organizations have issued annual reports assessing whether the states are keeping their promise to use a significant portion of their settlement funds – expected to total $246 billion over the first 25 years – to attack the enormous public health problems posed by tobacco use in the United States. In addition to the billions of dollars they receive each year from the tobacco settlement, the states collect billions more in tobacco taxes. In the current budget year, Fiscal Year 2012, the states will collect a total of $25.6 billion in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, near record levels...The states’ failure to use more of their tobacco money to fight the tobacco problem is especially troubling in light of recent national surveys indicating that smoking declines in the United States have slowed. The nation’s progress in the battle against tobacco use – the number one cause of preventable death – is at risk unless states increase funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Given the deep cutbacks in state programs, it is more critical than ever that the federal government also fund and implement a robust, national tobacco prevention and cessation campaign."

December 14, 2011

Bureau of Justice Statistics - Prisoners in 2010

News release: "The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported today in Prisoners in 2010 that the number of offenders under adult correctional supervision in the U.S. declined 1.3 percent in 2010, the second consecutive year of decline since BJS began reporting on this population in 1980. At yearend 2010, about 7.1 million people, or 1 in 33 adults, were under the supervision of adult correctional authorities in the U.S. In addition, the total U.S. prison population fell to 1.6 million at yearend 2010, a decline of 0.6 percent during the year, the first decline in the total prison population in nearly four decades. This decline was due to a decrease of 10,881 in the number of state prisoners, which fell to just under 1.4 million persons and was the largest yearly decrease since 1977. The federal prison population grew by 0.8 percent (1,653 prisoners) to reach 209,771, the smallest percentage increase since 1980. Most offenders under correctional supervision (about 7 in 10 persons or nearly 4.9 million people) were supervised in the community on probation or parole at yearend 2010. About 3 in 10 (or nearly 2.3 million people) were incarcerated in state or federal prisons or local jails. The decline in the total correctional population during 2010 was mainly due to a decrease in the number of probationers during the year (down 69,500 persons) and a decrease in the number of inmates incarcerated in local jails (down 18,700 persons)."

See also BJS, Correctional Population in the United States, 2010

Record Number of Federal Criminal Health Care Fraud Prosecutions Filed in FY 2011

Jeff Lamicela: "The latest available data from the Justice Department show that federal health care fraud prosecutions reached an historic high last year. During the twelve months of fiscal year 2011, the government reported 1,235 new health care fraud prosecutions - the largest number reported since separate tracking of this offense began twenty years ago. This number is up 68.9% over the past fiscal year when the number of criminal prosecutions totaled 731...The Southern District of Florida (Miami) led the nation in activity, accounting for nearly one out of every nine health care fraud prosecutions, followed by the Southern District of Texas (Houston). Together, these two districts accounted for over one out of every five health care fraud prosecutions."

December 11, 2011

Paper: The Dodd-Frank Act and Housing Finance

The Dodd-Frank Act and Housing Finance, Levitin, Adam J., Pavlov, Andrey D. and Wachter, Susan M., (November 17, 2011). Yale Journal on Regulation, Forthcoming; U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 11-35.

"Private risk capital has virtually disappeared from the U.S. housing finance market since the market’s collapse in 2008. This Article argues that private risk capital is unlikely to return on any scale until the informational problems in housing finance are resolved so that investors can accurately gauge and price the risks they assume. The Dodd-Frank Act represents a first step in reforming the U.S. housing finance. It takes a multi-layered approach, regulating both loan origination and securitization. Dodd-Frank’s reforms, however, fail to adequately address the opacity of credit risk information in mortgage markets and thus are insufficient for the restoration of private risk capital. The Article argues that Dodd-Frank reforms like “skin-in-the-game” credit risk retention fail to solve the informational problems in the housing finance market, as they merely replace one informational opacity with another. Instead, the Article argues, it is necessary to institute structural changes in the housing finance market, particularly the standardization of mortgage securitization, that force the production of information necessary for accurate risk-pricing."

December 09, 2011

EPA Annual Enforcement Results Highlights Commitment to Address Largest Pollution Problems with Greatest Community Impact

News release: "Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its annual enforcement and compliance results. EPA’s enforcement and compliance program enforces environmental laws that protect our nation’s air, land and water by taking action to cut illegal pollution and protect people’s health and communities. In fiscal year Fiscal Year 2011, EPA enforcement actions led to more than 1.8 billion pounds in pollution reduced, an estimated $19 billion in required pollution controls and approximately $168 million in civil penalties."

December 07, 2011

BSEE Issues 2nd Set of Deepwater Horizon Violations

News release: "The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) today issued a second set of regulatory violations arising from operations conducted in connection with the Macondo well. The violations were issued as Incidents of Non-Compliance (INC). A total of five INCs were issued by faxed letter to BP; four of the INCs were violations of one regulation in different sections of the well...The following is a listing of the federal regulations and INCs issued today to BP: One violation of 30 CFR 250.427 – BP failed to conduct an accurate pressure integrity test at the 13-5/8” liner shoe. Four violations of 30 CFR 250.427(b) – BP failed to suspend drilling operations at the Macondo well when the safe drilling margin identified in the approved application for permit to drill was not maintained...More information regarding the initial INCs issued to BP, Transocean and Halliburton can be found here."

December 05, 2011

Congressional Lawmaking: A Perspective On Secrecy and Transparency

CRS - Congressional Lawmaking: A Perspective On Secrecy and Transparency - Walter J. Oleszek, Senior Specialist in American National Government, November 30, 2011

"Openness is fundamental to representative government. Yet the congressional process is replete with activities and actions that are private and not observable by the public. How to distinguish reasonable legislative secrecy from impractical transparency is a topic that produces disagreement on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Why? Because lawmaking is critical to the governance of the nation. Scores of people in the attentive public want to observe and learn about congressional proceedings. Yet secrecy is an ever-present part of much legislative policymaking; however, secrecy and transparency are not “either/or” constructs. They overlap constantly during the various policymaking stages. The objectives of this report are four-fold:

first, to outline briefly the historical and inherent tension between secrecy and transparency in the congressional process;
second, to review several common and recurring secrecy/transparency issues that emerged again with the 2011 formation of the Joint Select Deficit Reduction Committee;
third, to identify various lawmaking stages typically imbued with closed door activities; and
fourth, to close with several summary observations."

December 04, 2011

Changes to Federal Court Rules Take Effect

"Amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence took effect December 1, 2011. Congress took no action after the changes were approved by Supreme Court more than seven months earlier. That means new amendments to these rules are now in effect:

Appellate Rules 4 and 40
Bankruptcy Rules 2003, 2019, 3001, 4004, and 6003.
Criminal Rules 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 32, 40, 41, 43, and 49.
Evidence Rules 101-1103.
In addition, new Bankruptcy Rules 1004.2 and 3002.1 are in effect, as well as new Criminal Rule 4.1.
The text of the amended rules and extensive supporting documents is available."

November 29, 2011

Facebook Settles FTC Charges That It Deceived Consumers By Failing To Keep Privacy Promises

News release: "The social networking service Facebook has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public. The proposed settlement requires Facebook to take several steps to make sure it lives up to its promises in the future, including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers' express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established. The FTC's eight-count complaint against Facebook is part of the agency's ongoing effort to make sure companies live up to the privacy promises they make to American consumers. It charges that the claims that Facebook made were unfair and deceptive, and violated federal law."

What’s So Hard About Regulating Supreme Court Justices’ Ethics? — A Lot

What’s So Hard About Regulating Supreme Court Justices’ Ethics? - A Lot, Russell Wheeler, Visiting Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution

"The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge to the health care law is renewing calls for recusal, described here and here and here. Some, mainly Democrats, charge that Justice Thomas (and his wife) have been too close to some of the law’s strongest critics. Others, mainly Republicans, charge that as solicitor general Justice Kagan may have had even a limited role as the administration crafted the law’s defense. There are no signs that either justice will sit out the case. These recusal demands are mostly tactics to try to influence who decides the case or delegitimize the decision, but they reflect a growing debate over whether the justices’ ethics need more regulation to avoid conflicts of interest, or their appearance. With Gallup reporting the Court’s approval rating at 46 percent, second lowest since 2000, it’s a debate worth having."

FCC Dismissal Without Prejudice of AT&T's Applications for Transfer of Control of T-Mobile USA, Inc.

"On March 21, 2011, AT&T Inc. ("AT&T") and Deutsche Telekom AG ("Deutsche Telekom") announced an agreement under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA, Inc. ("T-Mobile USA") from Deutsche Telekom. On April 21, 2011, the parties filed applications seeking the Commission's consent to the transfer of control of the licenses and authorizations held by T-Mobile USA and its wholly-owned and controlled subsidiaries from Deutsche Telekom to AT&T (the "Applications"). Now that the Applications have been filed, this proceeding is governed by permit-but-disclose ex parte procedures that are applicable to non-restricted proceedings under section 1.1206 of the Commission's rules."

Bureau Dismissal Without Prejudice of AT&T's Applications for Transfer of Control of T-Mobile USA, Inc., November 29, 2011. AT&T and T-Mobile WT Docket No.11-65
Timeline | Orders, Public Notices & Letters | Record Documents | Applications & Supporting Documents | Contacts

November 28, 2011

Report - How Politics Trumps Protection of Public Health, Worker Safety, and the Environment

Behind Closed Doors at the White House: How Politics Trumps Protection of Public Health, Worker Safety, and the Environment, by Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) Member Scholar Rena Steinzor, CPR Intern Michael Patoka, and CPR Policy Analyst James Goodwin

"In preparing the report, CPR researchers compiled a comprehensive database of OIRA’s [The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs] meetings with outside groups over the past 10 years. That database is online and available for searching. For more information:

The Behind Closed Doors report, hi-res version, with even sharper charts and graphs
Executive Summary of the report (CPR White Paper #1111ES).
News release about the report.
The Behind Closed Doors database - search for your favorite special interest group.
CPRBlog. Read a CPRBlog post by Rena Steinzor on the report.
Visit CPR's Eye on OIRA page.

Federal Judge Rejects SEC Settlement With Citi, Sets Trial Date

NYT DealBook: "Jed S. Rakoff, a judge for the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan, has rejected the proposed $285 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup related to the sale of mortgage securities. Here is the judge’s 15-page opinion, which concluded that the pact was “neither reasonable, nor fair, nor adequate, nor in the public interest.” Judge Rakoff has in the past expressed concern with the S.E.C.’s custom of not forcing a defendant to “neither admit nor deny the allegations” when settling a case. In his ruling Monday, the judge said he couldn’t approve a settlement that was based on “mere allegations.”

November 26, 2011

2011 Peer-to-Peer Violence and Bullying: Examining the Federal Response

2011 Peer-to-Peer Violence and Bullying: Examining the Federal Response, September 2011, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

"This report focuses on the government‘s efforts to enforce federal civil rights laws with respect to peer-to-peer violence based on race, national origin, sex, disability, religion, and sexual orientation or gender identity. The Commission examined the nature and incidence of peer-to-peer violence in public K-12 schools and studied the types of peer-to-peer violence faced by students, as well as the effects of such violence. The Commission further reviewed the policies and procedures employed by the United States Departments of Education and Justice in enforcing prohibitions against peer-to-peer violence. The Commission, by majority vote, concluded that bullying and harassment, including bullying and harassment based on sex, race, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or religion, are harmful to American youth, and developed findings and recommendations to address the problem.."

November 25, 2011

National Security Archives: The Iran-Contra Scandal - Documents from the Declassified History

News release [Note; scroll down to locate links to the documents obtained via FOIA]: "President Ronald Reagan was briefed in advance about every weapons shipment in the Iran arms-for-hostages deals in 1985-86, and Vice President George H. W. Bush chaired a committee that recommended the mining of the harbors of Nicaragua in 1983, according to previously secret Independent Counsel assessments of "criminal liability" on the part of the two former leaders posted today by the National Security Archive. Twenty-Five years after the advent of the "Iran-Contra affair," the two comprehensive "Memoranda on Criminal Liability of Former President Reagan and of President Bush" provide a roadmap of historical, though not legal, culpability of the nation's two top elected officials during the scandal from the perspective of a senior attorney in the Office of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh. The documents were obtained pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the National Security Archive for the files compiled during Walsh's six-year investigation from 1987-1993."

November 24, 2011

EC - Anti-money laundering supervision of and reporting by payment institutions in various cross-border situations

Commission Staff Working Paper - Anti-money laundering supervision of and reporting by payment institutions in various cross-border situations, October 7, 2011

"The purpose of this working document is to provide guidance to EU supervisors and private stakeholders as regards the interaction of the Payment Services Directive (2007/64/EC, hereafter "the PSD") and the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2005/60/EC, hereafter "the AMLD") with respect to the supervision of payment institutions and their reporting obligations under the AMLD in various cross-border situations."

November 23, 2011

Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry

Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, presented in Manama, Bahrain, on 23 November 2011 [501 pages, PDF].."The Commission‘s mandate...is to report on the events in question on the basis of international human rights norms..occurring in Bahrain in February/March 2011, and any subsequent consequences arising out of the aforementioned events, and to make such recommendations as it may deem appropriate."

"...The Kingdom of Bahrain is an archipelago consisting of 33 islands, five of which are inhabited. The largest of these islands are Bahrain, Muharraq, Umm an Nasan and Sitra. Bahrain is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with a total landmass of 760 square kilometres. The legal system of Bahrain is based on a hybrid of Islamic law; Egyptian civil, criminal and commercial codes; local traditional customs; and principles drawn from British common law. The court system of Bahrain includes Civil Courts, Islamic Courts and Military Courts.

New York Times: Torture Used on Protesters in Bahrain, Report Says

November 22, 2011

FindLaw Legal Pulse is launched - aggregates topical news and social media

News release: "FindLaw.com is introducing FindLaw Legal Pulse, a new content area that offers continuously updated legal headlines from around the world, along with news, photo feeds and analysis from such sources as Reuters, the Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post. The content covers a broad range of law-related topics -- everything from Supreme Court decisions to legislative updates, everyday legal issues and even sports and celebrity news. FindLaw Legal Pulse offers tangible user benefits -- the news is up-to-date, comes from a rich variety of sources, and is tailored to audiences with legal interests."

November 19, 2011

The growing impact of full disk encryption on digital forensics

The growing impact of full disk encryption on digital forensics - Eoghan Caseya, Geoff Fellowsb, Matthew Geigerc, Gerasimos Stellatosd

"The increasing use of full disk encryption (FDE) can significantly hamper digital investigations, potentially preventing access to all digital evidence in a case. The practice of shutting down an evidential computer is not an acceptable technique when dealing with FDE or even volume encryption because it may result in all data on the device being rendered inaccessible for forensic examination. To address this challenge, there is a pressing need for more effective on-scene capabilities to detect and preserve encryption prior to pulling the plug. In addition, to give digital investigators the best chance of obtaining decrypted data in the field, prosecutors need to prepare search warrants with FDE in mind. This paper describes how FDE has hampered past investigations, and how circumventing FDE has benefited certain cases. This paper goes on to provide guidance for gathering items at the crime scene that may be useful for accessing encrypted data, and for performing on-scene forensic acquisitions of live computer systems. These measures increase the chances of acquiring digital evidence in an unencrypted state or capturing an encryption key or passphrase. Some implications for drafting and executing search warrants to dealing with FDE are discussed."

November 16, 2011

EEOC Intake, Relief Obtained and Charges Resolved Hit Record Highs in 2011

News release: "The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finished fiscal year 2011 with a ten percent decrease in its pending charge inventory—the first such reduction since 2002, achieved the highest ever monetary amounts through administrative enforcement, and received a record number of charges of discrimination, the agency reported in its annual Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) filed today. The EEOC received a record 99,947 charges of discrimination in fiscal year 2011, which ended Sept. 30, the highest number of charges in the agency’s 46-year history. EEOC staff also delivered historic relief through administrative enforcement—more than $364.6 million in monetary benefits for victims of workplace discrimination. This is also the highest level obtained in the Commission’s history. The fiscal year ended with 78,136 pending charges—a decrease of 8,202 charges, or ten percent. In previous years, the pending inventory had increased as staffing declined 30 percent between fiscal years 2000 and 2008."

Performance and Accountability Report FY 2011

Sunlight Foundation Update: Digitizing Legislative Documents

A Year Later, Little Progress on Digitizing Legislative Documents, Daniel Schuman: "A year ago today, Congress' Joint Committee on Printing directed that three sets of vital legislative and legal documents be published online "as quickly as possible." We've reviewed how well that order was implemented, and the results are not encouraging. Of the three documents, there's only apparent progress on one. The vital documents are the Constitution Annotated, the Congressional Record, and the Statutes at Large. The Government Printing Office is responsible for publishing them, and shares that responsibility to a certain extent with the Library of Congress and its subsidiary agencies, the Congressional Research Service and the Law Library of Congress. These agencies are custodians of America's heritage, and have an important obligation to make it available to every citizen. Here's how they've performed..."

November 15, 2011

TRAC: Criminal Prosecutions for Financial Institution Fraud Continue to Fall

"Federal criminal prosecutions for financial institution fraud have continued their downward slide despite the financial troubles reported in this sector. TRAC's analysis of timely Justice Department data show that during the first eleven months of FY 2011 the government reported 1,251 new prosecutions were filed. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 1,365 for this fiscal year, down 28.6 percent from their numbers of just five years ago and less than half the level prevalent a decade ago."

ABA Directory for Disability Rights

ABA Directory for Disability Rights: "This first of its kind directory helps lawyers find information regarding disability rights and disability law from state and local associations across the U.S."

November 14, 2011

Commentary - Scholars' Briefs and the Vocation of a Law Professor

Scholars’ Briefs and the Vocation of a Law Professor, by Richard H. Fallon, Jr.

"At least within the loosely defined domain of public law, any law professor who does not get asked to sign a "scholars' briefs" is not much of a scholar. Scholars= briefs, in which collections of professors appear as amici curiae to support a party in litigation before a court, appear to grow more common each year. During the 2010 Term, in which the Supreme Court decided 85 cases, it received 56 briefs on behalf of groups of self-identified legal scholars or law professors, with at least one such brief being filed in 30 cases, or more than a third of the total..The subject of scholars’ briefs, and the standards that law professors ought to apply in determining whether to sign them, has received almost no attention in the literature. Yet the topic is an important one. Besides forming an increasingly significant component of many law professors’ professional lives, scholars’ briefs open a window onto broader questions about law professors’ professional roles. We are long past the day, if there ever was one, when most law professors thought their sole professional contributions should come through traditional scholarship and teaching. Modern law professors familiarly participate in law reform initiatives, take on paid and unpaid client representation, and write regularly for non-scholarly audiences. Indeed, many law schools now boast in their alumni magazines and on their websites whenever their faculty publish op-ed articles, appear on radio or television programs, or even post comments on blogs."

Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance, 2011

Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance, 2011: "This updated edition of the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance reflects current statutory provisions, recognizes the technological and legal changes that have taken place since the previous Guidelines were promulgated, and incorporates best practices that will benefit victims and enhance investigations and prosecutions."

November 13, 2011

Northwest Government Information Network - How to use the newly revamped American Factfinder 2

"Northwest Government Information Network Handouts: Fall 2011, updated November 3, 2011. Fall 2011 featured Linda Clark, Seattle Regional Office, U.S. Census Bureau as our main speaker. She came to provide us with some training on how to use the newly revamped American Factfinder 2. Below are the handouts she used for her presentation.

November 12, 2011

Commentary - The WikiLeaks-Fueled Erosion of Civil Liberties Has Begun

Atlantic Wire - Adam Clark Estes: "When a federal judge ruled that Twitter must reveal the private data of three WikiLeaks associates on Thursday, privacy advocates died a little inside. The two organizations that had defended the three users, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundations (EFF), immediately filed mournful blog posts that respectively raised doubts about the United States government's secretive handling of the case and highlighted grave message the ruling sends about the future of privacy on the internet. But Wall Street Journal reporter Jennifer Valentine-DeVries sums up the implications of the case best with a leading question: "Should the government be able to collect information related to your Internet use without a warrant?" We now know that the federal court's answer is, "Yes."

November 10, 2011

President Richard Nixon's Watergate grand jury testimony released

"The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has publicly released the transcripts of President Richard Nixon's Watergate grand jury testimony. In collaboration with the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), the collection has been released on FDsys. This collection has been made public as a result of the July 29, 2011 order by Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Royce C. Lamberth that the June 1975 transcript of Nixon's testimony and the "Associated Materials" to that testimony be released to the public following the review of these documents for any information that must be redacted as required by law. It is rare for any grand jury testimony to be made public." These documents are available on three websites as follows:

New GAO Reports: Dodd-Frank Act Regulations, IRS's Financial Audit, Medicaid

Dodd-Frank Act Regulations: Implementation Could Benefit from Additional Analyses and Coordination, GAO-12-151, Nov 10, 2011
Financial Audit: IRS's Fiscal Years 2011 and 2010 Financial Statements, GAO-12-165, Nov 10, 2011
Financial Audit: Office of Financial Stability (Troubled Asset Relief Program) Fiscal Years 2011 and 2010 Financial Statements, GAO-12-169, Nov 10, 2011
Medicaid: Prototype Formula Would Provide Automatic, Targeted Assistance to States during Economic Downturns, GAO-12-38, Nov 10, 2011

November 06, 2011

New Paper: Why parents help their children lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of the COPPA

"The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to share a new paper published in First Monday, Why parents help their children lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of the ‘Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act,’ authored by Berkman community members danah boyd, Eszter Hargittai, Jason Schultz, and John Palfrey.

Abstract from the authors: Facebook, like many communication services and social media sites, uses its Terms of Service (ToS) to forbid children under the age of 13 from creating an account. Such prohibitions are not uncommon in response to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which seeks to empower parents by requiring commercial Web site operators to obtain parental consent before collecting data from children under 13. Given economic costs, social concerns, and technical issues, most general–purpose sites opt to restrict underage access through their ToS. Yet in spite of such restrictions, research suggests that millions of underage users circumvent this rule and sign up for accounts on Facebook. Given strong evidence of parental concern about children’s online activity, this raises questions of whether or not parents understand ToS restrictions for children, how they view children’s practices of circumventing age restrictions, and how they feel about children’s access being regulated. In this paper, we provide survey data that show that many parents know that their underage children are on Facebook in violation of the site’s restrictions and that they are often complicit in helping their children join the site. Our data suggest that, by creating a context in which companies choose to restrict access to children, COPPA inadvertently undermines parents’ ability to make choices and protect their children’s data. Our data have significant implications for policy–makers, particularly in light of ongoing discussions surrounding COPPA and other age–based privacy laws."

Report to Congress: Mandatory Minimum Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System

Follow up to previous postings on sentencing guidelines, see the following

Report to Congress: Mandatory Minimum Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System, October 2011: "This report assesses the impact of mandatory minimum penalties on federal sentencing, particularly in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Booker v. United States, which rendered the federal sentencing guidelines advisory. The United States Sentencing Commission prepared this report pursuant to a congressional directive contained in section 4713 of the Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, Pub L. No. 111–84, and the Commission's general authority under 28 U.S.C. §§ 994–995, as well as its specific authority under 28 U.S.C. § 995(a)(20) to "make recommendations to Congress concerning modification or enactment of statutes relating to sentencing, penal, and correctional matters that the Commission finds to be necessary and advisable to carry out an effective, humane, and rational sentencing policy."

'Thinking' in a Deweyan Perspective: The Law School Exam as a Case Study for Thinking in Lawyering

'Thinking' in a Deweyan Perspective: The Law School Exam as a Case Study for Thinking in Lawyering, Donald J. Kochan, Chapman University School of Law, November 4, 2011, Nevada Law Journal, Forthcoming

"As creatures of thought, we are thinking all the time, but that does not necessarily mean that we are thinking well. Answering the law school exam, like solving any problem, requires that the student exercise thinking in an effective and productive manner. This Article provides some guidance in that pursuit. Using John Dewey’s suspended conclusion concept for effective thinking as an organizing theme, this Article presents one basic set of lessons for thinking through issues that arise regarding the approach to a law school exam. This means that the lessons contained here help exercise thought while taking the exam—to think through the exam approach. The second, more subtle, purpose is to demonstrate that the law school exam can serve as a case study in the effectiveness of certain thinking tools that have much broader application. For that reason, this Article is not your typical “how-to” guide, but instead provides guidance critically and generally applicable to the thinking enterprise itself."

2011 Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual Now Online

Follow up to previous postings on sentencing guidelines, the 2011 Guidelines Manual (effective November 1, 2011) is available in HTML and Adobe PDF formats (large file and broken into chapters), which can be viewed, downloaded or printed via the website. Individual Chapters 1-8 and Guidelines in HTML or PDF Format

November 03, 2011

September 2011 Sees SSA Disability Backlog Climb Ever Higher

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: "Despite the Social Security Administration's longstanding goal of reducing the number of pending disability cases, very recent SSA data show that these matters continue to head in the opposite direction, reaching 771,318 by the end of September. The increase -- up 9.3% from what it was a year ago -- marked the fifth straight quarter that the number of these cases has increased. These disturbing trends regarding SSA's faltering efforts, noted by TRAC in two previous reports, thus appear to be continuing. In testimony to Congress on July 11, Commissioner Michael J. Astrue reemphasized that "[e]liminating our hearings backlog and preventing its recurrence remains our number one priority." Since these new cases are only beginning to reach the decision stage, it is too early to determine their ultimate impact on decision times. But nationally, average processing times rose for the first time for cases disposed of during September. In addition, almost half (46 percent) of all hearing offices saw their average hearing times increase as compared with the previous month, and nearly one in four have had rising processing times for at least a year. More details on pending SSA disability cases and processing times nationally and for each region and hearing office can be found in the TRAC report and accompanying free user app are here."

SEC IG Allegations of Enforcement Staff Misconduct in InsiderTrading Investigation

Report of Investigation, United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Inspector General. Case No. OIG-511. Allegations of Enforcement Staff Misconduct in Insider Trading Investigation, August 22, 2011 [Redacted]

"On January 30, 2009, complainant Mark Cuban, through his counsel at the law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") Office of Inspector General ("OIG"), outlining various allegations of misconduct by the SEC Division of Enforcement ("Enforcement") staff. Mr. Cuban, a well-known entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, alleged Enforcement staff engaged in misconduct in the course of its investigation of Mr. Cuban for insider trading in connection with the sale of all of his Mamma.com stock before the company publicly announced a private investment in public equity ("PIPE") transaction in June 2004...In all, the OIG concluded that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate Mr. Cuban's claims that the SEC Enforcement staff engaged in misconduct in conducting their investigation into Mr. Cuban's sale of his Mamma.com stock shares. Specifically, the OIG investigation found that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the claim that Enforcement improperly provided Mr. Cuban with a "Wells" notice before the
investigation was substantially complete. The OIG investigation also did not find sufficient evidence to substantiate Mr. Cuban's claim that an earlier investigation into Mamma.com was closed as a quid pro quo for the investigation relating to Mr. Cuban."

SIGTARP Quarterly Report to Congress October 27, 2011

Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Quarterly Report to Congress October 27, 2011

"This past quarter, SIGTARP brought transparency to some of the largest banks’ exit from TARP as they pressured Federal banking regulators to expedite their TARP exit because of concerns over executive compensation restrictions and a stigma associated with TARP participation. In stark contrast, approximately 400 smaller community banks remain in TARP and SIGTARP made recommendations that Treasury, in consultation with Federal banking regulators, develop a clear TARP exit path for community banks. SIGTARP also published an audit questioning $8.1 million in legal fees Treasury paid to law firms whose bills included block billing, either no or vague descriptions of work performed, unsupported expenses, and administrative charges not allowed under the contract. SIGTARP also made four new recommendations to improve servicer performance in TARP’s housing programs." See also:

Exiting TARP: Repayments by the Largest Financial Institutions, September 29, 2011
September 28, 2011 - Legal Fees Paid Under the Troubled Asset Relief Program: An Expanded Report
Related postings on financial system

November 02, 2011

New on LLRX.com - The Digital Death of Copyright's First Sale Doctrine

via LLRX.com - The Digital Death of Copyright's First Sale Doctrine: An important copyright case won't be argued in the Supreme Court, which on October 3, 2011 declined to review Vernor v. Autodesk, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving the applicability of copyright's first sale doctrine to transactions involving software and other digital information goods. Law professor Annmarie Bridy discusses the wide reaching impact of the first sale doctrine, without which there would be no free market for used books, CDs, or DVDs, because the copyright owner's right of distribution would reach beyond the first sale, all the way down the stream of commerce.

New York Law School Law Review's 2010-2011 Law Review Diversity Report

"In 2011, the New York Law School Law Review launched its Law Review Diversity research project examining gender and minority diversity among law review membership and leadership at ABA law schools nationwide. This research builds upon the 2010 survey conducted by Ms. JD, an organization dedicated to the success of women in law school and the legal profession. In its 2010-2011 Law Review Diversity Report NYLS found, based on self-reported data collected from law reviews in two samples, that law reviews at schools having a high percentage of female full-time faculty and at law schools having a high percentage of minority full-time faculty on average had significantly greater gender diversity among their 2010-2011 student membership and leadership, as well as a higher rate of female EICs, than law reviews at schools ranked in the Top 50 by U.S. News & World Report, which were surveyed by Ms. JD in 2010. Ms. JD reported in 2010 that the representation of women in editor-in-chief positions at law reviews at schools ranked in the Top 50 by U.S. News was “disproportionately low” as compared to those law reviews’ female membership. In each of the three measures used in Ms. JD’s 2010 survey (i.e., rates of female law review membership and leadership, and gender of the EIC), law reviews in the two NYLS samples significantly outperformed those in the Top 50 sample."

October 31, 2011

New on LLRX - FOIA Facts: DOJ FOIA Regulations

LLRX.com - FOIA Facts: DOJ FOIA Regulations - Scott A. Hodes addresses the proposed new Department of Justice ("DOJ") FOIA regulations which call for DOJ components to "respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist." This response should not differ in wording from any other response given by the component" when applying an exclusion to the FOIA. The purpose of this article is to clear up some of the confusion around FOIA exclusions and these proposed regulations. He is giving no opinion on whether or not the proposed regulations should be adopted.

Paper shares some information addressing questions of judges' personal use of social networks

Judicial Ethics and Social Networking Sites: "Michael Crowell
UNC School of Government, September 2011 (Revised)

"One of the significant developments in communication in the last few years is the astounding growth of social networking websites. Increasing numbers of people join Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or other on-line social networks as a means to notify others of news in their lives, to learn what their friends and relatives and acquaintances are doing, and to generally stay in touch with other people with whom they have something in common. Businesses, organizations and government agencies use social networks to communicate information about their products and services and get limited feedback. For individuals, and for some kinds of organizations, the appeal of such sites is the opportunity for ongoing back-and-forth communication among large groups of people. Typically a social network allows someone to post a profile and photographs, videos, music, etc., and invite others to become “friends” or “fans.” Some information may be shared with the whole world; other parts may be restricted to a select, small group. For some time now state bar regulatory agencies have been addressing the effect of electronic communication on traditional ethical rules for lawyers ― the extent to which law firm websites constitute advertising, whether e-mail inquiries establish an attorney/client relationship, and so on. Likewise, judges hearing cases have faced new legal issues involving electronic discovery and searches of computers. Judges are becoming familiar, too, with problems of jurors communicating with the outside world and conducting their own research via their Blackberries, smart phones and other devices. Compared to the information available on those other electronic communication issues, there is relatively little reference material for judges concerning their own social networking and the Code of Judicial Conduct. The purpose of this paper is to share some information addressing questions of judges’ personal use of social networks. I welcome any additional material anyone knows about."

October 30, 2011

Privacy and Security in the Implementation of Health Information Technology: U.S. and EU Compared

Privacy and Security in the Implementation of Health Information Technology (Electronic Health Records): U.S. and EU Compared, B.U. J. SCI. & TECH. L., Vol. 17, Winter 2011.

"The importance of the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and the associated cost savings cannot be ignored as an element in the changing delivery of health care. However, the potential cost savings predicted in the use of EHR are accompanied by potential risks, either technical or legal, to privacy and security. The U.S. legal framework for healthcare privacy is a combination of constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law at the federal and state levels. In contrast, it is generally believed that EU protection of privacy, including personally identifiable medical information, is more comprehensive than that of U.S. privacy laws. Direct comparisons of U.S. and EU medical privacy laws can be made with reference to the five Fair Information Practices Principles (FIPs) adopted by the Federal Trade Commission and other international bodies. The analysis reveals that while the federal response to the privacy of health records in the U.S. seems to be a gain over conflicting state law, in contrast to EU law, U.S. patients currently have little choice in the electronic recording of sensitive medical information if they want to be treated, and minimal control over the sharing of that information. A combination of technical and legal improvements in EHRs could make the loss of privacy associated with EHRs de minimis. The EU has come closer to this position, encouraging the adoption of EHRs and confirming the application of privacy protections at the same time. It can be argued that the EU is proactive in its approach; whereas because of a different viewpoint toward an individual’s right to privacy, the U.S. system lacks a strong framework for healthcare privacy, which will affect the implementation of EHRs. If the U.S. is going to implement EHRs effectively, technical and policy aspects of privacy must be central to the discussion."

October 27, 2011

New on LLRX.com: Law Periodical Publishing Practices and Trends

Law Periodical Publishing Practices and Trends - Law librarian, criminal defense attorney and prolific author Ken Strutin brings into focus how electronic access to scholarly information is impacting library collection policies as well as professional publication formats, and as a result, how a new legal research environment is developing. Ken's article provides a selected collection of resources about the law review publishing process, emerging trends in the information cycle, and practical guides for developing an article and getting it to press.

October 26, 2011

EFF Sues for Answers About PATRIOT Act on Law's 10th Anniversary

News release: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) today for answers about "secret interpretations" of the USA PATRIOT Act, signed into law ten years ago today. Several senators have warned that the DOJ is using Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act to support what government attorneys call a "sensitive collection program" that may be targeting large numbers of Americans. Section 215 allows for secret court orders to obtain "tangible things" when the FBI certifies they are relevant to a government investigation. The list of possible "tangible things" the government can obtain is seemingly limitless, and could include everything from driver's license records to Internet browsing patterns. Section 215 also limits the court's discretion to deny the order and prevents the recipient of an order from disclosing its existence."

Google's Transparency Reporting - government entities requests for removal of content

Google Transparency Report - Government Requests: "Like other technology and communications companies, Google regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services and hand over user data. Our Government Requests tool discloses the number of requests we receive from each government in six-month reporting periods with certain limitations. Governments ask companies to remove content for many different reasons. For example, some content removals are requested due to allegations of defamation, while others are due to allegations that the content violates local laws prohibiting hate speech or pornography. Laws surrounding these issues vary by country, and the requests reflect the legal context of a given jurisdiction. We hope this tool will be helpful in discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests. These observations on content removal requests highlight some trends that we've seen in the data during each reporting period, and are by no means exhaustive."

October 24, 2011

TRAC: Decline in Federal Prosecutions from ATF-Led Investigations

Jeff Lamicela/TRAC: "During the first ten months of FY 2011, federal prosecutions credited to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have fallen almost 7 percent from the previous fiscal year. This continues a downward slide that began six years ago, according to TRAC's analysis of timely Justice Department data. So far this fiscal year, the number of ATF-led investigations that resulted in prosecution have totaled 7,282. If the same pace continues for the remaining two months, criminal filings should reach 8,738. This is 18 percent fewer than the peak in FY 2005 of 10,715 ATF prosecutions during the Bush Administration.For the complete report go here. In addition to the ATF, TRAC continues to offer free reports on the enforcement activities of selected government agencies such as DHS, the FBI and the IRS. In addition, TRAC's reports cover program categories such as immigration, drugs, weapons, white collar crime, terrorism and civil rights. For the latest information on prosecutions and convictions through the first ten months of fiscal year 2011, go here.

FTC Gives Final Approval to Settlement with Google over Buzz Rollout

News release: "Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has accepted as final a settlement with Google, and authorized the staff to provide responses to the commenters of record. The settlement resolves charges that Google used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched its social network, Google Buzz, in 2010. The agency alleged that the practices violate the FTC Act. The settlement bars the company from future privacy misrepresentations, requires it to implement a comprehensive privacy program, and calls for regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. The Commission vote approving the final settlement was 4-0.

In the Matter of Google Inc., a corporation, FTC File No. 102 3136

World Bank Report - How the Corrupt Use Legal Structures to Hide Stolen Assets and What to Do About It

The Puppet Masters -How the Corrupt Use Legal Structures to Hide Stolen Assets and What to Do About It. Emile van der Does de Willebois, Emily M. Halter, Robert A. Harrison, Ji Won Park. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank

"Corruption is estimated to be at least a $40 billion dollar a year business. Every day, funds destined for schools, healthcare, and infrastructure in the world’s most fragile economies are siphoned off and stashed away in the world’s financial centers and tax havens. Corruption, like a disease, is eating away at the foundation of people’s faith in government. It undermines the stability and security of nations. So it is a development challenge in more ways than one: it directly affects development assistance, but it also undermines the preconditions for growth and equity. We need mobilization at the highest level so that corruption is tackled effectively. This report deals with the corporate and financial structures that form the building blocks of hidden money trails. In particular, it focuses on the ease with which corrupt actors hide their interests behind a corporate veil and the difficulties investigators face in trying to lift that veil. It serves as a powerful reminder that recovering the proceeds of corruption is a collective responsibility that involves both the public and private sector. Law enforcement and prosecution cannot go after stolen assets, confiscate and then return them if they are hidden behind the corporate veil. All financial centers and developed countries have committed, through the UN Convention against Corruption and international anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism standards, to improving the transparency of legal entities and other arrangements. This StAR report provides evidence of how far we still have to go to make these commitments a reality. Narrowing the gap between stated commitments and practice on the ground has a direct impact on actual recovery of assets."

October 23, 2011

The Costs of Reproduction: History and the Legal Construction of Sex Equality

The Costs of Reproduction: History and the Legal Construction of Sex Equality, Deborah Dinner, Washington University in Saint Louis - School of Law. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (CR-CL), Vol. 46, 2011

"Today, legal and political actors argue that sex equality does not require society to share the costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing with individual women and private families. Courts interpret the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (“PDA”), amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to prohibit only market-irrational discriminatory animus. Political pundits oppose paid parental-leave legislation as a mandate that unfairly subsidizes private reproductive choice by shifting its costs onto the larger public. This Article uses novel historical research to deconstruct the boundaries between cost sharing and sex equality. I recover the redistributive dimensions of the vision for sex equality that legal feminists articulated from the 1960s through the 1980s. Legal feminists’ challenge to the family-wage system entailed efforts to redistribute the costs of reproduction between women and men within the home and between the family and society. The history of feminist mobilization, anti-feminist counter-mobilization, and norm evolution in law and policy, illustrates the overlap in the normative purpose and cost effects of antidiscrimination and cost-sharing mandates. To realize women’s right to social and economic independence, feminists pursued classic antidiscrimination mandates, the accommodation of pregnancy in the workplace, and affirmative social-welfare entitlements related to caregiving. All of these reforms, moreover, shifted the costs of reproduction from individual women to the larger society. The history related in this Article holds significant implications for contemporary legal and political debates. The history suggests that courts adopt an artificially narrow perspective when they interpret the PDA to fall short of requiring structural change in the workplace. It also suggests that Congress might build upon an evolving commitment to cost sharing as a critical component of sex equality by augmenting the entitlements created by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”)."

October 21, 2011

TRAC: New Tools For Tracking ICE Prosecutorial Discretion

Jeff Lamicela: "TRAC has launched a bundle of new report series, with accompanying data tools and regular updates, which allow the public to monitor Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the Immigration Courts, as spelled out in Director John Morton's June 17, 2011 memorandum. TRAC's new tools allow tracking by charge, nationality, and location (state, court or specific hearing location). The most recent data, current through July 2011, show that there has not as yet been any meaningful upturn in cases where the person charged has been allowed to remain in this country. Indeed, during the three most recent quarters, the proportion of individuals allowed to remain in the country is now below 30 per cent, down from levels in 2010. However, Immigration Courts varied widely in the proportion of cases in which deportation orders were granted -- from a low of 28.8 percent in the New York City Immigration Court, up to 98.8 percent in the Lumpkin, Georgia Immigration Court. Among nationalities, cases resulting in deportation orders ranged from highs of 86.8 percent for individuals from Mexico and 84.4 percent for those from Honduras, down to 13.1 for individuals from Eritrea and 20.7 percent for those from Ethiopia.

TRAC's latest report can be viewed here
For the accompanying data tools which allow tracking by charge, nationality, and specific location, go to: Deportation Proceedings, Deportation Outcomes
TRAC is also releasing today an updated report on Immigration Court processing times which continue to increase, and are now 30 percent longer than average dispositions times during FY 2009. Accompanying data apps have been expanded to allow tracking disposition times both by type of outcome, and by original charge: by Type of Outcome and by Charge."

October 18, 2011

Report - The Delay Game: How the Chemical Industry Ducks Regulation of the Most Toxic Substances

News release: "By exploiting loopholes in the law, the chemical industry for decades has systematically subverted Environmental Protection Agency efforts to protect public health, a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council found. As a result, the industry has made enormous profits while delaying restrictions on unsafe chemicals, largely by ginning up scientific uncertainties, according to the NRDC study, released today. "These industry tactics have prolonged the exposure of millions of people to toxic chemicals such as TCE, formaldehyde and styrene, which can cause serious harm," said Jennifer Sass, senior scientist with NRDC's Health Program. Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is a solvent used for metal degreasing; formaldehyde is a cancer-causing agent used to manufacture plywood, particle boards and glues; and styrene is a toxic substance found in plastics, latex paint, synthetic rubbers and polyesters....The NRDC report, The Delay Game: How the Chemical Industry Ducks Regulation of the Most Toxic Substances, is a case-study of how the chemical industry has stymied government action that would protect the public from exposure to TCE, formaldehyde and styrene. The study highlights the need to update the 35-year old Toxic Substances Control Act, so that the EPA can test, assess and regulate chemicals in a timely manner in order to protect public health. Because the law has never been updated, the public has been exposed to thousands of chemicals in consumer products that have never been tested for safety by EPA."

CFPB releases the CFPB Supervision and Examination Manual

Peggy Twohig and Steve Antonakes: "...the CFPB released the CFPB Supervision and Examination Manual, the guide for our examiners to use in overseeing companies that provide consumer financial products and services. Federal government regulators usually have manuals for their examiners. Our manual provides our examiners with direction on how to determine if providers of consumer financial products and services are complying with consumer protection laws – and how to determine if the providers have adequate policies and procedures in place to comply with those laws. For example, it incorporates examination procedures long used by other federal regulators to check for compliance with laws like the Truth in Lending Act. The manual also helps ensure that we are applying the law consistently across everyone that we supervise."

EFF Posts Cell Phone Guide for Protestors

"Protesters of all political persuasions are increasingly documenting their protests -- and encounters with the police -- using electronic devices like cameras and cell phones. The following tips apply to protesters in the United States who are concerned about protecting their electronic devices when questioned, detained, or arrested by police. These are general guidelines; individuals with specific concerns should talk to an attorney."

October 16, 2011

US and EU Antitrust Agencies Issue Revised Best Practices for Coordinating Merger Reviews

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, and the European Commission today issued an updated set of “best practices” that they use to coordinate their merger reviews. The agencies also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the United States-European Union bilateral antitrust agreement...The agencies reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation and coordination in order to benefit consumers and business."

October 13, 2011

Conflict-Specialists-As-Leaders: Revisiting the Role of the Conflict Specialist from a Leadership Perspective

Kuttner, Ran, Conflict-Specialists-As-Leaders: Revisiting the Role of the Conflict Specialist from a Leadership Perspective (September 9, 2011). Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 2011.

"The aim of this article is to explore the cross fertilization between the emerging fields of ADR and Leadership. The first section will explore similarities in themes and characteristics of both disciplines that are influenced by the zeitgeist. The second section will argue that the parallels between the disciplines challenge and call for further exploration of the conflict specialist’s role. The third section will offer a reading into skills emphasized in leadership scholarship not commonly stressed in ADR trainings, examining how conflict specialists can ameliorate their practice by incorporating a leadership mindset and additional relevant skills into their work."

October 12, 2011

United States Courts Opinions - BETA via FDsys

United States Courts Opinions - BETA

United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a pilot project between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. The content of this collection dates back to April 2004, though searchable electronic holdings for some courts may be incomplete for this earlier time period. Once an opinion is located, all associated opinions within the same case can be accessed from the opinion About United States Courts Opinions. + Appellate + District + Bankruptcy

October 11, 2011

Federal Reserve Board seeks comment on proposal to implement "Volcker Rule" requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act

News release: "The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday requested public comment on a proposed regulation implementing the so-called "Volcker Rule" requirements of section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Section 619 generally contains two prohibitions. First, it prohibits insured depository institutions, bank holding companies, and their subsidiaries or affiliates (banking entities) from engaging in short-term proprietary trading of any security, derivative, and certain other financial instruments for a banking entity's own account, subject to certain exemptions. Second, it prohibits owning, sponsoring, or having certain relationships with, a hedge fund or private equity fund, subject to certain exemptions. The act also prohibits banking entities from engaging in an exempted transaction or activity if it would involve or result in a material conflict of interest between the banking entity and its clients, customers, or counterparties, or that would result in a material exposure to high-risk assets or trading strategies, in each case as defined by the rule. The act similarly prohibits banking entities from engaging in an exempted transaction or activity if it would pose a threat to the safety and soundness of the banking entity or to the financial stability of the United States. The proposal, which was developed jointly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, clarifies the scope of the act's prohibitions and, consistent with statutory authority, provides certain exemptions to these prohibitions. It is anticipated these agencies will issue a comparable proposal today or in the near future."

October 10, 2011

The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls

The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls, Bessen, James E., Meurer, Michael J. and Ford, Jennifer Laurissa, (September 19, 2011). Boston Univ. School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper No. 11-45.

"In the past, non-practicing entities (NPEs) - firms that license patents without producing goods - have facilitated technology markets and increased rents for small inventors. Is this also true for today’s NPEs? Or are they “patent trolls” who opportunistically litigate over software patents with unpredictable boundaries? Using stock market event studies around patent lawsuit filings, we find that NPE lawsuits are associated with half a trillion dollars of lost wealth to defendants from 1990 through 2010, mostly from technology companies. Moreover, very little of this loss represents a transfer to small inventors. Instead, it implies reduced innovation incentives."

October 09, 2011

UN Report:Treatment of Conflict Related Detainees in Afghan Custody

Treatment of Conflict Related Detainees in Afghan Custody - United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan [UNAMA], UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. October 2011 Kabul, Afghanistan

UNAMA press release: Mistreatment of Conflict-Related Security Detainees in National Directorate of Security and Afghan National Police Facilities: "UNAMA today released a report that documents the torture and mistreatment of detainees in a number of detention facilities of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Afghan National Police (ANP) across the country. UNAMA is committed to assisting the Afghan Government and people attain the highest standards of human rights and its detention observation programme is a crucial aspect of this work. UNAMA’s report, the result of extensive interviews from October 2010 to August 2011 of 379 detainees at 47 facilities in 22 provinces, and of thorough analysis that concluded in September 2011, found the use of interrogation techniques that constitute torture under international law and crimes under Afghan law, as well as other forms of mistreatment. The report includes recommendations to the National Directorate of Security, the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the Government of Afghanistan, Afghan judicial institutions and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)."

A Citizen's Guide to Reporting on #OccupyWallStreet

Citizen Media Law Project - A Citizen's Guide to Reporting on #OccupyWallStreet: "We at the Citizen Media Law Project have taken great interest in the ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" protest in New York. Much of what we know about the protest has come from independent reporters and citizen journalists covering the story from the ground. Knowing this, we are alarmed to hear reports of police arresting reporters during the protest. This, of course, could greatly discourage press coverage of this story. In order to encourage citizen reporting from the ground in New York, and to dispel the uncertainties as to the rights of those covering the protest, we have created this special question-and-answer guide regarding covering the protest in New York as a special addendum to our CMLP Legal Guide. For more general information, you can also refer to our guide's section on New York law. Note: This guide specifically addresses the law as it pertains to New York City and the protests currently occurring in Zuccotti Park. The information provided below will not apply with respect to the other #occupy protests throughout the country. While we tried our best to present the law as it generally applies in New York, specific facts and circumstances often alter outcomes in specific cases. Also, this post provides the law as it exists in October of 2011. We do not intend to update this post as the law changes, so if you find yourself returning to this at a later time please note that the law may have changed."

New York Times editorial, Protesters Against Wall Street, October 8, 2011: "...income inequality is grinding down that middle class, increasing the ranks of the poor, and threatening to create a permanent underclass of able, willing but jobless people. On one level, the protesters, most of them young, are giving voice to a generation of lost opportunity. The jobless rate for college graduates under age 25 has averaged 9.6 percent over the past year; for young high school graduates, the average is 21.6 percent. Those figures do not reflect graduates who are working but in low-paying jobs that do not even require diplomas. Such poor prospects in the early years of a career portend a lifetime of diminished prospects and lower earnings — the very definition of downward mobility."

Related postings on financial system

October 07, 2011

The Song of the Sirens: Google Book's Project and Copyright in a Digital Age

The Song of the Sirens: Google Book's Project and Copyright in a Digital Age, Clarice Castro and Ruy De Queiroz, September 1, 2011

"Numerous scholars have highlighted the extraordinary book-scanning project created by Google in 2004. The project aims to create a digital full text search index which would provide people with online access to books and assist research. A few months after the original idea started being implemented, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers-AAP filed a class-action lawsuit, claiming that Google Book’s Project violated copyright law in the United States. The main contention was that the books which were not under public domain could not have been scanned without permission and compensation for authors and publishers. Google’s Book Project radically changed its character from the time of its birth until the negotiation of an Amended Settlement Agreement - ASA with the plaintiffs. It has raised serious controversies not only regarding different aspects of the future of the Internet but also over the issue of privatization of knowledge. Those in favour of the initiative highlight the astonishing accomplishment of Google, allowing us to access books more easily than ever before in human history. However, their claim is as dangerous as the song of the sirens. While at first sight Google tells a tale of extraordinary inclusion, it excludes those who cannot pay to access snippets or limited view of around 80% of the books available. We will also discuss the Amended Settlement Agreement of Google with the Author’s Guild and its failure on March, 2011. Finally, we will explore the concept of “fair use,” or “exceptions and limitation on copyright,” which provides for full access to books to any individual, library or archive as long as they are used for educational or scientific purposes."

October 05, 2011

Reducing Overclassification Through Accountability

Reducing Overclassification Through Accountability Publications, by Elizabeth Goitein and David M. Shapiro, October 5,2011

"The authority to classify documents exists to protect information that could threaten national security if it got into the wrong hands. It is one of the most important tools our government has to keep us safe. But many secrets “protected” by the classification system pose no danger to the nation’s safety. On the contrary, needless classification—“overclassification”—jeopardizes national security. Excessive secrecy prevents federal agencies from sharing information internally, with other agencies, and with state and local law enforcement, making it more difficult to draw connections and anticipate threats. The 9/11 Commission found that the failure to share information contributed to intelligence gaps in the months before the September 11, 2001, attacks, cautioning that “[c]urrent security requirements nurture overclassification and excessive compartmentation of information among agencies. Overclassification also corrodes democratic government. Secret programs stifled public debate on the decisions that shaped our response to the September 11 attacks. Should the military and CIA have used torture to extract information from detainees in secret overseas prisons and at Guantánamo Bay? Should the National Security Agency have eavesdropped on Americans’ telephone calls without warrants? Even leaving aside the legality of these measures, whether to use torture or to forego the use of warrants are questions that, in a democracy, properly belong in the public sphere. Classification forced the nation to rely on leaked information to debate these questions, and to do so well after torture and warrantless surveillance programs were in place...When a member of the public asks an agency to review particular records for declassification (through a process called “mandatory declassification review”), 92 percent of the time the agency determines that at least some of the requested records need not remain classified. But the number of documents reviewed through this process pales in comparison to the universe of documents that, though they may not require classification, remain unreviewed—and thus classified—for many years..A major theme of this report—and a source of frustration to those who have studied the classification system—is the persistent gap between written regulation and actual practice."

Cell Phone and Texting Laws

Governors Highway Safety Administration, Cell Phone Laws and Texting, October 2011 - "This chart outlines all state cell phone and text messaging laws. Some local jurisdictions may have additional regulations. Enforcement type is shown in parenthesis.

Handheld Cell Phones: 9 states, D.C. and the Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving. Except for Maryland, all laws are primary enforcement—an officer may cite a driver for using a handheld cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place.
All Cell Phone Use: No state bans all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers, but many prohibit all cell phone use by certain drivers - Novice Drivers: 30 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice drivers. School Bus Drivers: Bus drivers in 19 states and D.C. may not use a cell phone when passengers are present.
Text Messaging: 34 states, D.C. and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers. 31 states, D.C., and Guam have primary enforcement; the others, secondary. Novice Drivers: An additional 7 states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers. School Bus Drivers: 3 states restrict school bus drivers from texting while driving.
Some states such as Maine, N.H. and Utah treat cell phone use and texting as part of a larger distracted driving issue. In Utah, cellphone use is an offense only if a driver is also committing some other moving violation (other than speeding)."

October 03, 2011

FTC publication, A Business Guide to the FTC's Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule

News release: "As part of the Federal Trade Commission’s systematic review of all of the agency’s rules and guides, the FTC is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to the Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule. The Rule, issued in 1975, requires that marketers who solicit buyers to order merchandise through mail or telephone must have a reasonable basis to expect that they can ship ordered merchandise within the time frame they advertise, or, if no time frame is specified, within 30 days. The Rule also requires that, when a seller cannot ship within the promised time, the seller must obtain the buyer’s consent to a delay in shipping or refund payment for the unshipped merchandise. In 2007, the FTC sought public comment on how the Rule could be amended to address changes in technology and commercial practices. Based on a review of comments received, the FTC has concluded that the Rule continues to benefit consumers and will be retained."

"An FTC publication, A Business Guide to the FTC's Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, offers information about the Rule and how to comply. The Commission also published a notice announcing some technical amendments to alphabetize the definitions and move them to the beginning of the Rule."

Audit Report - FHFA's Oversight of Fannie Mae's Default-Related Legal Services

FHFA’s Oversight of Fannie Mae’s Default-Related Legal Services. Audit Report AUD-2011-004, Dated: September 30, 2011

"FHFA recognized the importance of its oversight of the Enterprises' default-related legal services and gradually accumulated information on the attorney network programs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, FHFA did not schedule comprehensive examination coverage of foreclosure issues, including allegations of abuse by RAN law firms until after news stories about alleged abuses surfaced in August 2010. FHFA had not previously considered risks associated with foreclosure processing to be significant. Instead, FHFA focused its examination resources on assessing high risk areas such as the Enterprises’ management of credit risk.

Related postings on financial services

October 02, 2011

ACLU Cell Phone Location Tracking Public Records Request

News release: "In a massive coordinated information-seeking campaign, 35 ACLU affiliates are filing over 381 requests in 32 states across the country with local law enforcement agencies large and small that seek to uncover when, why and how they are using cell phone location data to track Americans. The requests seek information from local law enforcement agencies, including:

whether law enforcement agents demonstrate probable cause and obtain a warrant to access cell phone location data;
statistics on how frequently law enforcement agencies obtain cell phone location data;
how much money law enforcement agencies spend tracking cell phones and
other policies and procedures used for acquiring location data.

(Re)Forming the Jury: Detection and Disinfection of Implicit Juror Bias

Roberts, Anna, (Re)Forming the Jury: Detection and Disinfection of Implicit Juror Bias (September 29, 2011). Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 44, 2012.

"This Article investigates whether one of the most intractable problems in trial procedure can be ameliorated through the use of one of the most striking discoveries in social science. The intractable problem is selecting a fair jury. Current doctrine fails to address the fact that jurors harbor not only explicit, or conscious bias, but also implicit, or unconscious, bias. The discovery is the Implicit Association Test (“IAT”), an online test that aims to reveal implicit bias. This Article conducts the first comparison of proposals that the IAT be used to address jury bias. They fall into two groups. The first group would use the IAT to “screen” potential jurors for implicit bias; the second group would use the IAT to educate jurors about implicit bias. These proposals merit deeper consideration. Implicit bias is pervasive, and affects crucial juror functions: evaluation of evidence, recall of facts, and judgments of guilt. Juries are generally told nothing about implicit bias. The judiciary has expressed concern about implicit juror bias, and sought help from the academy in addressing the problem. I provide what the proposals lack: critique and context. I show that using the IAT to screen jurors is misguided. The educational project has merit, however, since implicit bias can be countered through knowledge of its existence and motivation to address it. To refine the project, I identify two vital issues that distinguish the proposals: when jurors should learn about implicit bias, and how they should learn."

October 01, 2011

Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Third Edition

"The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Third Edition assists judges in managing cases involving complex scientific and technical evidence by describing the basic tenets of key scientific fields from which legal evidence is typically derived and by providing examples of cases in which that evidence has been used. First published in 1994 by the Federal Judicial Center, the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence has been relied upon in the legal and academic communities and is often cited by various courts and others. Judges faced with disputes over the admissibility of scientific and technical evidence refer to the manual to help them better understand and evaluate the relevance, reliability and usefulness of the evidence being proffered. The manual is not intended to tell judges what is good science and what is not. Instead, it serves to help judges identify issues on which experts are likely to differ and to guide the inquiry of the court in seeking an informed resolution of the conflict. The core of the manual consists of a series of chapters (reference guides) on various scientific topics, each authored by an expert in that field. The topics have been chosen by an oversight committee because of their complexity and frequency in litigation. Each chapter is intended to provide a general overview of the topic in lay terms, identifying issues that will be useful to judges and others in the legal profession. They are written for a non-technical audience and are not intended as exhaustive presentations of the topic. Rather, the chapters seek to provide judges with the basic information in an area of science, to allow them to have an informed conversation with the experts and attorneys."

September 29, 2011

Slaughter, 19 Colleagues, Call for Investigation into Justice Thomas’s Non-Disclosure

News release: "Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, together with 19 Members of Congress, today sent a letter to the Judicial Conference, requesting that the Conference follow the law and refer the matter of Justice Clarence Thomas's non-compliance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to the Department of Justice. Throughout his entire tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas has checked a box titled "none" on his annual financial disclosure forms, indicating that his wife had received no income, despite the fact that his wife had in fact earned nearly $700,000 from the Heritage Foundation from 2003-2007 alone."

NY Dept of Environmental Conservation: Issues Draft Regulations for High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

News release: "The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today issued its draft regulations for high-volume hydraulic fracturing which are based on the proposed requirements contained in the agency's revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement released earlier this month, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced today...The draft regulations create a legal framework for implementing the proposed mitigation measures in the revised dSGEIS. The public comment period on the draft regulations begins today and runs concurrently with the public comment period on the dSGEIS, which ends Dec. 12. DEC also released the proposed State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) General Permit (GP) for Stormwater Discharges associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing."

the dSGEIS
the proposed State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) General Permit (GP) for Stormwater Discharges along with its fact sheet
and the proposed regulations

FTC Settlement Bans Alleged Spammer from Sending Unsolicited Text Messages

News release: An operator who allegedly sent millions of illegal spam text messages to consumers is banned from sending any unsolicited text messages, under a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission entered by a federal court. According to the FTC complaint filed in February 2011, the marketer sent a “mind-boggling” number of unsolicited commercial text messages pitching mortgage modification services to consumers, and misrepresented that he was affiliated with a government agency. The FTC alleged that many consumers had to pay fees to their mobile carriers to receive the unsolicited text messages. The FTC also alleged that the marketer advertised his text message blasting services by sending consumers illegal spam. The agency charged him with violating the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act."

September 28, 2011

ACLU: How Long Is Your Cell Phone Company Hanging On To Your Data?

News release: "What do you think about when choosing a cell phone provider? Their prices? Their coverage area? Whether they have spiffy, high-tech phones? Whether their phones work overseas or in the subway? What about how long they retain information about you and under what circumstances they turn it over to law enforcement? All of the nation's major mobile carriers are retaining their customers' location data for at least a year, according to a chart the Department of Justice (DOJ) developed in 2010 — and that the ACLU of North Carolina received in response to our public records request about local law enforcement's use of cell phone location information. And location info's not all they hang onto. We gave a copy of this document to Wired.com, which has written about it here."

September 27, 2011

CDT: Neutrality Rules Slated to Take Effect this Fall

News release: "Last week, the FCC published its final Open Internet rules in the Federal Register, which means they will formally go into effect later this fall. The publication caps off a two-year process at the Commission to get the rules in place. While the rules won’t change much in terms of day-to-day use of the Internet, it is good news for consumers and innovators that they will at long last be enforceable. The rules essentially preserve the status quo online. They prevent cable, DSL, and fiber carriers from favoring or disfavoring certain sites or applications over others and prevent mobile carriers from blocking websites or competing voice and video applications – leaving consumers to decide which services they might prefer. The only significant change will be that now, if carriers engage in discriminatory routing or network management practices, those whose traffic is affected will have a place to go to demand recourse. The rules themselves reflect a light-touch and flexible approach to preserving the competitive environment that currently exists on the Internet. The rules do not, as some critics declare, amount to “regulating the Internet,” and there is ample evidence that in the absence of rules carriers might discriminate (as a few have done already) against some lawful traffic."

September 26, 2011

The FLARE Index to Treaties Extended

The FLARE Index to Treaties Extended - The FLARE Index to Treaties (FIT), launched in March 2009 on the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies web server has been extended to cover about a third more treaties and conventions. In the past two years the Index has established itself as a valuable finding tool for the international lawyer. It is a fully searchable database now indexing and listing over 2,000 of the most significant multilateral treaties concluded from 1353 onwards and a number of significant bilateral treaties signed between 1353 and 1815. This article, by Steven Whittle and Peter Clinch describes the background to the extension and technical aspects of the updated implementation employed to deliver new content and finding features.

World Bank: Women, Business and the Law 2012

Women, Business and the Law 2102 - Removing barriers to economic inclusion.

"UN Women informs us that “women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.” To shed light on why this grim statistic still holds true, Women, Business and the Law aims to examine legal differentiations on the basis of gender in 141 of the world’s economies. In order for men and women throughout the developing world to have access to an earned income and own property, effort in a broad range of areas, from security and infrastructure to education and health is required. In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of governments devote efforts to the formulation of sounder business regulations. The World Bank’s Doing Business publication, which tracks reforms in business regulations critical for small- and medium-size domestic firms, highlights the efforts being made in countries as varied as Peru and Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Cape Verde, Hungary and China. And we see increasing evidence of the impact of these reforms on the formal registration of firms, access to finance and job creation. But how can we ensure that, as governments go about improving business regulation, women entrepreneurs and workers benefit alongside men? To answer this question, we must examine those regulations and institutions which differentiate between women and men in ways that affect their incentives or capacity to work, earn an income, own and manage property or set up and run a business."

September 25, 2011

Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information

CRS - Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information, Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorney. September 8, 2011

"The online publication of classified defense documents and diplomatic cables by the organization WikiLeaks and subsequent reporting by The New York Times and other news media have focused attention on whether such publication violates U.S. criminal law. The suspected source of the material, Army Private Bradley Manning, has been charged with a number of offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), including aiding the enemy, while a grand jury in Virginia is deciding whether to indict any civilians in connection with the disclosure. A number of other cases involving charges under the Espionage Act demonstrate the Obama Administration’s relatively hard-line policy with respect to the prosecution of persons suspected of leaking classified information to the media. This report identifies some criminal statutes that may apply, but notes that these have been used almost exclusively to prosecute individuals with access to classified information (and a corresponding obligation to protect it) who make it available to foreign agents, or to foreign agents who obtain classified information unlawfully while present in the United States."

September 24, 2011

ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 Recommends Amending Lawyer Ethics Rules Relating to Globalization of Law Practice

News release: "The American Bar Association Commission on Ethics 20/20, in its release of initial proposals for comment, is recommending amendments to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and other association policies to take into account the proliferation of new technologies, including cross-border practice issues, lawyer mobility and differences in lawyer rules across jurisdictions."

September 23, 2011

Report - Evaluating the Use of Public Surveillance Cameras for Crime Control and Prevention

Evaluating the Use of Public Surveillance Cameras for Crime Control and Prevention - A Summary. Nancy G. La Vigne, Samantha S. Lowry, Joshua Markman, Allison Dwyer. September 19, 2011

"A growing number of cities are using surveillance cameras to reduce crime, but little research exists to determine whether they’re worth the cost. With jurisdictions across the country tightening their belts, public safety resources are scarce—and policymakers need to know which potential investments are likely to bear fruit. This research brief summarizes the Urban Institute’s series documenting three cities use of public surveillance cameras and how they impacted crime in their neighborhoods."

September 22, 2011

Symantec Survey Finds Emails Are No Longer the Most Commonly Specified Documents in eDiscovery Requests

News release: "Symantec Corp. announced the findings of its 2011 Information Retention and eDiscovery Survey which examined how enterprises manage their ever-growing volumes of electronically stored information and prepare for the eventuality of an eDiscovery request. The survey of legal and IT personnel at 2,000 enterprises worldwide found email is not the primary source of records companies must produce, and more importantly, respondents who employ best practices for records and information management are significantly less at risk of court sanctions or fines."

One Hundred Billion Problem in Small Claims Court: Robo-Signing and Lack of Proof in Debt Buyer Cases

The One Hundred Billion Dollar Problem in Small Claims Court: Robo-Signing and Lack of Proof in Debt Buyer Cases, Peter A. Holland, University of Maryland School of Law

"Recent years have seen the rise of a new industry which has clogged the dockets of small claims courts throughout the country. It is known as the "debt buyer" industry. Members of this $100 billion per year industry exist for no reason other than to purchase consumer debt which others have already deemed uncollectable, and then try to succeed in collecting where others have failed. Debt buyers pay pennies on the dollar for this charged off debt, and then seek to collect, through hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, the full face value of the debt. The emergence and vitality of this industry presents several legal, ethical and economic issues which merit exploration, study and scholarly debate. This article focuses on the problem of robo-signing and the lack of proof in debt buyer cases. Although this problem has received limited attention from the media and from regulators, there is a paucity of legal scholarship about debt buyers in general, and this problem in particular. This article demonstrates that robo-signing and fraud are rampant in this industry, and that the debt buyers who pursue these claims often lack proof necessary to show that they own the debt, and often lack proof even that a debt was ever owed in the first place. The fact that this lack of proof has led to consumers being sued twice on the same debt demonstrates the due process concerns which are implicated when courts enter judgments against consumers based on robo-signing and insufficient proof. This article calls on courts to hold plaintiffs in debt buyer cases to the same standards required of other litigants. Courts must require a demonstration of personal knowledge of the matter at issue before any affidavit is accepted, before any person testifies, and before any documents are admitted into evidence."

Patent Reform Unleashing Innovation, Promoting Economic Growth & Producing High-Paying Jobs

House Committee on the Judiciary: Background on H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act: "On June 23 the House overwhelmingly approved HR 1249, the America Invents Act, by a vote of 304-117. H.R. 1249 updates our patent system to encourage innovation, job creation, and economic growth. The last major patent reform was nearly 60 years ago. Since then, U.S. innovators have developed cell phones and launched the Internet. And yet the laws protecting the technologies of today are stuck in the past. The current system is bogged down by frivolous lawsuits and uncertainty regarding patent ownership. America’s innovators spend years and millions of dollars defending their claims to patent ownership. Meanwhile, our competitors are busy developing new products that expand their businesses and grow their economies. This year, for the first time, China is expected to become the world’s number one patent publisher, surpassing the U.S. and Japan in the total and basic number of patents. Our outdated patent system has become a barrier to innovation. We cannot expect America’s innovators and job creators to keep pace with the global marketplace with the patent system of the past. We need a system that ensures patent certainty, approves good patents quickly and weeds out bad patents effectively."

Patent Reform Unleashing Innovation, Promoting Economic Growth & Producing High-Paying Jobs, A White Paper from the U.S. Department of Commerce, April 13, 2010: "Stimulating economic growth and creating high-paying jobs are key priorities for the Obama Administration. This paper provides data demonstrating that technological innovation is a key driver of a pro-growth, job-creating agenda. It further demonstrates that patent reform legislation, by accelerating the pace of growth and of job creation, will be a powerful and deficit-neutral mechanism for expanding America’s ability to innovate."

September 20, 2011

2011 edition of the U.S. Employment Law for Global Employers

Via Baker & McKenzie’s North American Compensation and Employment Law
Practice Group - 2011 edition of the U.S. Employment Law for Global Employers. "Companies operating in the United States today face an increasingly complex and ever-evolving maze of federal, state, and local labor and employment laws. This can be particularly daunting for companies new to the United States who are trying to familiarize themselves with these laws. As such, the goal of this guide is to provide an overview of U.S. labor and employment laws to global employers operating in the United States."

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is Repealed

News release: "The official end today of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law reflects the American values that military members uphold, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today [in a briefing]. “Thanks to this change, I believe we move closer to achieving the goal at the foundation of the values that America's all about -- equality, equal opportunity and dignity for all Americans,” he told reporters during a Pentagon news briefing. Panetta reaffirmed his dedication to all who are serving and ensuring everyone who wishes to serve has the opportunity to do so regardless of sexual preference. “As secretary of defense, I am committed to removing all of the barriers that would prevent Americans from serving their country and from rising to the highest level of responsibility that their talents and capabilities warrant,” he said. “These are men and women who put their lives on the line in the defense of this country, and that's what should matter the most.” Panetta credited several groups for helping prepare the Defense Department for the implementation of the repeal. “I want to thank the repeal implementation team and the service secretaries, along with the service chiefs, for all of their efforts to ensure that DOD is ready to make this change, consistent with standards of military readiness, with military effectiveness, with unit cohesion, and with the recruiting and retention of the armed forces,” he said."

Special Report: Don't Ask, Don't Tell is Repealed

Illegal Internet Streaming of Copyrighted Content: Legislation in the 112th Congress

CRS - Illegal Internet Streaming of Copyrighted Content: Legislation in the 112th Congress, Brian T. Yeh, Legislative Attorney, August 29, 2011

"Technological developments related to the Internet benefit consumers who want convenient ways to view and hear information and entertainment content on a variety of electronic devices (such as televisions, radios, computers, mobile phones, video game consoles, and portable media players). New technologies offer the potential to help copyright holders promote their creative works for artistic, educational, and commercial reasons. However, new technologies may increase the risk of infringement of the copyright holders’ rights because they often provide faster, cheaper, and easier means of engaging in unauthorized reproduction, distribution, and public performance of copyrighted works than previous technologies. The widespread consumer use of high-speed Internet connections as well as increased reliance on data storage offered by “cloud computing” services may also contribute to infringement problems. One of these new technologies enables the “streaming” of copyrighted content over the Internet
from a website to an end user. There are many legitimate streaming websites such as Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and HBO GO that offer on-demand streams of television programs, motion pictures, live sporting events, and sound recordings. However, streaming technology can also be misused for facilitating copyright infringement online."

September 19, 2011

Future of the First Amendment 2011 Survey of High School Students and Teachers

Future of the First Amendment 2011 Survey of High School Students and Teachers, Commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation - September 2011

"There is a clear, positive relationship between student use of social media – such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr – to get news and information and greater support for free expression rights. Though this study establishes the link between social media use and First Amendment support, its cause is open to debate. Does consuming news frequently on social media increase one’s appreciation for the First Amendment? Or is it the reverse: The more someone agrees with the First Amendment, the more likely they are to use social media for their news and information? Either way, there is a relationship between the two factors. As the graph below shows, fully 91 percent of students who use social networking daily to get news and information agree that “people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions.” But only 77 percent of those who never use social networks to get news agree that unpopular opinions should be allowed."

September 18, 2011

FTC Seeks Comment on Proposed Revisions to Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which gives parents control over what personal information websites may collect from children under 13. The FTC proposes these amendments to ensure that the Rule continues to protect children’s privacy, as mandated by Congress, as online technologies evolve. The Commission proposes modifications to the Rule in five areas: definitions, including the definitions of “personal information” and “collection,” parental notice, parental consent mechanisms, confidentiality and security of children’s personal information, and the role of self-regulatory “safe harbor” programs."

September 17, 2011

HathiTrust Statement on Authors Guild, Inc. et al. v. HathiTrust et al.

Press release: "On September 12, 2011 the Authors' Guild and a number of other entities filed suit against HathiTrust and a number of its university partners. The issues in the suit are the orphan works project as well as the digitization effort that we have been engaged in for almost two decades. Digitization is a reflection of library prudence, rather than the reckless activity as characterized by the Authors' Guild complaint and accompanying statement. From its inception, the primary motive driving our digitization effort has been, and remains, preservation. Preserving the scholarly and cultural record is at the core of the Library's mission. Digitization offers a means of preserving the intellectual content of books whose lives as objects are subject to the vagaries of storage conditions and their own composition; for example, the vast majority of the volumes in our collection are printed on acid paper. Many of these volumes are protected by copyright, but if we wait until they enter the public domain they will be too brittle to circulate or digitize, and of no use to anyone. The Orphan Works Project is an example of library prudence in other ways. Digitized collections offer other obvious benefits. They can be more readily shared with our community, who increasingly expect their research materials to be available in digital form, and they can also provide a trove of data, both humanistic and scientific, that will help scholars and researchers discover and create new knowledge. And in many cases, they can also be made available to anyone in the world with a connection to the Internet. The way in which the HathiTrust partners share this particular collection is guided by a deep and abiding respect for intellectual property and US copyright law, particularly Sections 107 and 108, which help define how libraries may lawfully share their collections. While the law does not specifically address orphan works, we are certain that our scholarly purpose, along with our careful methodology in determining whether these works have a market or an extant copyright holder who can be contacted, make this sharing legal. Sharing, by the way, which is limited to online reading by our faculty and students in the United States, and one-page-at-a-time downloads; not, as the Guild complaint states, worldwide availability and full PDF downloads."

September 16, 2011

An Examination of Parole Release for Prisoners Serving Life Sentences with the Possibility of Parole in California

Life in Limbo - An Examination of Parole Release for Prisoners Serving Life Sentences with the Possibility of Parole in California, Robert Weisberg, Debbie A. Mukamal and Jordan D. Segall. September 2011. Stanford Criminal Justice Center

"In recent years, California’s prison system has been under federal judicial control because of severe overcrowding,
which partly results from the recycling of revoked inmates under parole supervision. The federal litigation has cast a
sharp focus on the mandatory parole system created by the 1976 Determinate Sentencing Law and viewed as the legal mechanism by which this recycling has developed. But far too little attention has been given to the prison population serving life sentences with the possibility of parole under older indeterminate sentencing principles, a population that as of 2010 represents a fifth of California state prisoners. More than 32,000 inmates comprise the “lifer” category, i.e., inmates who are eligible to be considered for release from prison after screening by the parole board to determine when and under what condition. (This group of prisoners is distinct from the much smaller population of 4,000 individuals serving life sentences without the possibility of parole (LWOP)). The goal of this project is to examine in empirical detail (a) the lifer population, covering key details of its demographics, and (b) the processes by which lifers are considered for release, including an examination of historical trends in grant and denial rates, the recidivism record of released inmates, and legal and policy analysis of the specific mechanisms of the parolee hearing process. Despite the importance of the lifer population in terms of its size and the major legal and policy changes that have occurred to the parole process for lifers in the last several years, little research has yet been
devoted to this topic."

Judicial Conference of the United States Approves Pacer Rate Increase

News release: "The Conference also authorized an increase in the Judiciary's electronic public access fee in response to increasing costs for maintaining and enhancing the electronic public access system. The increase in the electronic public access (EPA) fee, from $.08 to $.10 per page, is needed to continue to support and improve the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, and to develop and implement the next generation of the Judiciary's Case Management/Electronic Case Filing system. The EPA fee has not been increased since 2005. As mandated by Congress, the EPA program is funded entirely through user fees set by the Conference. Implementation of the two-cent per page increase will take a minimum of six months."

September 15, 2011

Worldwide Web Consortium Launches Tracking Protection Working Group

"The Tracking Protection Working Group is chartered to improve user privacy and user control by defining mechanisms for expressing user preferences around Web tracking and for blocking or allowing Web tracking elements. The group seeks to standardize the technology and meaning of Do Not Track, and of Tracking Selection Lists." See in Input Documents as follows

The FTC staff report that calls on industry to create a Do Not Track mechanism
FTC guidelines for behavioral targeting
IAB Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising
Neelie Kroes, EU Commission, Online privacy - reinforcing trust and confidence
Do Not Track Cookbook: approaches to data collection in DNT-friendly ways
IETF proposal for Do Not Track
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) discussion of Do Not Track
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) DNT proposal
Mozilla Do Not Track Field Guide
Microsoft Web Tracking Protection, member submission to W3C

September 14, 2011

TRAC: Immigration Court Backlog Climbs, Yet Criminal Cases Fall

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse - Rising Immigration Backlog At All-time High Yet Criminal, National Security, and Terrorism Cases Fall

"The number of cases awaiting a resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a total of 285,526 at the end of July 2011. According to the very latest data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), that total represents a new all-time high, up 3.7 percent from just three months ago. Wait times also rose. Only 8.3 percent of the pending cases involved a charge of engaging in criminal activities, actions adverse to national security or aiding terrorism -- a fraction which has fallen during the last ten months. Those charged with violating immigration rules made up 90 percent of all cases, and their numbers rose sharply. Using TRAC's updated app, you can get information about backlog and wait times by charge on all of the cases filed in the Immigration Courts. In addition, you can drill down to the state, court, hearing office and nationality for both backlog and wait times."

FTC Report Examines How Authorized Generics Affect the Pharmaceutical Market

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission issued a final report, Authorized Generic Drugs: Short-Term Effects and Long-Term Impact, that concludes when pharmaceutical companies introduce an authorized generic version of their brand-name drug, it can reduce both retail and wholesale drug prices. The report also found that authorized generics have a substantial effect on the revenues of competing generic firms. Over the longer term, by lowering expected profits for generic competitors, the introduction of an authorized generic could affect a generic drug company’s decision to challenge patents on branded drug products with low sales. However, the report concludes that in spite of this, patent challenges by generic competitors remain robust. Finally, the report finds that some brand companies may have used agreements not to launch an authorized generic as a way to compensate would-be generic competitors for delaying entry into the market. The FTC has for years opposed pay-for-delay patent litigation settlements, in which a brand-name drug manufacturer compensates its generic competitor to delay entering the market and offering consumers a lower-cost alternative. With this report, the agency has found that promises by a branded firm not to market competing authorized generics are frequently present in pharmaceutical patent settlements."

September 13, 2011

Tobacco Companies and FDA - Lawsuits in Response to New Cigarette Labeling

Blog of the Legal Times: "Responding to a lawsuit filed by five of the nation's largest cigarette manufacturers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration filed Friday to block any delay to new regulations requiring graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. The tobacco companies are suing the agency in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming that the new labels cross the line from factual warnings to unconstitutionally compelled speech. The companies want a preliminary injunction postponing the date the new rules go into effect. In its opposition brief, the FDA is pushing back against the companies’ claim that they would suffer “economic harm” by spending several million dollars to produce the new labels in the meantime. The new regulations are set to go into effect in September 2012."

September 12, 2011

LexisNexis® Launches Open Alliance Program for HPCC Systems, Enterprise-Proven, Open Source Alternative to Hadoop

News release: "LexisNexis® Risk Solutions today unveiled the HPCC Systems Alliance Program, which is a collaboration of partners to stimulate innovation and accelerate market adoption of the newly open sourced HPCC Systems, an enterprise-proven, open source solution to help large organizations process “Big Data”. Built on a high performing computer cluster technology, HPCC Systems is an alternative to Hadoop. Interest in processing and managing Big Data is growing rapidly among enterprise and service provider customers. LexisNexis collaboration with innovative leaders will help customers navigate options for addressing large data sets, reduce overall infrastructure costs, and improve business agility and data insight. Products and solutions from these partners will help deliver fully integrated, turnkey solutions."

September 10, 2011

Legislation Related to the Attack of September 11, 2001

The Library of Congress - THOMAS: "This site was begun in September 2001 as a way of keeping the public readily apprised of legislation related to the terrorist attack on the United States that month. The selection, made by hand, is necessarily subjective, as the September 11th attack had a ripple effect on legislation in the second session of the 107th Congress, making boundaries difficult to draw. The site will not be updated after the conclusion of the 107th. Not included here are appropriations and authorization bills, which may include provisions relevant to our response to terrorism, but included are some bills related to bio-terrorism and not September 11th."

Bills & Joint Resolutions Signed Into Law | Other Resolutions Approved | Legislation With Floor Action | Legislation Without Floor Action

See also the 9/11 Commission Report and a continually updated topical set of related postings on 9/11

September 09, 2011

Decline Seen in DHS Deportation Proceedings of Terrorists and Criminals

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Immigration Enforcement Since 9/11: A Reality Check - "An examination of millions of case-by-case records show that the overall number of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deportation proceedings in the Immigration Courts in the decade after 9/11 were up by almost one half (45%) -- from 1.6 million in the ten years before the attack to 2.3 million in the ten years since. But the data also show that DHS requests for removal orders on terrorism and national security charges -- always a very small part of the total -- have declined from what they were before the attacks. Likewise, in the decade after 9/11 the number of deportation proceedings on those charged with criminal activity has also fallen."

Tracking Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

worldAtWork: Tracking Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Updated September 8, 2011: "On Wednesday, July 21, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Act calls for sweeping reforms, not just for the financial services industry, but for all publicly-traded companies. With many of the provisions in this bill subject to forthcoming regulations and guidance, this page is dedicated to bringing you the most up-to-date information about regulations and guidance that have been issued that will affect the implementation of this bill."

September 07, 2011

DOJ Releases Investigative Findings on the Puerto Rico Police Department

News release: "Following a comprehensive investigation, the Justice Department today announced its findings that the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) has engaged in a pattern and practice of misconduct that violates the Constitution and federal law. The investigation, launched in July 2008, was conducted in accordance with the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. The Justice Department found reasonable cause to believe that a pattern and practice of unconstitutional conduct and/or violations of federal law occurred in several areas, including: Use of excessive force; Use of unreasonable force and other misconduct designed to suppress the exercise of protected First Unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests."

Investigation of the Puerto Rico Police Department, United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division - September 5, 2011

EPIC: DC Circuit Court Grants Access to Cell Phone Surveillance Records

"The Circuit Court for the District of Columbia has ruled that the Department of Justice must release information regarding government surveillance of cell phone location data. The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information regarding current and past cases where the Department of Justice had accessed cell phone location data without a warrant. The agency sought to keep this information secret, claiming that releasing cell phone tracking data could implicate privacy of investigation subjects. The court, however, disagreed, stating, "The disclosure sought by the plaintiffs would inform this ongoing public policy discussion by shedding light on the scope and effectiveness of cell phone tracking as a law enforcement tool." For more information, see EPIC: Wiretapping and EPIC: Electronic Surveillance 1968-2010."

September 06, 2011

2011 Secrecy Report - OpenGovernment.org

Obama Administration Fulfills Some Open Gov Goals, National Security Bureaucracy Hinders Progress - "The Obama Administration has made some positive changes towards an open government this year, but the national security bureaucracy continues to hinder progress, according to a report released today. The 2011 Secrecy Report was released by OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of more than 80 groups (including POGO) advocating for a more open and accountable government. According to the report, some of the Obama Administration’s promises of transparency are paying off—but certain national security agencies are ignoring the open government agenda. Some of the good news highlighted in the report centers on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Administration has been “rebuilding openness” and FOIA performance has improved from previous years. Compared to 2009, FOIA backlogs in 2010 were reduced by 10 percent.Other moves the Obama Administration has made towards transparency include releasing newly declassified details about the U.S. nuclear stockpile, updating sites like FederalReporting.gov and USAspending.gov, and refusing to assert Executive Privilege to deny congressional requests for information (Obama is the first president in OpenTheGovernment.org’s records not to do so.)...The report points to an Associated Press study that found that the Central Intelligence Agency and Securities and Exchange Commission rejected information requests more than half the time during 2010."

September 02, 2011

FHFA Sues 17 Firms to Recover Losses to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

News release: "The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), today filed lawsuits against 17 financial institutions, certain of their officers and various unaffiliated lead underwriters. The suits allege violations of federal securities laws and common law in the sale of residential private-label mortgage-backed securities (PLS) to the Enterprises. These complaints were filed in federal or state court in New York or the federal court in Connecticut. The complaints seek damages and civil penalties under the Securities Act of 1933, similar in content to the complaint FHFA filed against UBS Americas, Inc. on July 27, 2011. In addition, each complaint seeks compensatory damages for negligent misrepresentation. Certain complaints also allege state securities law violations or common law fraud."

August 31, 2011

International Journal of Central Banking, September 2011 issue

International Journal of Central Banking - Volume 7, Number 3 September 2011

Anticipated Alternative Policy Rate Paths in Policy Simulations, by Stefan Laséen and Lars E.O. Svensson
A Bivariate Model of Federal Reserve and ECB Main Policy Rates, by Chiara Scotti
Interest Rate Smoothing and "Calvo-Type" Interest Rate Rules: A Comment on Levine, McAdam, and Pearlman (2007) by Ida Wolden Bache, Øistein Røisland and Kjersti Naess Torstensen
Does Monetary Policy React to Asset prices? Some International Evidence, by Francesco Furlanetto
The Financial Market Impact of Quantitative Easing in the united Kingdom, by Michael A.S. Joyce, Ana Lasaosa, Ibrahim Stevens and Matthew Tong
Determinants of house Prices in Nine Asia-Pacific Economies, by Eloisa T. Glindro, Tientip Subhanij, Jessica Szeto and Haibin Zhu

August 29, 2011

Baker Institute: Shadowy Figures: Tracking Illicit Financial Transactions

Shadowy Figures: Tracking Illicit Financial Transactions in the Murky World of Digital Currencies, Peer-to-Peer Networks, and Mobile Device Payments - John Villasenor, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Center for Technology Innovation Cody Monk, Instructor/Lecturer, National Intelligence University and the Naval Postgraduate School

"The history of the movement of money is as complex and varied as the history of money itself, and includes ships laden with gold bullion, desert caravans carrying salt or cowry shells, armored trucks filled with banknotes, paper checks, and today, a large and quickly growing list of digital transfer methods. Secrecy and anonymity have always played roles in the movement of money, most commonly because they offer a strong measure of privacy and protection against being targeted by thieves, but also because the parties in financial transactions can have other reasons—some legitimate, some not—for keeping a low profile. The combination of the enormous growth in social networks, the complexity of peer-to-peer systems and software, and the number of Internet and wirelessly connected devices is altering the landscape of financial transactions at a rate and to a degree that is unprecedented. Today, such transactions can be conducted not only using traditional, state-backed currencies, but also through purely digital currencies, virtual currencies, and virtual goods. In addition, mobile phone-based money transfer systems enabling traditional currencies to be moved in novel ways are experiencing rapid adoption, particularly in developing nations."

White House Infographic: Record Judicial Diversity, Record Judicial Delays

"Creating a judicial pool for the 21st Century, one with intellect, fair-mindedness and integrity that resembles the nation that it serves, is a top priority for President Obama and his administration. In fact, the President’s nominations for federal judges embody an unprecedented commitment to expanding the racial, gender and experiential diversity of the men and women who enforce our laws and deliver justice...To better understand how the Senate delays are impacting American families and businesses, take a look at our infographic that explains the confirmation process and highlights the bottleneck."

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper - The Impact of Economics Blogs

The Impact of Economics Blogs, David McKenzie and Berk Özler, August 2011

"There is a proliferation of economics blogs, with increasing numbers of economists attracting large numbers of readers, yet little is known about the impact of this new medium. Using a variety of experimental and non-experimental techniques, this study quantifies some of their effects. First, links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers. Second, blogging raises the profile of the blogger (and his or her institution) and boosts their reputation above economists with similar publication records. Finally, a blog can transform attitudes about some of the topics it covers."

August 28, 2011

Bloomberg Agrees to Buy Bureau of National Affairs for About $990 Million

via Bloomberg: "Bloomberg LP, the closely held news and financial information provider, agreed to buy The Bureau of National Affairs Inc. for about $990 million to add legal, tax and regulatory research and analysis. BNA shareholders, who are current and former employees, will get $39.50 a share in cash in a transaction that is projected to be completed this year, New York-based Bloomberg said in a statement. The deal is part of Bloomberg’s expansion into new businesses to add products to the company’s terminal, a data hub used by traders and executives, and add to new titles for its news group. In 2009, Bloomberg acquired Businessweek magazine and New Energy Finance, which provides analysis on clean energy sources. BNA, which publishes the Daily Labor Report and U.S. Law Week, will “significantly grow Bloomberg’s presence in Washington” and its research will contribute to coverage and analysis of employment, health care, labor, accounting, intellectual property and telecommunications, Bloomberg said."

via BNA: Bloomberg Enters Agreement to Acquire BNA - "The acquisition would significantly grow Bloomberg’s presence in the Washington, DC area through its multiple operating units, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Government, Bloomberg Law and BNA -- which would work together to provide unparalleled coverage and analysis of U.S. policy and regulatory issues for customers."

Questions and Answers Related to Bloomberg's Acquisition of BNA

The PII Problem: Privacy and a New Concept of Personally Identifiable Information

The PII Problem: Privacy and a New Concept of Personally Identifiable Information (July 8, 2011). New York University Law Review, Vol. 86, 2011. Paul M. Schwartz and Daniel J. Solove.

Personally identifiable information (PII) is one of the most central concepts in information privacy regulation. The scope of privacy laws typically turns on whether PII is involved. The basic assumption behind the applicable laws is that if PII is not involved, then there can be no privacy harm. At the same time, there is no uniform definition of PII in information privacy law. Moreover, computer science has shown that in many circumstances non-PII can be linked to individuals, and that de-identified data can, in many circumstances, be re-identified. PII and non-PII are thus not immutable categories, and there is a risk that information deemed non-PII at one point in time can be transformed into PII at a later juncture. Due to the malleable nature of what constitutes PII, some commentators have even suggested that PII be abandoned as the means to define the boundaries of privacy law. In this Article, Professors Paul Schwartz and Daniel Solove argue that although the current approaches to PII are flawed, the concept of PII should not be abandoned. They develop a new approach called “PII 2.0,” which accounts for PII’s malleability. Based upon a standard rather than a rule, PII 2.0 is based upon a continuum of risk of identification. PII 2.0 regulates information that relates to either an “identified” or “identifiable” individual, and it establishes different requirements for each category. To illustrate their theory, Schwartz and Solove use the example of regulating behavioral marketing to adults and children. They show how existing approaches to PII impede the effective regulation of behavioral marketing and how PII 2.0 would resolve these problems."

August 25, 2011

EPIC - Federal Judge: Locational Data Protected Under Fourth Amendment

"A Federal judge has ruled that law enforcement officers must have a warrant to access cell phone locational data. Courts are divided regarding whether or not this type of data should be protected by a warrant requirement. Judge Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York, found that "The fiction that the vast majority of the American population consents to warrantless government access to the records of a significant share of their movements by 'choosing' to carry a cell phone must be rejected…In light of drastic developments in technology, the Fourth Amendment doctrine must evolve to preserve cell-phone user's reasonable expectation of privacy in cumulative cell-site-location records." EPIC has filed amicus briefs in several related cases. For more information see: EPIC: Commonwealth v. Connolly, EPIC: US v. Jones, and EPIC: Locational Privacy."

August 23, 2011

Federal Agency Use of Electronic Media in the Rulemaking Process

Federal Agency Use of Electronic Media in the Rulemaking Process, by Cary Coglianese - University of Pennsylvania [via Michael Ravnitzky]

"In this report, I survey the landscape of agencies’ contemporary efforts to use electronic media in the rulemaking process. Drawing on a review of current agency uses of the Internet, a systematic survey of regulatory agencies’ websites, and interviews with managers at a variety of federal regulatory agencies, I identify both existing “best practices” as well as opportunities for continued improvement. As such, this study, commissioned by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), is intended as one further input into a broader series of government-wide efforts to study and improve federal agencies’ use of electronic media. Over the years, many agencies have used the Internet to improve greatly the public’s access to information about rulemaking and to provide enhanced opportunities for public input into agency decisions. Through both large, cross-cutting initiatives – such as the online portal Regulations.Gov – as well as smaller ones at individual agencies, the federal government has undertaken numerous efforts to promote transparency of and public participation in the rulemaking process. In addition, a growing administrative infrastructure has emerged both within and across agencies, such as through the government-wide Federal Web Managers Council, for standardizing and improving the design of federal agency websites as well as agency use of interactive electronic media. As such, this report emerges at an energetic time in a field fertile for governmental innovation, with undoubtedly no shortage of ideas for continued development of the federal government’s digital infrastructure."

Bankruptcy Filings Down From 2010 Levels

"According to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, bankruptcy petitions filed in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011 totaled 1,529,560, down 2.7 percent from the 1,572,597 bankruptcy petitions filed in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2010. Despite the slight drop in overall filings nationwide, the number of bankruptcy filings increased in 19 of the 94 districts. The largest percentage increases in bankruptcy filings were in the Southern District of Florida, with a 15 percent increase over 2010, and the Districts of Utah and the Central District of California, where filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011 increased 13 percent over 2010. Additional statistics released include business and non-business filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011; a comparison of June 2010 and 2011 filings, 3rd quarter filings; monthly filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011; and filings per capita."

Related postings on financial system

CRS Report: Brazil-U.S. Relations

CRS — Brazil-U.S. Relations, Peter J. Meyer, Analyst in Latin American Affairs, July 29, 2011

"As its economy has grown to be the eighth largest in the world, Brazil has consolidated its power in South America, extended its influence to the broader region, and become increasingly prominent on the world stage. The Obama Administration’s national security strategy regards Brazil as an emerging center of influence, whose leadership it welcomes “to pursue progress on bilateral, hemispheric, and global issues.” In recent years, U.S.-Brazil relations have generally been positive despite Brazil’s prioritization of strengthening relations with neighboring countries and expanding ties with nontraditional partners in the “developing South.” Although some disagreements have emerged, Brazil and the United States continue to engage on a number of issues, including counternarcotics, counterterrorism, energy security, trade, human rights, and the environment."

August 22, 2011

TRAC: SSA Disability Cases Continue to Climb Efforts to Reduce Backlog Insufficient

"The number of disability cases awaiting a hearing and decision by the Social Security Administration (SSA) continued to climb during the most recent quarter, from April 1 to June 30, 2011. Pending cases rose to 746,712 at the end of this period, up 7.5 percent from 694,417 one year ago. According to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this is the fourth straight quarter when cases awaiting a hearing before the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review of the SSA have increased despite the agency's long standing objective to reduce the overall number of pending cases.

GSN: Railroad will spend millions to secure supply chain under CBP agreement

Mark Rockwell: "Union Pacific railroad, the largest rail carrier in the U.S. has agreed to spend $50 million to improve the security of its supply chain between the U.S. and Mexico, and establish a joint security fusion center with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The CBP agreement with Omaha, NE-based Union Pacific railroad requires the expenditures to soften $500 million in U.S. Government penalties against it for drugs discovered on its rail cars, said the agency and the railroad on Aug. 19. Union Pacific is the largest the largest transporter of goods by rail to and from the U.S. – Mexico border. The government had filed lawsuits in 2009 against the rail carrier for allegedly failing to prevent the use of its rail cars by smugglers to bring marijuana and cocaine into U.S. In complaints filed in San Diego and Houston, CBP sought more than $37 million in penalties from the company. The government alleged the rail cars were brought across the border at the ports of entry at Calexico, CA, and Brownsville, TX, carrying the illicit cargo."

"Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers" Will Change How Law Students Are Trained

News release: "The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) at the University of Denver today launches a unique, national initiative to change the way law schools educate students. Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers provides a platform to encourage law schools in the U.S. to showcase innovative teaching to produce more practice-ready lawyers who can better meet the needs of an evolving profession."

August 21, 2011

Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference

Update, November 30, 2011: Seeking Synchronicity Webinar Recording Now Available
OCLC - "A new membership report from OCLC Research, in partnership with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Seeking Synchronicity distills more than five years of virtual reference (VR) research into a readable summary that features memorable quotes that vividly illustrate very specific and actionable suggestions. Taken from a multi-phase research project that included focus group interviews, surveys, transcript analysis, and phone interviews, with VR librarians, users, and non-users, these findings are meant to help practitioners develop and sustain VR services and systems. The report asserts that the "R" in "VR" needs to emphasize virtual "Relationships" as well as "Reference". Among the topics addressed are:

The exaggerated death of ready reference
The importance of query clarification in VR
Ways to boost accuracy and build better interpersonal relationships in VR
What can be learned from VR transcripts
How convenience is the "hook" that draws users into VR services
Generational differences in how people perceive reference interactions and determine success
The need for more and better marketing"

A pocket Congress – track elected officials, read the latest bills and laws

"The government apps and mobile sites allow you to access official information on various topics from the palm of your hand. Learn more about apps."

Congress – A Pocket Directory - Sunlight Labs - "track elected officials, read the latest bills and laws. Want to know more about Congress?: Find your representatives by your location; See how they vote, read up on bills; Stay on top of floor activity, committee hearings; Be notified of new events."

August 17, 2011

New Searchable Version of U.S. Code Website Launched by House in Beta

"The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives." [Richard McKinney]

See also Advanced Options and Search Tips

August 15, 2011

A Good Quarrel. America's Top Legal Reporters Share Stories from Inside the Supreme Court

A Good Quarrel. America's Top Legal Reporters Share Stories from Inside the Supreme Court — Timothy R. Johnson and Jerry Goldman (eds.) - Reviewed by Molly Selvin. Association of American Law Schools Journal of Legal Education, Volume 60, May 2011, Number 4

"This modest volume is as much an experience as a book. Envisioned as an Internet-age tutorial on the art of oral advocacy, the editors of A Good Quarrel present some of the best verbal jousts before the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years—along with a few contests so lopsided that the losing attorneys may have wished they’d slept in that morning. Part of an instructional toolset that builds on the well known OYEZ Project that Jerry Goldman directs, the book offers thoughtful, front-row analysis of eleven high-profile cases and directs readers to a companion website, www.goodquarrel.com, where they can listen to and download recordings of the arguments."

August 12, 2011

Members of the Free Access to Law Movement (FALM)

"There is now a website listing the 40 members of the Free Access to Law Movement, with links to their websites and links to the Declaration on Free Access to Law in 17 languages or scripts." [Graham Greenleaf AM, Professor of Law & Information Systems, University of New South Wales (UNSW)]

"The following organisations are the Members of the Free Access to Law Movement and subscribe to the Declaration on Free Access to Law."

August 11, 2011

New York Environmental Legal Research Guide

New York Environmental Legal Research Guide [Taryn L. Rucinski]: "A legal resource guide for information relating to New York State and New York City environmental law including primary and secondary source materials, quick links, and database resources."

August 09, 2011

NCLS: 2011 Immigration-Related Laws and Resolutions in the States (January-June)

"In the first half of 2011, state legislators introduced 1,592 bills and resolutions relating to immigrants and refugees in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The number of bill introductions is an increase of 16 percent compared to the first half of 2010, when 46 states considered 1,374 bills and resolutions pertaining to immigrants. As of June 30, 2011, 40 state legislatures enacted 151 laws and adopted 95 resolutions for a total of 246. 44 state legislatures passed 191 laws and adopted 128 resolutions, for a total of 314. An additional five bills were vetoed. The 2011 total of laws and resolutions is a decrease of 22 percent. Twelve additional bills passed but were vetoed by governors. As of June 30, an additional 10 bills were pending governors’ approval – these bills are not included in this report of enacted laws. For the same period in 2010, As in previous years, law enforcement, identification/driver’s licenses and employment remained the top issues addressed in state legislation related to immigrants. Several states – Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Utah – enacted sex offender registries that include a requirement of proof of citizenship or immigration documents. Montana required that the DMV use the SAVE program to verify a driver's license or an ID applicant's lawful presence. E-Verify legislation was enacted in 9 states: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. Florida added an E-Verify requirement by executive order. Eighteen states now have an E-Verify requirement."

2011 Immigration-Related Laws and Resolutions in the States (January-June)

House of Representative Releases New Beta Version of U.S. Code

"The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives."

Search the United States Code: Features includes: Search the entire code, Jump to a specific title and section, or Browse the Code.

Report: Principles of Effective State Sentencing and Corrections Polic

Principles of Effective State Sentencing and Corrections Policy - A Report of the NCSL Sentencing and Corrections Work Group, August 2011

"The issues addressed by the NCSL work group reflect the important role of state legislatures in enacting policies that manage prison populations and costs, address offender and community needs, and contribute to the safe and fair administration of criminal justice. The discussions took place during a difficult, recessionary budget climate. A major interest of the work group was how to have an immediate effect on state public safety dollars while also ensuring that the public safety is protected into the future. Many concepts addressed in the Principles reflect recent advances in resource-sensitive policies that actually reduce risk and recidivism. Mindful that sentencing and corrections policies reach into various levels and branches of government, the Principles also reflect the value that lawmakers place on stakeholders throughout criminal justice systems in policy development and discussions. Apparent throughout the Principles is the importance of interbranch and intergovernmental collaboration, information exchange and evaluation in working toward effective sentencing and corrections policies."

White House Announces First Ever Oil Savings Standards for Heavy Duty Trucks, Buses

News release: "Today, President Obama [met] with industry officials to discuss the first-of-their-kind fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas pollution standards for work trucks, buses, and other heavy duty vehicles and to thank them for their leadership in finalizing a successful national program for these vehicles. This meeting marked the administration’s announcement of the standards, which will save American businesses that operate and own these commercial vehicles approximately $50 billion in fuel costs over the life of the program. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the standards in close coordination with the companies that met with the president today as well as other stakeholders, following requests from companies to develop this program. The cost savings for American businesses are on top of the $1.7 trillion that American families will save at the pump from the historic fuel-efficiency standards announced by the Obama Administration for cars and light duty trucks, including the model year 2017-2025 agreement announced by the president last month...Under the comprehensive new national program, trucks and buses built in 2014 through 2018 will reduce oil consumption by a projected 530 million barrels and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution by approximately 270 million metric tons. Like the administration’s historic car standards, this program – which relies heavily on off-the-shelf technologies – was developed in coordination with truck and engine manufacturers, fleet owners, the State of California, environmental groups and other stakeholders."

August 9, 2011, Final Rulemaking: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium - and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles

August 07, 2011

President Obama Directs New Atrocity Prevention Measures

"This week, President Obama directed a comprehensive review to strengthen the United States’ ability to prevent mass atrocities. The President’s directive states plainly that: “Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America.” The directive creates an important new tool in this effort, establishing a standing interagency Atrocities Prevention Board with the authority to develop prevention strategies and to ensure that concerns are elevated for senior decision-making so that we are better able to work with our allies and partners to be responsive to early warning signs and prevent potential atrocities. The directive recognizes that preventing mass atrocities is a responsibility that all nations share and that other countries must also be enlisted to respond to particular crises. Therefore, the directive calls for a strategy [see the Fact Sheet] for engaging key regional allies and partners so that they are prepared to accept greater responsibility for preventing and responding to crimes against humanity."

Presidential Proclamation--Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons Who Participate in Serious Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Violations and Other Abuses

August 05, 2011

Public Interest Group Launches New House Ethics Committee Report Search Tool

Sunlight Foundation: "The House Ethics Committee is responsible for investigating and making recommendations on the enforcement of House ethics rules. In an nod towards transparency, its reports and statements are published online -- but they are virtually unusable. The Committee publishes documents in an unsearchable PDF format, spreads them out over of 24 pages, and gives them impenetrable titles like "Statement of the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member." Search engines (like Google) cannot see the documents, and only the most patient will click on each link to see what's inside. We've taken all 120+ documents, made them searchable, and published them online in a database. Now every document from December 1998 until July 2011 can be searched -- at once. It's easy to find the 20 documents that refer to Rep. Rangel, or the 15 documents that refer to (former) Rep. DeLay, or anything else that you're looking for. The web tool DocumentCloud has made this all possible."

August 02, 2011

CIA Forced to Release Long Secret Official History of Bay of Pigs Invasion

News release: "Pursuant to a FOIA lawsuit filed by the National Security Archive on the 50th anniversary of the infamous CIA-led invasion of Cuba, the CIA has released four volumes of its Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation. The Archive today posted volume 2, "Participation in the Conduct of Foreign Policy" (Part 1 | Part 2), classified top secret, which contains detailed information on the CIA's negotiations with Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama on support for the invasion. "These are among the last remaining secret records of this act of U.S. aggression against Cuba," noted Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Cuba Documentation Project at the Archive. "The CIA has finally seen the wisdom of letting the public scrutinize this major debacle in the covert history of U.S. foreign policy." Kornbluh noted that the agency was "still refusing to release volume 5 of its official history." Volume 5 is a rebuttal to the stinging CIA Inspector General's report, done in the immediate aftermath of the paramilitary assault, which held CIA officials accountable for a wide variety of mistakes, miscalculations and deceptions that characterized the failed invasion. The National Security Archive obtained the declassification of the ultra-secret Inspector General's report in 1998."

July 31, 2011

Commentary - Government Information in Peril

Follow up to House Bill - No Money for GPO's Federal Digital System, Sharply Cuts Other Information Resources - Government Information in Peril, by Bernadine Abbott Hoduski: "The House-passed bill cuts funding for the Superintendent of Documents program from nearly $40 million to less than $34 million, making it very difficult for GPO to support the Federal Depository Library Program; the acquisition, cataloging, and dissemination of government documents; the LC International Exchange Program; and mandated distribution of publications to the three branches of government. Congress is about to break its promise that if libraries and the public give up paper, they will still have permanent no-fee access to electronic government information. The House proposes that GPO fund FDsys by renting GPO’s unused space in its big red brick building to federal agencies. There is no guarantee that even if GPO is able to find renters by October 1 that it will collect enough money to keep FDsys in operation and allow the inclusion of new publications. Members of Congress may think they can turn to LC’s THOMAS database for legislative information, but they probably do not realize that much of THOMAS’s content is provided by GPO."

July 27, 2011

TRAC Report - Immigration Court Decision Times Lengthen

Via Jeff Lamicela: "During the first six months of FY 2011, decision times continued to climb in cases disposed of by the Immigration Courts, according to timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The increasingly long average wait reached 302 days -- up 7.5 percent in the last six months, and almost 30 percent higher than the average disposition time during FY 2009. Average times varied, depending upon the nature of the court's decision, from 141 days for removal orders up to 714 days for grants of relief."

"Accompanying this special report is TRAC's Immigration Court Outcomes Tool, now updated through March 2011. This application provides a way to view the numbers of completed cases and outcome decision times for each state, court, hearing location and nationality. This information is also available separately for removals, voluntary departures, relief granted, and terminations. The Immigration Court Outcomes Tool as well as other immigration data tools and applications are here."

Report - Congress needs to Overhaul U.S. Secrecy Laws and Increase Oversight of the Secret Security Establishment

ACLU news release: "Today, we’re releasing a report, Drastic Measures Required: Congress needs to Overhaul U.S. Secrecy Laws and Increase Oversight of the Secret Security Establishment...we lay out the scope of the problem and analyze its unfortunate consequences for the operation of our government, for our national security, and for our democracy at large. The report asserts that Congress must overhaul U.S secrecy laws and increase its oversight of the secret security establishment in order to rein in the out-of-control secrecy that is poisoning our democracy. We present a number of detailed recommendations for how, exactly, Congress should act to reform the “state secrets privilege,” strengthen Congressional oversight of national security programs, and regulate the use of classification by the executive branch."

House Bill - No Money for GPO's Federal Digital System, Sharply Cuts Other Information Resources

Library Journal: "On July 22, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2551, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2012 by a vote of 252 - 159. Unless the Senate acts, the bill would reduce GPO's budget for FY12 by 20 percent to $108.1 million. Within the GPO budget is the appropriation for the Office of Superintendent of Documents' Salaries and Expenses, which funds the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). This appropriation would be reduced 16 percent, to $33.5 million, eliminating funding for the Federal Digital System (FDsys)."

OMB Watch: House Questions Future of Government Printing Office

Related postings on financial system

July 25, 2011

White House: Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime

Eric H. Holder, Jr. the Attorney General of the United States:

Patent Trolls

"Why would a company rent an office in a tiny town in East Texas, put a nameplate on the door, and leave it completely empty for a year? The answer involves a controversial billionaire physicist in Seattle, a 40 pound cookbook, and a war waging right now, all across the software and tech industries." This American Life, Episode 441 - "When Patents Attack!" July 22, 2011, Produced by Chicago Public Media. Distributed by Public Radio International. This episode was produced in collaboration with NPR’s Planet Money. © 2011 Chicago Public Media & Ira Glass.

July 24, 2011

OCLC Report: Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference

News release: "A ground-breaking membership report from OCLC Research suggests that by transforming virtual reference (VR) service encounters into relationship-building opportunities, librarians can better leverage the positive feelings people have for libraries. This is critically important in a crowded online space where the biggest players often don’t have the unique experience and specific strengths offered by librarians. The report — Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference — demonstrates that today’s students, scholars and citizens are not just looking to libraries for answers to specific questions—they want partners and guides in a lifelong information-seeking journey. Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference, from OCLC Research, in partnership with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and additionally funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), distills more than five years of VR research into a readable summary featuring memorable quotes that vividly illustrate very specific and actionable suggestions. Taken from a multiphase research project that included focus group interviews, online surveys, transcript analysis and phone interviews, with VR librarians, users and non-users, these findings are meant to help practitioners develop and sustain VR services and systems. The report asserts that the “R” in “VR” needs to emphasize virtual “Relationships” as well as “Reference.”

July 22, 2011

Study on the Resolution of Financial Companies under the Bankruptcy Code

Study on the Resolution of Financial Companies under the Bankruptcy Code, July 2011

"Under section 216 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), in consultation with the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (the Administrative Office), must conduct a study regarding the resolution of financial companies under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Section 216 directs the Board specifically to study five topics, including (1) the effectiveness of the Bankruptcy Code for systemic financial companies, (2) the establishment of a special court or panel of judges for financial company bankruptcies, (3) the adoption of amendments to the Bankruptcy Code to enhance its ability to resolve financial companies, (4) the treatment of qualified financial contracts (QFCs) in U.S. insolvency laws, and (5) the establishment of a new chapter or subchapter of the Bankruptcy Code for financial companies. The five topics specified in section 216 generally correspond to specific proposals for amending the Bankruptcy Code that were presented to the Congress in connection with its consideration of the Dodd-Frank Act, specifically in connection with its consideration of the “orderly liquidation authority” (OLA) in Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act."

July 21, 2011

Federal Reserve seeks comment on notice outlining regulations previously issued by OTS

News release: "The Federal Reserve Board is seeking comment on a notice that outlines the regulations previously issued by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) that the Federal Reserve will continue to enforce after assuming supervisory responsibility for savings and loan holding companies (SLHCs). Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, supervisory and rule-writing authority for SLHCs and their non-depository subsidiaries will transfer from the OTS to the Board on July 21, 2011. The Board requests comments on the notice by August 31, 2011. The Board intends to issue an interim final rule soon that will include technical, nomenclature, and other changes to certain OTS regulations to accommodate the transfer of supervisory authority to the Board and to address modifications made by the Dodd-Frank Act."

July 20, 2011

Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act approved by the Uniform Law Commission

Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act Drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Law - approved and recommended for enactment, July 18, 2011

"A new act approved [July 12, 2011] by a national law group establishes an outcomes-based, technology-neutral framework for providing online legal material with the same level of trustworthiness traditionally provided by publication in a law book. The Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act was approved today by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) at its 120th Annual Meeting in Vail, Colorado.Increasingly, state governments are publishing laws, statutes, agency rules, and court rules and decisions online. In some states, important state-level legal material is no longer published in books, but is only available online. While electronic publication of legal material has facilitated public access to the material, it has also raised concerns. Is the legal material official, authentic, government data that has not been altered? For the long term, how will this electronic legal material be preserved? How will the public access the material 10, 50, or 100 years from now? The Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act provides a consistent approach to solving these problems."

FTC Returns Nearly $108M to 450,000 Homeowners Overcharged by Countrywide for Loan Servicing Fees

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 450,177 refund checks worth almost $108 million to homeowners who were allegedly overcharged by Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. As part of the FTC’s efforts to protect financially distressed homeowners, the FTC reached a settlement with Countrywide last year over allegations that the company collected excessive fees from borrowers who were struggling to keep their homes...The FTC’s June 2010 settlement order required Countrywide, which is now owned by Bank of America, to pay $108 million to be used for refunds and barred the company from taking advantage of borrowers who have fallen behind on their payments. The refunds are being distributed to consumers whose loans were serviced by Countrywide between January 1, 2005, and July 1, 2008, and who were subject to the company’s allegedly unlawful practices."

Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. and BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, Defendants. (United States District Court for the Central District of California) Case No. CV-10-4193, FTC File No. 082 3205

July 19, 2011

TRAC: Immigration Continues to Top Federal Prosecutions

"A total of 15,173 Federal criminal prosecutions were recorded as being filed during April 2011, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. Immigration charges again took the top two spots for the most frequent lead charges brought. Illegal entry -- with 4,782 defendants charged, up sharply in April -- was the charge most commonly recorded, followed by illegal reentry with 3,047 prosecutions. The judicial district with the most federal prosecutions in April was Arizona with 3,216, down slightly from 3,428 prosecutions in that state recorded during March. In addition to immigration, TRAC offers free reports on convictions and prosecutions for program categories such as white collar crime, terrorism, weapons and drugs. TRAC also reports on the enforcement activities of selected government agencies such as DHS, FBI, IRS and ATF."

July 17, 2011

ACLU: Lessons from the UK "Phone Hacking" Scandal

Commentary: "Britain is now enmeshed in a gigantic scandal around privacy invasions by the press and police. It began with revelations about reporters for Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid newspaper News of the World hacking into the voicemail of a murdered young girl, and has expanded as other privacy invasions have come to light."

WSJ.com: Scandal Grows at News Corp. - "Former News Corp. executive Rebekah Brooks was arrested and the head of Scotland Yard stepped down, as a convulsive phone-hacking scandal raced into the loftiest ranks of Britain's business and law-enforcement worlds."

July 15, 2011

FTC Will Not Enforce Provisions of MARS Rule Against Real Estate Professionals Helping Consumers Obtain Short Sales

"The Federal Trade Commission today issued a statement announcing that it will forbear from enforcing most provisions of its Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule against real estate brokers and their agents who assist financially distressed consumers in obtaining short sales from their lenders or servicers. As a result of the stay on enforcement, these real estate professionals will not have to make several disclosures required by the Rule that, in the context of assisting with short sales, could be misleading or confuse consumers. As more and more American homeowners seek short sales, it is especially important that the Rule not inadvertently discourage real estate professionals from helping consumers with these types of transactions. The MARS Rule was issued pursuant to authority granted by Congress in 2009. The issuance of the Rule followed numerous FTC and state enforcement actions against companies that claimed to be able to obtain from consumers’ mortgage lenders or servicers a loan modification or other relief to avoid foreclosure. The Rule covers companies or individuals, among others, who assist consumers in obtaining approval of a short sale from their lender or servicer."

July 14, 2011

New GAO Reports: Children's Television Act, Defense Logistics, DOD Civilian Personnel, Dodd-Frank Act, EPA Health Risk Assessments

Children's Television Act: FCC Could Improve Efforts to Oversee Enforcement and Provide Public Information, GAO-11-659, July 14, 2011
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands - Status of Transition to Federal Immigration Law, GAO-11-805T, July 14, 2011
Defense Logistics: Oversight and a Coordinated Strategy Needed to Implement the Army Workload and Performance System, GAO-11-566R, July 14, 2011
DOD Civilian Personnel: Competency Gap Analyses and Other Actions Needed to Enhance DOD's Strategic Workforce Plans, GAO-11-827T, July 14, 2011
Dodd-Frank Act: Eleven Agencies' Estimates of Resources for Implementing Regulatory Reform, GAO-11-808T, July 14, 2011
EPA Health Risk Assessments: Sustained Management and Oversight Key to Overcoming Challenges, GAO-11-824T, July 14, 2011
Information Technology: Continued Attention Needed to Accurately Report Federal Spending and Improve Management, GAO-11-831T, July 14, 2011
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Contracts Awarded and Consultants Retained by Federal Departments and Agencies to Assist in Implementing the Act, GAO-11-797R, July 14, 2011.
DHS Science and Technology: Additional Steps Needed to Ensure Test and Evaluation Requirements Are Met, GAO-11-596, July 14, 2011

July 11, 2011

TRAC Defends Report on SSA Court Findings

"The Social Security Administration's (SSA) critical response to a July 4 report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) ignored the body of evidence presented by TRAC about systematic and hard-to-explain disparities within the SSA's court system. A point-by-point refutation of the agency's sweeping statement regarding TRAC's report can be found here. Read TRAC's original report, here. Embedded in the report is a special interactive table giving the public access to extensive counts and rates that further document the degree of the disparities among individual judges in a Social Security hearing office as well as disparity measures for each office as a whole."

FTC Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification System

"The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act established the federal premerger notification program, which provides the FTC and the Department of Justice with information about large mergers and acquisitions before they occur. The parties to certain proposed transactions must submit premerger notification to the FTC and DOJ. Premerger notification involves completing an HSR Form, also called a “Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions,” with information about each company’s business. The parties may not close their deal until the waiting period outlined in the HSR Act has passed, or the government has granted early termination of the waiting period. For more information about the program, read our Introductory Guides. The FTC administers the premerger notification program, and the staff of the Premerger Notification Office is available to answer questions about how and when to file."

July 10, 2011

EPIC: European Parliament Takes Stance Against Airport Body Scanners

Follow up to previous postings on whole body scanning at airports, via EPIC: The European Parliament has adopted a resolution that sets out strict safeguards for airport body scanners. The resolution requires that Member States only "deploy technology which is the least harmful for human health" and establish substantial privacy protection. The resolution prohibits the use of body scanners that use ionizing radiation. New guidelines also state that airport body scanners "must not have the capabilities to store or save data." EPIC currently is pursuing a lawsuit to suspend the use of body scanners in the United States, citing several federal laws and the US Constitution. EPIC has called the US airport body scanner program "invasive, ineffective, and unlawful." For more information, see EPIC: EPIC v. DHS (Suspension of Body Scanner Program) and EPIC: Whole Body Imaging Technology."

July 09, 2011

EFF: Prosecutors Demand Laptop Password in Violation of Fifth Amendment

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged a federal court in Colorado today to block the government's attempt to force a woman to enter a password into an encrypted laptop, arguing in an amicus brief that it would violate her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. A defendant in this case, Ramona Fricosu, is accused of fraudulent real estate transactions. During the investigation, the government seized an encrypted laptop from the home she shares with her family, and then asked the court to compel Fricosu to type the password into the computer or turn over a decrypted version of her data. But EFF told the court today that the demand is contrary to the Constitution, forcing Fricosu to become a witness against herself. "Decrypting the data on the laptop can be, in and of itself, a testimonial act -- revealing control over a computer and the files on it," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Ordering the defendant to enter an encryption password puts her in the situation the Fifth Amendment was designed to prevent: having to choose between incriminating herself, lying under oath, or risking contempt of court."

July 08, 2011

FTC Enhances Longstanding Regulatory Review Program to Increase Public Participation and Reduce Burden on Business

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today told Congress it is taking steps to enhance the agency’s longstanding program to review rules and guides, which will promote greater efficiency, transparency, and public participation. The FTC announced several initiatives to ensure its regulations are up-to-date, effective, and not overly burdensome, including: updating its schedule of rule and guide reviews for the next decade; seeking public comments to improve its regulatory review process; launching a new regulatory review web page; and streamlining the form and information that companies must submit when seeking antitrust clearance for proposed mergers or acquisitions."

July 07, 2011

UK Prime Minister sets ambitious open data agenda

"The Prime Minister has today committed to publishing key data on the National Health Service, schools, criminal courts and transport. This represents the most ambitious open data agenda of any government anywhere in the world. The new data [see data.go.uk] will reveal clinical achievements and prescribing data by individual GP practices, the performance of hospital teams in treating lung cancer and other key healthcare conditions, the effectiveness of schools at teaching pupils across a range of subjects, criminal sentencing by each court, and data on rail timetables, rail service performance, roadworks, current road conditions, car parks and cycle routes in an open format for use by all. The new commitments, set out in a letter from the Prime Minister to Cabinet colleagues, aim to provide the public with more information about the performance of services they use every day, and to help to drive modern, personalised and sustainable public services. The new data are also expected to drive economic growth as they promote the creation of new services and applications."

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Resolution policies and frameworks – progress so far

Resolution policies and frameworks – progress so far, July 2011

"The report reflects the progress being made in the area of cross-border bank resolution since the Basel Committee published a set of ten recommendations in March 2010. The report also responds to the Financial Stability Board November 2010 recommendations on systemically important financial institutions for an assessment of the legislative and other changes to national regimes and policies needed to accomplish effective resolution of systemically important financial institutions....The Committee's report stresses the need to accelerate reforms of domestic resolution regimes and tools and of frameworks for cross-border enforcement of resolution actions."

Related postings on financial system

July 06, 2011

Bayer CropScience Settles Biotech Rice Litigation

News release: "Bayer CropScience will pay up to $750 million to U.S. rice farmers to resolve claims that the company's experimental LibertyLink rice contaminated crops, making them unfit for export. The agreement ends several lawsuits representing more than 11,000 long grain rice farmers in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The LibertyLink rice traits were originally developed by AgrEvo, which was bought by Aventis CropScience. Bayer acquired Aventis CropScience in 2001. The rice was genetically modified to be tolerant to glufosinate, the active ingredient in Liberty herbicide. Tests of the rice were conducted at Louisiana State University. In 2006, Bayer CropScience alerted USDA that LibertyLink rice had contaminated the U.S. rice supply. At the time, there were no genetically modified rice varieties being grown commercially in the U.S. In response to the contamination, Japan and Russia banned imports of long grain rice from the U.S., while Mexico and the European Union required that U.S.-grown rice be tested and proven free of genetically-modified traits."

July 05, 2011

PBGC Website Gives Access to Legal Filings, Decisions

News release: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) has expanded the range of public information offered on its website by adding a Legal Filings and Decisions section to the Resources page. This innovation, part of a recent major upgrade of the PBGC website, presents significant legal filings recently submitted by PBGC in its efforts to preserve and safeguard pensions, as well as court decisions issued in response to PBGC filings. The new section also will offer noteworthy filings and decisions from the recent past."

American Bar Association - Initial Draft Proposals on Lawyers' Use of Technology and Client Development

Jamie S. Gorelick and Michael Traynor, Co-Chairs - ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 - Re: For Comment: Initial Draft Proposals on Lawyers' Use of Technology and Client Development. Date: June 29, 2011

"The Commission is pleased to release its initial proposals relating to lawyers’ use of technology-based client development tools. As the accompanying report explains, the Commission concluded that no new restrictions are necessary in this area, but that lawyers would benefit from more guidance on how to use new client development tools in a manner that is consistent with the profession’s core values. To that end, the Commission is proposing amendments to Rules 1.18 (Duties to Prospective Clients), 7.2 (Advertising), and 7.3 (Direct Contact with Prospective Clients) that would clarify how lawyers can use new technology to disseminate important information about legal services and develop clients."

July 04, 2011

New on LLRX.com - Pretrial Detention, Bail and Due Process

Via LLRX.com: Pretrial Detention, Bail and Due Process - Ken Strutin's guide comprises recent publications and other notable resources concerning the relationship between the administration of bail and the requirements of due process. Pretrial detention of suspects directly impacts the presumption of innocence. The cornerstone of the justice system is that no one will be punished without the benefit of due process. Incarceration before trial, when the outcome of the case is yet to be determined, cuts against this principle. The Founders were aware of the dangers inherent in indiscriminate imprisonment, which is one of the main reasons behind the inclusion of the Eighth Amendment in the Bill of Rights, prohibiting excessive bail.

July 01, 2011

The Freedom of Information Act on its 45th anniversary

The Freedom of Information Act on its 45th anniversary | Commentary - July 01, 2011: "Lyndon Johnson opposed FOIA — said it was a plot against his administration — but a tenacious backbencher from California, John Moss, had pursued it for 12 years and LBJ finally relented, signing the legislation on July 4th, 1966. Here Michael Lemov, author of a new book on Moss and FOIA, recounts events leading to the enactment."

June 30, 2011

2010 Wiretap Report Shows Increase in Authorized Intercepts

"Federal and state applications for orders authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications increased 34 percent in 2010, compared to the number reported in 2009. The interceptions are reported in the 2010 Wiretap Report, released today by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC). The current report covers intercepts concluded between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. A total of 3,194 intercept applications by federal and state courts were authorized in 2010, with 1,207 applications by federal authorities authorized and 1,987 applications by 25 states authorized. One application was denied. Installed intercepts totaled 2,311."

Sentencing Commission Votes to Make New Crack Cocaine Guidelines Retroactive

Follow up to previous postings on sentencing guidelines, this ews release: "The United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously today to give retroactive effect to its proposed permanent amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines that implements the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Retroactivity of the amendment will become effective on November 1, 2011 - the same day that the proposed permanent amendment would take effect; unless Congress acts to disapprove the amendment...Not every federal crack cocaine offender in federal prison will be eligible for a lower sentence as a result of this decision. The Commission estimates, based on Fiscal Year 2010 sentencing data, that approximately 12,000 offenders may be eligible to seek a sentence reduction. The average sentence reduction for eligible offenders will be approximately 37 months, and the overall impact on the eligible offender population will occur incrementally over decades. The average sentence for these offenders, even after reduction, will remain about 10 years. The Bureau of Prisons estimates that retroactivity of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 amendment could result in a savings of over $200 million within the first five years after retroactivity takes effect."

June 28, 2011

14th edition of Nations in Transit

News release: "The authoritarian countries of the former Soviet Union have built governance systems that are resistant to reform and therefore increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable crises of the sort recently seen in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a new study released by Freedom House. Nations in Transit 2011, the latest edition of Freedom House’s annual assessment of democratic development in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, also finds that the ever-growing tenures of authoritarian leaders in the former Soviet Union have contributed to a number of looming governance problems, including the inability to develop law-based systems, tackle corruption, and—especially in the case of energy-dependent states such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia—diversify their economies."

June 27, 2011

Know Your Digital Rights guide from EFF

Know Your Rights! by Hanni Fakhoury, EFF Staff Attorney, June 2011

"Your computer, your phone, and your other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. This is sensitive data that’s worth protecting from prying eyes — including those of the government. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects you from unreasonable government searches and seizures, and this protection extends to your computer and portable devices. But how does this work in the real world? What should you do if the police or other law enforcement officers show up at your door and want to search your computer? EFF has designed this guide to help you understand your rights if officers try to search the data stored on your computer or portable electronic device, or seize it for further examination somewhere else. Because anything you say can be used against you in a criminal or civil case, before speaking to any law enforcement official, you should consult with an attorney."

June 24, 2011

Google Posts About FTC's Formal Notification of Business Review

Follow up to posting, WSJ: FTC Plans to Serve Google With Subpoenas, from the Official Google Blog: "At Google, we’ve always focused on putting the user first. We aim to provide relevant answers as quickly as possible—and our product innovation and engineering talent have delivered results that users seem to like, in a world where the competition is only one click away. Still, we recognize that our success has led to greater scrutiny. Yesterday, we received formal notification from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it has begun a review of our business. We respect the FTC’s process and will be working with them (as we have with other agencies) over the coming months to answer questions about Google and our services. It’s still unclear exactly what the FTC’s concerns are, but we’re clear about where we stand...To learn more about our business, please visit google.com/press/competition."

June 23, 2011

WSJ: FTC Plans to Serve Google With Subpoenas

WSJ: "Federal regulators are poised to hit Google Inc. with subpoenas, launching a broad, formal investigation into whether the Internet giant has abused its dominance in Web-search advertising, people familiar with the matter said. The civil probe, which has the potential to reshape how companies compete on the Internet, is the most serious legal threat yet to the 12-year-old company, though it wouldn't necessarily lead to any federal allegations of wrongdoing against Google. While Google has faced several antitrust probes in recent years, the U.S. has limited its investigations largely to reviews of the company's mergers and acquisitions. The new inquiry, by contrast, will examine fundamental issues relating to Google's core search-advertising business, its biggest money maker, said the people familiar with the matter."

FTC Files Amicus Brief in U.S. District Court Opposing Proposed Class Action Settlement with Debt Buyer Midland Funding LLC

News release: "As explained in the amicus brief, the proposed settlement raises concerns in three areas in which the FTC has significant expertise: FDCPA and debt collection, privacy and data collection, and class action fairness. First, the FTC is the chief federal enforcer of the FDCPA and has conducted comprehensive assessments of debt collection activities, including its 2009 report, Collecting Consumer Debts: The Challenges of Change and its 2010 report, Repairing a Broken System: Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration. Second, the FTC safeguards consumers’ privacy and the security of their personal information under Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Finally, in connection with its Class Action Fairness Project, the FTC has studied how best to protect consumer interests and promote fairness in the class action context and has filed amicus briefs commenting on potentially unfair class settlements."

EPIC: Supreme Court Strikes Down Prescription Privacy Law

"In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down Vermont's prescription privacy law. IMS Health, Inc. v. Sorrell held that the Vermont statute, which bars disclosure of prescription data for marketing purposes, violates data mining firms' free speech rights. Vermont "burdened a form of protected expression that it found too persuasive. At the same time, the State has left unburdened those speakers whose messages are in accord with its own views. This the State cannot do." the Court wrote. The Court suggested that a more privacy-protective statute might have withstood Constitutional scrutiny, writing "the State might have advanced its asserted privacy interest by allowing the information’s sale or disclosure in only a few narrow and well-justified circumstances. A statute of that type would present quite a different case than the one presented here." EPIC filed an amicus brief on behalf of 27 technical experts and legal scholars, as well as nine consumer and privacy groups, arguing that the privacy interest in safeguarding medical records is substantial and that the "de-identification" techniques adopted by data-mining firms do not protect patient privacy. For more information, see EPIC: IMS Health v. Sorrell."

June 22, 2011

The Orderly Liquidation of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. under the Dodd-Frank Act

The Orderly Liquidation of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. under the Dodd-Frank Act, FDIC Quarterly, Early release for the upcoming 2011, Volume 5, No. 2

"The bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (Lehman or LBHI) on September 15, 2008, was one of the signal events of the financial crisis. The disorderly and costly nature of the LBHI bankruptcy — the largest, and still ongoing, financial bankruptcy in U.S. history — contributed to the massive financial disruption of late 2008. This paper examines how the government could have structured a resolution of Lehman under the orderly liquidation authority of Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) and how the outcome could have differed from the outcome under bankruptcy."

June 21, 2011

Preemptions in Federal Legislation in the 111th and Previous Congresses

CBO: Preemptions in Federal Legislation in the 111th and Previous Congresses, June 21, 2011

"This supplement to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) series of publications reporting on federal mandates, as defined by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, focuses on preemptions, a type of mandate that would limit the authority of state, local, or tribal governments to apply and enforce their own laws. The report discusses the nature of federal preemptions and identifies preemptive language in legislation considered by the 111th Congress; it also outlines the policy areas most affected by those proposed federal requirements and presents data about other preemptions CBO has identified since 2001."

LLRX.com - FOIA Facts: The Most Transparent Administration in History?

Via LLRX.com - FOIA Facts: The Most Transparent Administration in History? - Scott A. Hodes argues that we have no real benchmark to determine executive branch success in fulfilling Presidential promises about openness and transparency. Rather he contends that the measure is not each time the administration doesn’t release something in a timely fashion to say it has failed the test.

EPA Regulations: Too Much, Too Little, or On Track?

CRS - EPA Regulations: Too Much, Too Little, or On Track? - James E. McCarthy - Specialist in Environmental Policy, Claudia Copeland, Specialist in Resources and Environmental Policy - March 21, 2011

"This report provides background information on recent EPA rulemaking...It examines 43 major or controversial regulatory actions taken by or under development at EPA since January 2009, providing details on the regulatory action itself, presenting an estimated timeline for completion of the rule (including identification of related court or statutory deadlines), and, in general, providing EPA’s estimates of costs and benefits, where available. The report also discusses factors that affect the timeframe in which regulations take effect, including statutory and judicial deadlines, public comment periods, judicial review, and permitting procedures, the net results of which are that existing facilities are likely to have several years before being required to comply with most of the regulatory actions under discussion. Unable to account for such factors, which will vary from case to case, timelines that show dates for proposal and promulgation of EPA standards effectively underestimate the complexities of the regulatory process and overstate the near-term impact of many of the regulatory actions."

June 20, 2011

DOJ Antitrust Division Policy Guide to Merger Remedies

News release: "The Department of Justice released an updated version of the Antitrust Division’s Policy Guide to Merger Remedies. The policy guide is a tool for Antitrust Division staff to use in analyzing proposed remedies in its merger matters. It also provides transparency into the division’s approach to merger remedies for the business community, the antitrust bar and the broader public."

June 19, 2011

Microsoft to Acquire Skype - FTC Approves, Awaiting DOJ

The FTC provides antitrust approval [link to notice here] - Microsoft news release: Microsoft Corp. and Skype Global announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype. The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services. With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally."

June 15, 2011

Brief Guide to the European Union and Its Legislative Processes

A Brief Guide to the European Union and Its Legislative Processes, June 2011 - "The EU, created by the Treaty of Maastricht1, is a union of 27 independent states. It was founded to enhance political, economic and social cooperation. Its origins date back to the 1950s and the establishment of three organisations:

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established by the Treaty of Paris
European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) established by the Treaties of Rome
Under the Treaty of Maastricht, these three organisations (collectively, under the Treaty of Brussels4, the ‘European Communities’) were brought together to comprise the first of three conceptual pillars, which together formed the EU.
The Treaty also renamed the EEC the ‘European Community’ (EC), reflecting the determination of the Member States to expand the European Communities’ powers to non-economic domains."

Recent Testimony of Federal Reserve Officials

June 16, 2011 - Governor Daniel K. Tarullo - Capital and liquidity standards - Before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
June 15, 2011 - Michael R. Foley, Senior Associate Director, Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation, Banking supervision - Before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
June 15, 2011 - Michael S. Gibson, Senior Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics ,Implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, Before the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Government Printing Office: 150 Years of Service to the Nation

"The U.S. Government Printing Office published its last official history 50 years ago, marking its centennial anniversary.
100 GPO Years 1861–1961 has proven to be a remarkably valuable resource and deserves to stand alone as an enduring
contribution to the historical record of this great agency. Instead of trying to improve on it, with the approach of our
150th anniversary we decided to recreate the telling of GPO’s story. Keeping America Informed: The U.S. Government
Printing Office: 150 Years of Service to the Nation recasts our history in a fresh light, with new contributions and emphases,
and provides the reader with a greater exposure to GPO’s rich photographic record, with many of the images in this book
published for the first time. Most important of all, Keeping America Informed describes how the agency has transformed itself through the years by continually adapting to the most efficient technologies available to get its work done. In the ink-on-paper era, this meant moving from handset to machine-set type, from slower to high-speed presses, and from hand to automated bookbinding. These changes enabled GPO to keep up with the demands of a growing Nation and helped keep costs down, and they were significant for their time. Yet they pale by comparison with the transformation that accompanied GPO’s incorporation of electronic information technologies, the single most dominant trend at the agency of the past 50 years, and the generator of unprecedented improvements in productivity and hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer savings that continue into the present. Today, GPO is fundamentally different from what it was as recently as a generation ago: smaller, leaner, and equipped with digital production capabilities that are the bedrock of the information systems relied upon daily by Congress, Federal agencies, and the public to ensure open and transparent Government in the digital era."

June 14, 2011

DOJ: Lawyers working on Guantánamo Bay detainee litigation may access WikiLeaks

Follow up to postings on WikiLeaks, via the Legal Times: "Stephen Elliot of the Civil Division’s federal programs branch said in the guidance, provided Friday to lawyers in pending detainee cases in Washington federal district court, that attorneys for detainees are allowed to cite to WikiLeaks documents."

"Access to Potentially Classified Information on WikiLeaks and Other Sites Counsel are permitted to view on any non-U.S.-Government-issued computer, including personal and work computers, potentially classified information on the WikiLeaks website, or on other websites that reproduce such material found on the WikiLeaks site. While you may access such material from your non-U.S.-Government-issued personal and work computers, you are not permitted to download, save, print, disseminate, or otherwise reproduce, maintain, or transport potentially classified information."

June 13, 2011

Report - FBI Expands Surveillance Power of Agents

NYT: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention. The F.B.I. soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been briefed on its contents. The new rules add to several measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they search for signs of criminal or terrorist activity. The F.B.I. recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents’ power to use potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing."

NY AG Sues Feds For Failure to Study Fracking

News release: [On May 31, 2011] New York "Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced he was filing a lawsuit against the federal government for its failure to commit to a full environmental review of proposed regulations that would allow natural gas drilling – including the potentially harmful fracking technique – in the Delaware River Basin. Last month, the Attorney General notified the federal government that if it did not commit to conducting an environmental review before the regulations authorizing gas drilling are finalized, he would take legal action to compel such a study...In April, just one day before a blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas drilling site caused gallons of chemical-laced water to spill over neighboring land and into a stream, the Attorney General demanded that the federal government comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The law requires federal agencies to conduct a full review of actions that may cause significant environmental impacts. Despite the legal requirement, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) – with the approval of its supporting federal agencies – proposed regulations allowing natural gas development in the Basin without undertaking any such review. Represented by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Brigadier General Peter A. DeLuca, the involved federal agencies include the Army Corps, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency."

SEC Guide - Implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: "This law creates a new, more effective regulatory structure, fills a host of regulatory gaps, brings greater public transparency and market accountability to the financial system and gives investors important protections and greater input into corporate governance." — SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro

June 11, 2011

Hatch Releases Analysis Outlining Questionable Legality of Physician Owned Entities

News release: "U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, released a Committee Minority analysis, Physician Owned Distributors (PODs): An Overview of Key Issues and Potential Areas for Congressional Oversight, detailing a spike in the utilization of medical procedures by physicians invested in these entities. Citing these concerns, Hatch spearheaded two separate bipartisan letters to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General calling for an investigation. This analysis, conducted by the Senate Finance Committee Minority staff, examines the structure and activities of physician owned distributorships (PODs) within the medical device supply chain. In recent years, there has been an uptick in these arrangements, which allow physician investors to purchase ownership shares in an entity that, in turn, purchases or serves as a medical device distributor for the products the physician utilizes in surgery. Hatch’s analysis, which identifies the rapid proliferation of PODs in at least 20 states, exposes the lack of specific legal guidance issued by the Office of Inspector General for HHS to govern the structure and establishment of PODs and brings into question the utilization and appropriateness of services provided by doctors participating in some of the PODs, particularly with respect to Medicare, which is funded by taxpayers. The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid."

June 08, 2011

EPA Removes Confidentiality Claims for More Than 150 Chemicals

News release: "In order to ensure the public has as much information as possible about the health and the environmental impacts of chemicals, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made public the identities of more than 150 chemicals contained in 104 health and safety studies that had been claimed confidential by industry. Today’s announcement is another in a series of unprecedented actions that EPA is taking to provide the public with greater access to information on the chemicals that are manufactured and used in the United States. For these 104 studies, the chemical identity will no longer be redacted, or kept from view. The chemicals involved are used in dispersant formulations and consumer products such as air fresheners, non-stick and stain resistant materials, fire resistant materials, nonylphenol compounds, perfluorinated compounds, and lead."

UK: Review of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007: June 2011 the Government response

HM Treasury Review of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007: the Government response, June 2011

"The Government’s approach is to ensure the UK financial system is a hostile environment for money laundering and terrorist finance while minimising the burden on legitimate businesses. In so doing and in order to prevent the UK being put at an economic disadvantage, the UK Government remains committed to the effective implementation of global standards (those agreed by the 36 Member States of the Financial Action Task Force) and the EU 3rd Money Laundering Directive (EU Directive). The implementation of these requirements by the UK is underpinned by the principles of effectiveness, proportionality and engagement; and is driven by a commitment to the risk-based approach provided for in the Regulations. This gives businesses flexibility in their implementation of the Regulations and it helps to avoid the ‘tick-box’ application of the regulations under which emphasis is placed on formally discharging requirements rather than the substance of effective AML practice. It should help to minimise costs on business and to ensure the Regulations are effective and proportionately implemented on a case-by-case basis, by reflecting the considered judgement of individual businesses of the risks they face."

June 07, 2011

TRAC: New Judge Hiring Fails to Stem Rising Immigration Case Backlog

"The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a new all-time high of 275,316 by the beginning of May 2011, according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The case backlog has continued to grow — up 2.8 percent — since TRAC's previous report four months ago, and 48 percent higher than levels at the end of FY 2008. Wait times have increased since our previous report. The average time these pending cases have been waiting in the Immigration Courts of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is now 482 days, compared with 467 days at the end of last year."

Feinstein, Grassley Release Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control Report on Mexico

News release: "U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), co-chairs of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control released a report outlining key steps and initiatives to combat Mexico’s brutal drug trafficking organizations and reduce violence in the country. The report, U.S. and Mexican Responses to Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations, is endorsed by all seven Members of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control and makes several recommendations for the U.S. government. The report synthesizes information gathered through a country visit, briefings, interviews, and a review of documents from both government and non-government subject matter experts."

"The southwest border is the primary route for the transfer of illicit drug proceeds fueling Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking organizations “annually generate, remove, and launder between $18 billion and $39 billion in wholesale distribution proceeds”, much of it across the Southwest border. Trucks filled with bulk cash literally are being driven across the U.S. – Mexico border to fund the drug trafficking organizations."

The World Top Income Database

The World Top Incomes Database (Select Countries, Select Years, Select Variables - populated as choices are made):

"Information taken from this site should be cited as Alvaredo, Facundo, Anthony B. Atkinson, Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, The World Top Incomes Database, http://g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/topincomes, dd/mm/yyyy. We advise making explicit reference to the date when the database was consulted, as the statistics may change. The specific country chapters and papers should also be cited."

June 06, 2011

Fed Governor: Regulating Systemically Important Financial Firms

Regulating Systemically Important Financial Firms, Governor Daniel K. Tarullo At the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C., June 3, 2011: "As the one-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act approaches, there will be much discussion about the progress that has been made in reforming financial regulation. Today I would like to get a head start on this exercise, concentrating on Dodd-Frank's requirement that the Federal Reserve Board establish special prudential standards for systemically important financial institutions or, as they are now generally known, "SIFIs." My focus will be on the requirement for more stringent capital standards, which has generated particular interest."

Related postings on financial system

Davis Polk - Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress Report Progress as of June 1, 2011

Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress Report - Progress as of June 1, 2011: "This Davis Polk Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress Report is the third in a series of reports that use empirical data to help market participants and policymakers assess the progress of the rulemaking and other work that has been done by regulators under the Dodd-Frank Act. Previous reports can be found here.

This version of the Progress Report only includes rulemakings and studies explicitly required by the Dodd-Frank Act. Many discretionary rulemakings will be needed to implement Dodd-Frank’s mandates. Regulators have started to adopt rules that are discretionary under Dodd-Frank.

The Progress Report was developed using information from Davis Polk’s subscription-based Regulatory TrackerTM product."

June 05, 2011

Search the full text of EDGAR filings from the last four years

SEC: "This page allows you to search the full text of EDGAR filings from the last four years. The full text of a filing includes all data in the filing as well as all attachments to the filing. To find the information you need and make your search easy and enjoyable, please visit our FAQ page. We are still developing this feature, and we plan to enhance it based on user feedback."

June 03, 2011

LLSDC - Truth in Lending Act and Amendments Legislative History

Truth in Lending Act and Amendments Legislative History: Links on Westlaw (WL - GAO Histories) and the Library of Congress (LC - THOMAS CRS Histories) with Public Law links on GPO's FDsys from 1995, Compiled and Maintained by Rick McKinney, Assistant Law Librarian, Federal Reserve Board Law Library, June 3, 2011

New Publication, Web Page Shed Light on Process of Becoming a Judge

American Constitution Society (ACS): "Have you ever thought about becoming a judge? Even most lawyers and law students don’t know much about how to approach the process, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Tina Matsuoka pointed out during an event on the topic yesterday. ACS and seven other legal groups have launched a publication, The Path to the Federal Bench, intended to help demystify the process and encourage people from diverse backgrounds to pursue federal judgeships. The booklet includes tips on everything from assessing your candidacy to navigating the increasingly difficult nomination and confirmation process, and features the stories of several judges. This coalition of groups has already held a number of panel discussions around the country about the process of pursuing judgeships, and video of some of those events, as well as a short one-on-one interview with U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Judge Andre M. Davis, is available at a new ACS web page focused on the path to the bench."

May 30, 2011

EU Commission sets out "blueprint" for Intellectual Property Rights to boost creativity and innovation

EUROPA press release: "Intellectual property rights (IPR), which comprise patents, trademarks, designs and geographical indications, as well as copyright (authors' rights) and rights related to copyright (for performers, producers and broadcasters), have been around for centuries. Often, without our even realising, they affect our daily lives: they protect the technology we use (cars, mobile phones, trains), the food we eat and the music we listen to or the films we watch. But in the last few years, technological change and, in particular, the growing importance of online activities, have completely changed the world in which IPR operate. The existing mix of European and national rules are no longer adapted and need to be modernised. That is why the Commission has adopted today a comprehensive strategy to revamp the legal framework in which IPR operate. Our objective is to enable inventors, creators, users and consumers to adapt to the new circumstances and to enhance new business opportunities. The new rules will strike the right balance between promoting creation and innovation, in part by ensuring reward and investment for creators and, on the other hand, promoting the widest possible access to goods and services protected by IPR. Getting this balance right will make a real difference to businesses (from the individual artist working alone to the big pharmaceutical companies) by encouraging investment in innovation. This will benefit the EU's growth and competitiveness which is delivered through the single market. Consumers will benefit from wider and easier access to information and cultural content, for example online music. The strategy deals with many issues to ensure IPR are covered comprehensively - from the patent a business needs to protect an invention to tackling the misuse of such inventions via a proposal also adopted today which will strengthen action on counterfeiting and piracy. Among the first deliverables of this IPR overall strategy are today's proposals for an easier licensing system for so-called "orphan works" that will allow many cultural works to be accessible online, and for a new regulation to reinforce customs actions in fighting trade of IPR infringing goods."

May 25, 2011

New GAO Reports: Antidumping and Countervailing Duties, Tax Refunds, Taxes and Identity Theft

Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Options for Improving Collection, GAO-11-693T, May 25, 2011
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: Federal Support for Developing Language and Literacy, GAO-11-357, May 25, 2011
Defense Management: Comprehensive Cost Information and Analysis of Alternatives Needed to Assess Military Posture in Asia, GAO-11-316, May 25, 2011
Economic Development: Efficiency and Effectiveness of Fragmented Programs Are Unclear, GAO-11-651T, May 25, 2011
Federal Student Loans: Patterns in Tuition, Enrollment, and Federal Stafford Loan Borrowing Up to the 2007-08 Loan Limit Increase, GAO-11-470R, May 25, 2011
Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-11-635T, May 25, 2011
Smithsonian Institution: Much Work Still Needed to Identify and Repatriate Indian Human Remains and Objects, GAO-11-515, May 25, 2011
Tax Refunds: Enhanced Prerefund Compliance Checks Could Yield Significant Benefits, GAO-11-691T, May 25, 2011
Taxes and Identity Theft: Status of IRS Initiatives to Help Victimized Taxpayers, GAO-11-674T, May 25, 2011

May 24, 2011

CRS: Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online

Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online, Gina Stevens, Legislative Attorney, April 6, 2011

"There is no comprehensive federal privacy statute that protects personal information. Instead, a patchwork of federal laws and regulations govern the collection and disclosure of personal information and has been addressed by Congress on a sector-by-sector basis. Federal laws and regulations extend protection to consumer credit reports, electronic communications, federal agency records, education records, bank records, cable subscriber information, video rental records, motor vehicle records, health information, telecommunications subscriber information, children's online information, and customer financial information. Some contend that this patchwork of laws and regulations is insufficient to meet the demands of today's technology. Congress, the Obama Administration, businesses, public interest groups, and citizens are all involved in the discussion of privacy solutions. This report examines some of those efforts with respect to the protection of personal information. This report provides a brief overview of selected recent developments in the area of federal privacy law. This report does not cover workplace privacy laws or state privacy laws."

May 22, 2011

SEC Proposes Rules to Increase Transparency and Improve Integrity of Credit Ratings

Fact Sheet: "The Securities and Exchange Commission [May 18, 2011] voted unanimously to propose new rules and amendments intended to increase transparency and improve the integrity of credit ratings. The proposed rules would implement certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and enhance the SEC’s existing rules governing credit ratings and Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs). “In passing the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress noted that credit ratings applied to structured financial products proved inaccurate and contributed significantly to the mismanagement of risks by financial institutions and investors,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “Our proposed rules are intended to strengthen the integrity and improve the transparency of credit ratings.” Under the SEC’s proposal, NRSROs would be required to:

Report on internal controls.
Protect against conflicts of interest.
Establish professional standards for credit analysts.
Publicly provide – along with the publication of the credit rating – disclosure about the credit rating and the methodology used to determine it.
Enhance their public disclosures about the performance of their credit ratings.
The SEC’s proposal also requires disclosure concerning third-party due diligence reports for asset-backed securities."

May 19, 2011

"Link Rot" and Legal Resources on the Web: A 2011 Analysis by the Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group

Via LLRX: "Link Rot" and Legal Resources on the Web: A 2011 Analysis by the Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group - Sarah Rhodes describes and documents the work of the Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group's fourth annual investigation of link rot among the original URLs for online law and policy-related materials archived though the group's efforts. Link rot" is used to describe a URL that no longer provides direct access to files matching the content originally harvested from the URL. The Chesapeake Group focuses primarily on the preservation of Web-published legal materials, which often disappear as Web site content is rearranged or deleted over time. In the four years since the program began, the Chesapeake Group has built a digital archive collection comprising more than 7,400 digital items and 3,200 titles, all of which were originally posted to the Web.

Postcard from Vienna: The Vis Moot and the Triumph of Foreign and International Law

Via LLRX - Postcard from Vienna: The Vis Moot and the Triumph of Foreign and International Law - Nicholas Pengelley vibrantly documents, with accompanying photos, his latest experiences as evaluator of written memoranda, arbitrator at oral arguments, and sometime team coach at the Vis Moot, in which he has participated for a decade. The moot, which always takes place in the week leading up to Easter, is held in Vienna because of its associations with the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods ("CISG"). This is the law of the contract for all of the moot problems, which always involve a contractual sale of goods dispute between parties from two different countries.

May 18, 2011

New ABA web portal helps servicemembers and their families understand their legal needs

"ABA Home Front features: a national directory of legal programs and organizations providing in-person consultation and representation for military families in need of legal help; an Information Center with publications and resources on a variety of legal topics that military families may encounter; and the Pro Bono Center connects civilian attorneys to pro bono legal opportunities on behalf of military families and features resources for military legal assistance."

WTO Appellate Body issues report on Airbus dispute

The Appellate Body, on 18 May 2011, issued its report in the case “European Communities and Certain Member States — Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft” (WT/DS316/AB/R).

Summary of key findings: "The Appellate Body today upheld the Panel's finding that certain subsidies provided by the European Union and certain Member state governments to Airbus are incompatible with Article 5(c) of the SCM Agreement because they have caused serious prejudice to the interests of the United States. The principal subsidies covered by the ruling include financing arrangements (known as “Launch Aid” or “Member state financing”) provided by France, Germany, Spain, and the UK for the development of the A300, A310, A320, A330/A340, A330-200, A340-500/600, and A380 LCA projects. The ruling also covers certain equity infusions provided by the French and German governments to companies that formed part of the Airbus consortium.
DS316: European Communities and Certain Member States — Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft. Findings and conclusions, PDF, 669 pages.

May 17, 2011

TRAC Releases Federal Prosecution Data for February 2011

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: "Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,092 for the month of February according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. This was an increase of 18 percent from the previous month. Among the program categories, the largest number of prosecutions was seen in immigration, accounting for 49 percent of the filings. Drug trafficking crimes accounted for 12 percent of the total."

FINRA Launches New Disciplinary Actions Database

News release: "The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced the launch of the FINRA Disciplinary Actions Online database, a web-based searchable system that makes its disciplinary actions accessible via its website. The database enables users to perform searches for FINRA actions free of charge, seven days a week. Users may search for actions by case number, document text, document type, action date (by date range), a combination of document text and action date, individual name and Central Registration Depository (CRD®) number, or firm name and CRD number. The documents can be viewed online, printed, or downloaded as text-searchable PDF files. [See also Online Search Help]. Previously, the public had to contact FINRA to obtain copies of disciplinary actions. The new database makes available disciplinary action documents including Letters of Acceptance, Waivers and Consent (AWCs), settlements, National Adjudicatory Council decisions, Office of Hearing Officers decisions and complaints."

May 16, 2011

Consumer Protection, Legal Services, and Financial Stability: An Exchange

Consumer Protection, Legal Services, and Financial Stability: An Exchange, Melissa B. Jacoby - University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - School of Law; Anna Gelpern, American University Washington College of Law. Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol. 38, 2011, UNC Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1829686

"This exchange between us recasts the challenge of consumer financial protection and its implications for financial stability. Jacoby illustrates how the channels of production of formal law (non-uniform state law, uniform state law, federal law) fail to coherently reflect the functions of ex post consumer debtor protection. Channels of production shape the market for the services of lawyers and other intermediaries. Law schools reproduce categories of practice and thought based on formal rather than functional boundaries. Repeated exaltation of form over function helps explain why even good laws fail financially distressed consumers: individuals’ ability to use the best law for their circumstances can hinge on the specialization of the lawyer next door. Consistent with many prominent law-in-action studies, Jacoby presents evidence that changing the substantive laws on the books is often insufficient, and occasionally unnecessary, to protect consumers. Structure can matter more. Gelpern considers the implications of Jacoby’s findings for systemic risk management and crisis response. Financial technology made it possible to multiply and spread consumer debt throughout the financial system, with pockets of risk concentration in critical places. It follows that creating a stable financial system requires capacity to manage household debt on a large scale. The fragmented infrastructure Jacoby identifies does not merely fail individuals, but can frustrate economic policy, delay crisis response, and undermine financial stability."

May 15, 2011

Building a Collaborative Digital Collection, a Necessary Evolution in Libraries

Building a Collaborative Digital Collection, a Necessary Evolution in Libraries, Michelle M. Wu, Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown Public Law Research Paper No. 11-47, Law Library Journal, Forthcoming

"Law libraries are losing ground in the effort to preserve information in the digital age. In part, this is due declining budgets, user needs, and a caution born from the great responsibility libraries feel to ensure future access instead of selecting a form that may not survive. That caution, though, has caused others, such as Google, to fill the silence with their vision. Libraries must stand and contribute actively to the creation of digital collections if we expect a voice in future discussion. This article presents a vision of the start of a collaborative, digital academic law library, one that will harness our collective strengths while still allowing individual collections to prosper. It seeks to identify and answer the thorniest issues - including copyright - surrounding digitization projects. It does not presume to solve all of these issues. It is, however, intended to be a call for collective action, to stop discussing the law library of the future and to start building it."

POGO's New SEC Revolving Door Database

Via Pogo's Nick Schwellenbach, see the "..Project On Government Oversight's (POGO) new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revolving door database. It is based on post-government employment statements that former SEC employees are required to file 2 years after they leave the SEC if they plan on representing clients before the Commission. Right now, the database has nearly 800 statements from 219 employees covering the statements filed from 2006 through 2010."

Analysis - POGO’s accompanying report: Revolving Regulators: SEC Faces Ethic Challenges with Revolving Door

Methodolgy: How POGO organized the information and assembled the database

May 14, 2011

Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)

Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR): "If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account, the Bank Secrecy Act may require you to report the account yearly to the Internal Revenue Service by filing Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). The FBAR is required because foreign financial institutions may not be subject to the same reporting requirements as domestic financial institutions. The FBAR is a tool to help the United States government identify persons who may be using foreign financial accounts to circumvent United States law. Investigators use FBARs to help identify or trace funds used for illicit purposes or to identify unreported income maintained or generated abroad."

Commentary in response to Levin-Coburn Report On the Financial Crisis

Follow up to Senate Investigations Subcommittee Releases Levin-Coburn Report On the Financial Crisis, via Rolling Stone, The People vs. Goldman Sachs - A Senate committee has laid out the evidence. Now the Justice Department should bring criminal charges, by Matt Tabbai.

May 12, 2011

US Court: Poverty Guidelines for 2011 Posted

Poverty Guidelines for 2011 Posted - May 10, 2011

"Those who seek protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by filing a Chapter 7 petition may have filing fees waived if their income is under 150 percent of the official poverty line, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The 2011 guidelines for who might qualify for such waivers are posted on this website. Also posted are procedures regarding Chapter 7 fee waiver provisions."

May 11, 2011

Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security

The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security. (May 1, 2011). Daniel J. Solove, Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security, Chapter 1, Yale University Press, 2011.

"If you've got nothing to hide," many people say, "you shouldn't worry about government surveillance." Others argue that we must sacrifice privacy for security. But as Daniel J. Solove argues in this book, these arguments and many others are flawed. They are based on mistaken views about what it means to protect privacy and the costs and benefits of doing so. In addition to attacking the "Nothing-to Hide Argument," Solove exposes the fallacies of pro-security arguments that have often been used to justify government surveillance and data mining. These arguments - such as the "Luddite Argument,"the "War-Powers Argument," the "All-or-Nothing Argument," the "Suspicionless-Searches Argument," the "Deference Argument," and the "Pendulum Argument" - have skewed law and policy to favor security at the expense of privacy. The debate between privacy and security has been framed incorrectly as a zero-sum game in which we are forced to choose between one value and the other. But protecting privacy isn't fatal to security measures; it merely involves adequate oversight and regulation. The primary focus of the book is on common pro-security arguments, but Solove also discusses concrete issues of law and technology, such as the Fourth Amendment Third Party Doctrine, the First Amendment, electronic surveillance statutes, the USA-Patriot Act, the NSA surveillance program, and government data mining."

Google Announces First Quarter 2011 Results and $500M Set Aside for DOJ Investigation

Google Announces First Quarter 2011 Results: "In May 2011, in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $500 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2011. Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter, we believe it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. As a result, we have updated the affected financial data in this release, as noted, as well as the accompanying financial tables."

May 10, 2011

Court Listener (Beat)

"CourtListener (Beta) was created by Michael Lissner as part of a masters thesis at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Michael was advised by Assistant Professor, Brian Carver. The goal of the site is to create a free and competitive real time alert tool for the U.S. judicial system. At present, the site has daily information regarding all precedential opinions issued by the 13 federal circuit courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Each day, we also have the non-precedential opinions from all of the Circuit courts except the D.C. Circuit. This means that by 5:10pm PST, the database will be updated with the opinions of the day, with custom alerts going out shortly thereafter. The coverage of our corpus for a given court varies, but it is growing on a daily basis. We are working to integrate the documents from other online sites that provide free public access to court documents. To see a detailed overview of our corpus (updated daily), visit our coverage page." [Carolyn Edds]

FTC Testifies on Protecting Consumers' Privacy on Mobile Devices

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today told Congress that “the Commission is committed to protecting consumers’ privacy in the mobile sphere” by bringing enforcement actions where appropriate and “by working with industry and consumer groups to develop workable solutions that protect consumers while allowing innovation in this growing marketplace.” In Commission testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee for Privacy, Technology and the Law, Jessica Rich, Deputy Director in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said the FTC has been examining mobile and wireless issues since 2000, when the agency hosted a workshop on emerging wireless Internet and data technologies and the privacy, security, and consumer protection issues they raise. The FTC also hosted a technology forum in 2006 that featured mobile issues, two Town Halls to explore the use of radio frequency identification technology and its integration into mobile devices, and a forum in 2008 examining consumer protection issues in the mobile sphere. In addition, the FTC has taken law enforcement actions against companies that fail to protect the privacy and security of consumer information. The testimony highlighted four recent cases that illustrate how the FTC’s authority applies to the mobile arena. The FTC’s case against Google alleges that the company deceived consumers by using information collected from Gmail users to generate and populate a new social network, Google Buzz, without users’ consent. As part of the proposed settlement order, Google must protect the privacy of all of its customers – including mobile users."

White House - Blueprint for Building a 21st Century Immigration System

The President’s Blueprint for Building a 21st Century Immigration System, May 2011

"The President wants to have a civil and constructive debate on this issue so that we can fix our broken immigration system. To help us reach this goal, the Obama Administration is releasing a Blueprint for Building a 21st Century Immigration System. The Blueprint summarizes the progress we have made in securing our borders, enforcing our laws, and improving our legal immigration system; discusses the economic benefits of immigration reform; and outlines the President’s vision of a 21st century immigration policy."

May 09, 2011

Science and the Reasonable Development of Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Resources in PA and NY

Science and the Reasonable Development of Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Resources in Pennsylvania and New York, Lynn Kerr McKay, Ralph H. Johnson, and Laurie Alberts Salita. Energy Law Journal, Vol. 32:125.

"Investment in the development of natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale formation1 continues to bring lower energy costs and new jobs to local economies. It has also attracted litigation alleging that well drilling, hydraulic fracturing,2 and natural gas production have contaminated drinking water supplies and damaged property in the vicinity of some operations. Media reports of landowner complaints alleging problems with drinking water wells due to nearby Marcellus Shale operations abound. Actions regarding Marcellus Shale operations have proceeded along disparate and inconsistent paths, and often without critical technical review. Some lawmakers and regulators have introduced measures imposing additional oversight and operational requirements on Marcellus Shale producers, including rules focused on hydraulic fracturing. These measures aim to control the release and migration of new and used fracturing fluids and other well fluids from well bores, and at the surfaces of well locations, into the surrounding environment. Other measures simply prohibit any further effort to develop Marcellus Shale resources in certain locations, either before assessing the potential impact of additional activities or in response to perceived deficiencies in efforts to perform such an assessment."

See related postings on Marcellus Shale and fracking

Facts on the Production of the Congressional Record

FDLP Listserv: "On March 17, Public Printer Bill Boarman testified before the Senate appropriations subcommittee on the costs of producing Federal publications, such as the Congressional Record. Subsequently, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) made a YouTube video on the production of the Congressional Record to illustrate the production process for this important publication. With origins in the requirement of Article I of the Constitution that "Congress shall keep a journal of its proceedings...and from time to time publish the same," the Congressional Record contains the proceedings and debates of the Senate and House of Representatives. It has been called "a symbol of our democracy through which the people may observe the making of their laws and may hold their lawmakers accountable for their words and deeds."

Mozilla: Homeland Security Request to Take Down MafiaaFire Add-on

Via Harvey Anderson...who works at Mozilla on legal and business affairs." Homeland Security Request to Take Down MafiaaFire Add-on, May 5, 2011 - "From time to time, we receive government requests for information, usually market information and occasionally subpoenas. Recently the US Department of Homeland Security contacted Mozilla and requested that we remove the MafiaaFire add-on. The ICE Homeland Security Investigations unit alleged that the add-on circumvented a seizure order DHS had obtained against a number of domain names. Mafiaafire, like several other similar add-ons already available through AMO, redirects the user from one domain name to another similar to a mail forwarding service. In this case, Mafiaafire redirects traffic from seized domains to other domains. Here the seized domain names allegedly were used to stream content protected by copyrights of professional sports franchises and other media concerns. Our approach is to comply with valid court orders, warrants, and legal mandates, but in this case there was no such court order. Thus, to evaluate Homeland Security’s request, we asked them several questions similar to those below to understand the legal justification..."

May 08, 2011

Article: The Path Dependence of European Copyright

Larsson, Stefan, The Path Dependence of European Copyright (April 15, 2011). SCRIPT-ed, Vol. 8, No. 1, April 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824228

"This article analyses the path dependence of European copyright. It shows how copyright is legally constructed, is harmonised through international treaties and European regulatory efforts in terms of InfoSoc Directive and the IPRED, and is also affected by the Data Retention Directive and the Telecommunications Reform package. Furthermore, the “secretly” negotiated ACTA agreement is discussed as it may impose stronger copyright on Member States. This means that the formulations and metaphors of how copyright is constructed and conceptualised contribute towards various lock-in effects as the dependence on the given path increases. The strong path dependence of European copyright law results in regulation that suffers from legitimacy issues. Copyright construction is a legal complex that in general is based on ideas of the conditions of an analogue world for distribution and production of copies, but it is armed with increasingly protective measures when faced with human conduct in the context of digital networks. To some extent, this most probably involves the expansion of the concepts and metaphors that once described only non-digital practice. The trend in European copyright is therefore strongly protectionist, through the expanding and strengthening of rights and their enforcement, and in that it is self-reinforcing, being locked into certain standards. The path dependence of European copyright serves as a strong argument for those who benefit from its preservation, signalling that there are power structures supporting the colonisation by this specific legal path of other legal paths that protect other values, such as consumer privacy or versions of integrity. There is a clear tendency in targeting the ISPs and other intermediaries in attempts to keep the copyright path intact. The development of European copyright, in its broad sense, not only re-builds the Internet in terms of traceability, but also law enforcement in terms of mass-surveillance."

May 07, 2011

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: "To provide American citizens direct online access to the basic Federal Government documents that define our democratic society, a core group of current and historical Government publications was made available via GPO Access. These titles contain information which is vital to the democratic process and critical to an informed electorate. Because this page is mainly a collection of links from various web sites it will not migrate to FDsys and is recreated here." [Carolyn Ottoson, West Texas A&M University]

May 05, 2011

New on LLRX.com - The Age of Innocence: Actual, Legal and Presumed

Via LLRX.com - The Age of Innocence: Actual, Legal and Presumed: Ken Strutin reasons that any accounting of the justice system would put the presumption of innocence at the top of the ledger. The premise underlying this evidentiary rule is that no one should be found guilty of a crime unless the state has convinced a jury with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The materials Ken has researched and documented for this guide focus on the drift from unitary innocence, which encompasses all possible claims to a wrongful conviction, to factual innocence rooted in exoneration jurisprudence. According to some scholars, factual exonerations may have confounded the wisdom behind the Blackstone Ratio and its overarching message, i.e., criminal law and procedure ought to be weighted in favor of innocence to avoid wrongful conviction, even if there is a chance that the guilty will benefit as well. In other words, a system of justice that is fair to all and seeks to protect the innocent from wrongful prosecutions must apply safeguards that will be over inclusive. The calculations of truth and fairness are rooted in a system of justice based on due process (or a presumption of due process). The scholarship collected here attempts to address questions of whether the concept of innocence is selective or categorical.

May 03, 2011

U.S. Sues Deutsche Bank and Subsidiary MortgageIT for Years of Reckless Lending Practices

News release: "The United States has filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG and its wholly owned subsidiary, MortgageIT Inc. The government’s complaint seeks damages and civil penalties under the False Claims Act for repeated false certifications made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in connection with the residential mortgage origination and sponsorship practices of MortgageIT. To date, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has paid insurance claims on more than 3,100 mortgages, totaling $386 million, for mortgages endorsed by MortgageIT."

EPIC Proposes "Fair Information Practices" for Google

"Today EPIC submitted detailed comments on a landmark privacy agreement that requires Google to adopt a "Comprehensive Privacy Plan" to safeguard the privacy and personal information of Internet users. In comments to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC recommended that the FTC require Google to adopt and implement comprehensive Fair Information Practices complaint EPIC: In re Google Buzz ..."

CRS - Amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Set to Expire May 27, 2011

Amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Set to Expire, May 27, 2011

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provides a statutory framework by which government agencies may, when gathering foreign intelligence investigation, obtain authorization to conduct electronic surveillance2 or physical searches,3 utilize pen registers and trap and trace devices, or access specified business records and other tangible things. Authorization for such activities is typically obtained via a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a specialized court created to act as a neutral judicial decision maker in the context of FISA. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress enacted the USA PATRIOT Act, in part, to “provid[e] enhanced investigative tools” to “assist in the prevention of future terrorist activities and the preliminary acts and crimes which further such activities.” That act and subsequent measures amended FISA to enable the government to obtain information in a greater number of circumstances. The expanded authorities prompted concerns regarding the appropriate balance between national security interests and civil liberties. Perhaps in response to such concerns, Congress established sunset provisions which apply to three of the most controversial amendments to FISA."

May 02, 2011

International Research Portal for Records Related to Nazi-Era Cultural Property

"The International Research Portal is a collaboration of national and other archival institutions with records that pertain to Nazi-Era cultural property. These archival institutions, along with expert national and international organizations, are working together to extend public access to the widely-dispersed records through a single internet portal. The portal will enable families to research their losses, provenance researchers to locate important documentation, and historians to study newly accessible materials on the history of this period. This collaborative project was established to fulfill the 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the 2000 Vilnius Forum Declaration and the 2009 Terezin Declaration, in particular on the importance of making all such records publicly accessible. The portal links researchers to archival materials consisting of descriptions of records and, in many cases, digital images of the records that relate to cultural property that was stolen, looted, seized, forcibly sold, or otherwise lost during the Nazi-era. Cultural property documented in these records covers a broad range from artworks to books and libraries, religious objects, antiquities, archival documents, carvings, silver and more."

See also via Google Blog: Sharing stories of the Holocaust for future generations

May 01, 2011

DC Circuit overturns preliminary injunction barring NIH funding of human embryonic stem cells research

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, James Sherley v. Kathleen Sebelius, April 29, 2011: "GINSBURG, Circuit Judge - Two scientists brought this suit to enjoin the National Institutes of Health from funding research using human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) pursuant to the NIH’s 2009 Guidelines. The district court granted their motion for a preliminary injunction, concluding they were likely to succeed in showing the Guidelines violated the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, an appropriations rider that bars federal funding for research in which a human embryo is destroyed. We conclude the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded that, although Dickey-Wicker bars funding for the destructive act of deriving an ESC from an embryo, it does not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC will be used. We therefore vacate the preliminary injunction."

April 28, 2011

SEC Proposes Product Definitions for Swaps

Fact sheet: "The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to propose rules further defining the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” and “security-based swap agreement.” The Commission also proposed rules regarding “mixed swaps” and books and records for “security-based swap agreements.” The rules were proposed jointly with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and stem from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act."

April 27, 2011

Annual Energy Outlook 2011 Full Annual Energy Outlook with Projections to 2035

"The projections in the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2011 (AEO2011) focus on the factors that shape the U.S. energy system over the long term. Under the assumption that current laws and regulations remain unchanged throughout the projections, the AEO2011 Reference case provides the basis for examination and discussion of energy production, consumption, technology, and market trends and the direction they may take in the future. It also serves as a starting point for analysis of potential changes in energy policies. But AEO2011 is not limited to the Reference case. It also includes 57 sensitivity cases which explore important areas of uncertainty for markets, technologies, and policies in the U.S. energy economy."

Report: Areas of Ecological and Biological Significance or Vulnerability in the Arctic Marine Environment

IUCN/NRDC Workshop to Identify Areas of Ecological and Biological Significance or Vulnerability in the Arctic Marine Environment - Workshop Report Prepared by Lisa Speer and Thomas L. Laughlin, April 7, 2011

"Human activity is expanding in the Arctic marine environment, in part due to warming ocean temperatures and the dramatic loss of summer sea ice. New and expanding human uses include fishing, shipping and offshore oil and gas development. All have the potential to place major additional stress on ocean ecosystems which are already undergoing profound change related to warming, sea ice loss, and alterations in ocean chemistry. Because activities conducted in one nation's waters can affect other parts of the region, effective management of some human uses in the Arctic marine environment will require international cooperation. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in conjunction with other international agreements and national laws and regulations, provides a general legal foundation. However, new rules may be necessary to protect the Arctic marine environment. Examples of possible areas of international cooperation include: development of new standards for Arctic marine shipping, regulation of new or expanding Arctic fisheries, rules to protect the environment in the course of natural resource development, stricter regulation of Arctic tourism, mechanisms to assess and manage the cumulative impacts of multiple activities affecting the same ecosystems, and procedures for the establishment of representative networks of protected marine areas...The first workshop, held in Washington, D.C. on 16-18 June, 2010, explored possible means to advance policy decisions on ecosystem-based marine management in the Arctic region. Twenty nine legal and policy experts from around the region participated in the June workshop. The report and recommendations of the June policy workshop can be found here."

April 26, 2011

PC World: A trade group raises concerns about the FTC settlement with Google over Buzz

A trade group raises concerns about the FTC settlement with Google over Buzz, by Grant Gross

"The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's proposed settlement with Google over its bungled launch of the Buzz social-networking service could have disastrous effects on the rest of the e-commerce industry, the head of a trade group said. Privacy groups and some FTC officials are pressing to set the Buzz settlement as an online privacy standard. And one provision of the proposed settlement would be a "real killer" for the rest of the e-commerce industry, said Steve DelBianco, executive director of trade group NetChoice. The proposed settlement, with public comments due next Monday, requires Google to get "express affirmative consent" from its users for "any new or additional sharing" of personal information with third parties if the new sharing is a change in Google's practices. This provision, if it becomes an industry standard enforced by the FTC, would require all online businesses to get opt-in permission from customers for minor changes in the way they share information with partners or other businesses, DelBianco said. Opt-in requirements would make it difficult for social-networking and online content sites to roll out new innovations and pay for their free services, he said. The calls for the settlement to become a privacy standard "can't be allowed to produce side effects for the rest of the industry for something Google did inappropriately," DelBianco said. "If the FTC gets its way and imposes the Google settlement on the entire industry, Google's competitors have to obtain express, affirmative consent before releasing any new features that would just share non-sensitive user data with third-party apps and advertisers."

April 25, 2011

Rethinking Music: A Briefing Book

Rethinking Music: A Briefing Book Compiled and Presented By The Berkman Center for Internet & Society At Harvard University, April 2011.

"The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to present this briefing book to participants in the Rethink Music conference. The book includes the Center’s own framing paper, which introduces a number of issues that will be discussed during the course of the conference. Following that paper are contributions from a wide range of contributors, addressing some of the most current and compelling issues in music law and policy. The first five of those contributions were conceived during an October 2010 meeting at Harvard Law School among a variety of stakeholders interested in helping to shape the agenda for the Rethink Music conference, and they reflect the individual authors’ views on several cutting edge issues of the day. The last two papers reflect the existing or ongoing work of their respective contributors. The respective authors and/or copyright holders retain rights in each of the individual submissions. As noted, some of the submissions are licensed under Creative Commons licenses."

April 24, 2011

Applying Dispute System Design Theory to Create a Foreclosure Mediation System

Schneider, Andrea Kupfer and Fleury, Natalie, There's No Place Like Home: Applying Dispute System Design Theory to Create a Foreclosure Mediation System (April 21, 2011). Nevada Law Review, Forthcoming.

"This article analyzes the theory of dispute system design when put into action to meet a current economic crisis. In partnership with the City of Milwaukee, Marquette University Law School designed and now operates a voluntary mediation program to deal with the foreclosure crisis. The creation of the Marquette Foreclosure Mediation Program (MFMP) is a case study in dispute system design. Because MFMP is unlike other foreclosure mediation programs - in that it is was designed in conjunction with and is now operated by a law school - the design structure and results analysis are unique and can provide important insights for foreclosure programs around the country. This Article uses a dispute system design (DSD) framework to analyze the MFMP. After providing a brief history of the foreclosure crisis in Milwaukee, and the process design of MFMP, the Article then utilizes DSD to analyze MFMP on several different factors. The Article examines participation in the design, the suitability of mediation for this crisis, results thus far, and lessons in permeability and sustainability. Finally, we draw lessons for other designers - dispute system professionals, courts, and legislatures - in how to effectively manage this type of program."

NYT/NPR: The Guantanamo Docket

The Guantanamo Docket - Documents and research related to the 779 people who have been sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison since 2002.

Dutch Data Protection Authority issues several administrative orders against Google

News release: "[April 19, 2011], the Dutch Data Protection Authority (College bescherming persoonsgegevens, CBP) has issued several administrative orders against Google for incremental penalty payments. Investigations by the CBP show that Google has, for a period of two years, systematically, and without the data subjects’ knowledge, collected MAC addresses of more than 3,6 million WiFi routers, in combination with the calculated location of those routers. This was done by using the so called ‘Street View cars’. MAC addresses in combination with their calculated locations, qualify, in this context, as personal data, because the collected data provide information about the WiFi router’s owners. The Dutch DPA also concludes that Google, using the same Street View cars, collected so called payload data, the contents of internet communication. This information contains personal data such as e-mail addresses, medical data and information concerning financial transactions.
Google has been ordered to, within three months, inform the data subjects – off line as well as on line – about the collection of data originating from WiFi routers by the Street View cars. Within the same period of three months, Google must also offer an on line possibility to opt-out from the database in order to enable people to object to the processing of the data concerning their WiFi routers. In case Google does not comply with the administrative order within the time period granted, the penalty amount can increase to a maximum of one million euros. Furthermore, Google is obliged to destroy the payload data it has collected in the Netherlands within four weeks. Read the Dutch press release and the relevant documents (only in Dutch)."

April 21, 2011

BP Sues Transocean, Halliburton and Maker of Blowout Preventer Over Gulf Oil Spill

Follow up to previous postings on the Deepwater oil spill, via FindLaw:

BP's Complaints Against Transocean Over Gulf Oil Spill: "BP submitted a court filing in the ongoing litigation regarding last year's oil rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico alleging that the owner of the Deepwater oil rig violated the law and caused the explosion and subsequent spill."
BP Files Lawsuit Against Halliburton Over Gulf Oil Spill: "BP filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas alleging that Halliburton's improper conduct contributed to the oil rig explosion and resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year."
BP Sues Maker of Blowout Preventer in Gulf Oil Spill: "In a cross-claim filed as part of the ongoing litigation surrounding last year's oil rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP alleges that the manufacturer of the blowout preventer designed, manufactured, maintained and modified the preventer in a way that rendered it "unreasonable dangerous when used as intended."

Justia's new free service provides Daily & Weekly Opinion Summaries for all Federal Courts

Another invaluable service for researchers that facilitates free access to court opinions - from the innovative experts at Justia - who are now "providing FREE Daily & Weekly Opinion Summaries for all Federal Courts, and selected State Supreme Courts. See an example daily email for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or a weekly practice area email for Environmental Law."

"To sign up for the Case Summary Newsletters you first need to login to or create a Justia Account. Then you will be able to select the free newsletters you wish to subscribe to."

NRDA Trustees announce $1 billion agreement to fund early Gulf Coast restoration projects

Follow up to previous postings on the Deepwater oil spill,
this news release from NOAA:

"Under an unprecedented agreement announced today by the Natural Resource Trustees for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Trustees), BP has agreed to provide $1 billion toward early restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico to address injuries to natural resources caused by the spill. The Trustees involved are: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Department of Justice provided assistance in reaching the agreement. This early restoration agreement, the largest of its kind ever reached, represents a first step toward fulfilling BP’s obligation to fund the complete restoration of injured public resources, including the loss of use of those resources by the people living, working and visiting the area. The Trustees will use the money to fund projects such as the rebuilding of coastal marshes, replenishment of damaged beaches, conservation of sensitive areas for ocean habitat for injured wildlife, and restoration of barrier islands and wetlands that provide natural protection from storms."

April 20, 2011

CRS - Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online

Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online, Gina Stevens, Legislative Attorney, April 6, 2011

"There is no comprehensive federal privacy statute that protects personal information. Instead, a patchwork of federal laws and regulations govern the collection and disclosure of personal information and has been addressed by Congress on a sector by-sector basis. Federal laws and regulations extend protection to consumer credit reports, electronic communications, federal agency records, education records, bank records, cable subscriber information, video rental records, motor vehicle records, health information, telecommunications subscriber information, children’s online information, and customer financial information. Some contend that this patchwork of laws and regulations is insufficient to meet the demands of today’s technology. Congress, the Obama Administration, businesses, public interest groups, and citizens are all involved in the discussion of privacy solutions. This report examines some of those efforts with respect to the protection of personal information. This report provides a brief overview of selected recent developments in the area of federal privacy law. This report does not cover workplace privacy laws or state privacy laws."

April 19, 2011

EPIC - Solicitor General to Supreme Court: Review GPS Tracking Cases

"The Solicitor General filed a petition with the Supreme Court about the growing dispute in the federal courts over warrantless locational tracking. There is a split among the appellate court about GPS tracking by police agencies. The petition appeals a decision from the DC Circuit which held that the warrantless tracking of a motor vehicle violates the Constitutional right against unlawful searches. Earlier, EPIC filed an amicus brief in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case that also held that a warrant is required for the use of a GPS tracking device. For more information, see EPIC - Commonwealth v. Connolly and EPIC - Locational Privacy."

April 12, 2011

National Archives Announces Newly-Identified Papers of Walt Whitman

Famous poet's writings as a Federal employee shed new light on his life and work: "The National Archives today announced the identification of nearly 3,000 Walt Whitman documents written during his service as a Federal government employee. This trove of information--conclusively identified as Whitman's papers for the first time by University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) scholar Kenneth Price--sheds light on the legendary poet's post-war thinking, as well as Whitman's published reflections on the state of the nation that soon followed. Price discusses the significance of this discovery in the National Archives Inside the Vaults video short."

FTC, CFTC Agree to Share Information on Energy Investigations

News release: "As part of their ongoing efforts to keep markets that they oversee open and fair for American consumers, the Federal Trade Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that they signed an agreement to foster further cooperation between the two agencies by helping them share nonpublic information. The FTC and CFTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will facilitate sharing of non-public information on investigations being conducted by the agencies, including investigations into the oil and gasoline markets. The agreement will help the FTC enforce its petroleum market manipulation rule, which prohibits fraudulent manipulation of U.S. petroleum markets. Information-sharing also will help the CFTC in exercising its authority to pursue manipulation in the oil markets."

April 11, 2011

New on LLRX.com - A Guide For the Perplexed Part IV: The Rejection of the Google Books Settlement

A Guide For the Perplexed Part IV: The Rejection of the Google Books Settlement - "On March 22, 2011, Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed settlement in copyright infringement litigation over the Google Library Project. Judge Chin found that the settlement was not "fair, reasonable, and adequate" as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Judge Chin issued the decision over a year after the fairness hearing he conducted. His opinion agrees in large measure with the objections to the settlement asserted by the U.S. Department of Justice at the hearing and in its written submissions. This paper by Jonathan Band continues the series in which he discusses the opinion and where it leaves Google Books Search."

Sedona Conference® Database Principles - Addressing the Preservation & Production of Databases & Database Information in Civil Litigation

The Sedona Conference® Database Principles - Addressing the Preservation & Production of Databases & Database Information in Civil Litigation. A Project of The Sedona Conference®Working Group on Electronic Document Retention & Production (WG1), March 2011 Public Comment Verson, by the The Sedona Conference®. Editor-in-Chief: Conrad J. Jacoby

"Disputes over the discovery of information stored in databases are increasingly common in civil litigation. Part of the reason is that more and more enterprise-level information is being stored in searchable data repositories, rather than in discrete electronic files. Another factor is that the diverse and complicated ways in which database information can be stored has made it difficult to develop universal “best-practice” approaches to requesting and producing information stored in databases. The procedures that work well for simple systems may not make sense when applied to larger server-based systems. Similarly, retention guidelines that make sense for archival databases—that is, databases that add new information without deleting past records—rapidly break down when applied to transactional databases where much of the system’s data may be retained for only thirty days—or even thirty seconds."

April 10, 2011

The Speedy Trial Rights of Military Detainees

The Speedy Trial Rights of Military Detainees, Walter E. Kuhn, United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights - Syracuse Law Review, Vol. 62, 2011

"The hybrid nature of the War on Terror is testing the limits of the Speedy Trial and Due Process Clauses. Former military detainees have been convicted in federal court years after their crimes and capture. Setting aside the wisdom of civilian detainee trials, they have thus far proven consistent with constitutional delay protections. The courts have correctly determined that military detention generally does not trigger the protections of the Speedy Trial Clause. Absent unusual circumstances, judicial scrutiny of delay due to military detention should occur via the Due Process Clause, which allows for operational flexibility while safeguarding against bad faith by the government. The administration should continue to try detainees when possible, with the venue depending on the nature of the case, and be mindful of the potential for precedent established in civilian detainee trials to govern ordinary criminal cases."

April 08, 2011

CRS: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive National Security Information During Civil Litigation

The State Secrets Privilege: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive National Security Information During Civil Litigation, Todd Garvey
Legislative Attorney, Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney, March 28, 2011

"The state secrets privilege arises in a wide array of cases, generally where the government is a defendant or where the government has intervened in a case between private parties to prevent the disclosure of state secrets. Recently, the privilege has been characterized by a number of high profile assertions—including invocation of the privilege to defend against claims arising from the government’s “extraordinary rendition” practices, challenges to the terrorist surveillance program, and claims against various national security agencies for unlawful employment practices. The government has also intervened and invoked the privilege in a significant number of cases involving claims against government contractors. The Supreme Court is currently considering a complex government contracting case that has the potential to impact the consequences of a valid privilege in cases where the assertion of the privilege acts to inhibit a party’s ability to defend against an action of the federal government. This report is intended to present an overview of the protections afforded by the state secrets privilege; a discussion of some of the many unresolved issues associated with the privilege; and a selection of high-profile examples of how the privilege has been applied in practice."

April 05, 2011

Advice for the U.S. Sentencing Commissioners: The Relevance of Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Its Literature

"This short essay will be part of an issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter devoted to recommended action for the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The present essay calls attention to the relevance of therapeutic jurisprudence to the sentencing function. It looks at some legal rules and guidelines that do not effectively motivate convicted persons to focus on the future, and it also shows how judges need guidance not only on what sentences to impose but also on the manner and process of sentence imposition."

Wexler, David B., Advice for the U.S. Sentencing Commissioners: The Relevance of Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Its Literature (March 29, 2011). Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 23, p. 278, April 2011; Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 11-03. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1743675

April 04, 2011

News reports that federal grand jury is investigating mobile apps privacy

IDG News Service - "Pandora and possibly other makers of popular smartphone applications are being questioned by a federal grand jury about their privacy practices. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Pandora said that early this year it was served with a subpoena to produce documents in connection with a federal grand jury "which we believe was convened to investigate the information sharing processes of certain popular applications that run on the Apple and Android mobile platforms," it said. The company also wrote that it believes similar subpoenas were issued to publishers of numerous other smartphone applications. Pandora was informed that it is not a specific target of the investigation, it said. Pandora has been the subject of class-action lawsuits charging it with violating computer privacy laws."

Article: Disclosure’s Effects: Wikileaks and Transparency

Disclosure’s Effects: Wikileaks and Transparency, Mark Fenster
University of Florida - Fredric G. Levin College of Law

"Constitutional, criminal, and administrative laws regulating government transparency, and the theories that support them, rest on the assumption that the disclosure of information has transformative effects: disclosure can inform, enlighten, and energize the public, or it can create great harm or stymie government operations. To resolve disputes over difficult cases, transparency laws and theories typically balance disclosure’s beneficial effects against its harmful ones. WikiLeaks and its vigilante approach to massive document leaks challenge the underlying assumption about disclosure’s effects in two ways. First, WikiLeaks’s ability to receive and distribute leaked information cheaply, quickly, and seemingly unstoppably enables it to bypass the legal framework that would otherwise allow courts and officials to consider and balance disclosures’ effects. For this reason, WikiLeaks threatens to make transparency’s balance irrelevant. Second, its recent massive disclosures of U.S. military and diplomatic documents allow us to reconsider and test the assumption that disclosure produces effects that can serve as the basis for judicial and administrative prediction, calculation, and balancing. For this reason, WikiLeaks threatens transparency’s balance by disproving its assumption that disclosure necessarily has predictable, identifiable consequences that can be estimated ex ante or even ex post. This article studies WikiLeaks in order to question and evaluate prevailing laws and theories of transparency that build on the assumption that disclosure’s effects are predictable, calculable, and capable of serving as the basis for adjudicating difficult cases. Tracing WikiLeaks’s development, operations, theories, and effects, it demonstrates the incoherence and conceptual poverty of an effects model for evaluating and understanding transparency."

April 03, 2011

Legislative Victories from 2005 to 2010 Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System

State Trends: Legislative Victories from 2005 to 2010 - Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System, March 2011.

"The consequences of an adult conviction aren’t minor; they are serious, long-term, life-threatening, and in some cases, deadly. However, awareness of the problem is not enough. Policymakers and the public must have viable alternative solutions. This report provides some initial answers by examining innovative strategies states are using to remove and protect youth in the adult criminal justice system. State Trends demonstrates a “turning tide” in how our country handles youth. In the not-so-distant past, politicians
have had their careers ruined by a “soft on crime” image. Fortunately, the politics around youth crime are changing. State policymakers appear less wedded to “tough on crime” policies, choosing to substitute them with policies that are “smart on crime.” Given the breadth and scope of the changes, these trends are not short-term anomalies but evidence of a long-term restructuring of the juvenile justice system."

A Guide For the Perplexed Part IV: The Rejection of the Google Books Settlement

A Guide For the Perplexed Part IV: The Rejection of the Google Books Settlement, by Jonathan Band

"On March 22, 2011, Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed settlement in copyright infringement litigation over the Google Library Project. Judge Chin found that the settlement was not “fair, reasonable, and adequate” as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Judge Chin issued the decision over a year after the fairness hearing he conducted. His opinion agrees in large measure with the objections to the settlement asserted by the U.S. Department of Justice at the hearing and in its written submissions. This paper discusses the opinion and where it leaves Google Books Search."

April 02, 2011

US Court of Appeals - 9th Circuit YouTube Channel

"This is the official YouTube Channel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition to these video recordings, you may find audio recordings of our hearings on our internet site at http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov."

April 01, 2011

New GAO Reports: 2010 Lobbying Disclosure, Combating Child Pornography, Key Indicator Systems

2010 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists' Compliance with Disclosure Requirements, GAO-11-452, April 01, 2011
Military Base Realignments and Closures: Review of the Iowa and Milan Army Ammunition Plants, GAO-11-488R, April 01, 2011
Combating Child Pornography: Steps Are Needed to Ensure That Tips to Law Enforcement Are Useful and Forensic Examinations Are Cost Effective, GAO-11-334, March 31, 2011
Key Indicator Systems: Experiences of Other National and Subnational Systems Offer Insights for the United States, GAO-11-396, March 31, 2011

March 31, 2011

Evaluation of Federal Housing Finance Agency's Oversight of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's Executive Compensation Programs

Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of the Inspector General - Evaluation Report: Evaluation of Federal Housing Finance Agency's Oversight of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's Executive Compensation Programs (EVL-2011-002, March 31, 2011)

NYT: "Regulators have approved generous executive compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-backed mortgage finance giants, with little scrutiny or analysis, according to a report published Thursday by the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The companies, whose fates are to be decided by Congress this year, paid a combined $17 million to their chief executives in 2009 and 2010, the two full years when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were wards of the state, the report found. The top six executives at the companies received $35.4 million over the two years. Since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over in September 2008, the companies’ mounting mortgage losses have required a $153 billion infusion from taxpayers. Total losses may reach $363 billion through 2013, according to government estimates."

Related postings on financial system

Poor, Pregnant, and Fired: Caregiver Discrimination Against Low-Wage Workers

Poor, Pregnant, and Fired: Caregiver Discrimination Against Low-Wage Workers - by Stephanie Bornstein, Center for WorkLife Law, University of California, Hastings College of the Law

"This report provides a survey of family responsibilities discrimination (FRD) lawsuits that low-wage workers brought against their employers when they were unfairly penalized at work because of their caregiving responsibilities at home. The report reflects a review of cases brought by low-wage hourly workers, drawn from the more than 2600 cases collected by the Center for WorkLife Law in its FRD case database to date. Fifty such cases are used to illustrate trends in caregiver discrimination lawsuits brought by low-wage workers."

FTC Chairman Issues Commission's 2011 Annual Report Highlights Agency Accomplishments to Protect Consumers and Competition

"Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz today issued the FTC’s 2011 Annual Report at the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting in Washington, DC, highlighting the agency’s continued efforts to protect financially distressed consumers and promote competition during the economic downturn.

“Over the past year, the FTC has challenged unscrupulous business practices and anticompetitive mergers, shut down shady operations and deceptive marketing campaigns, and protected consumers’ privacy and their pocketbooks,” Chairman Leibowitz said. “The agency’s actions in the past 12 months have had far-reaching effects in protecting consumers and competition in critical sectors of our economy – from high tech to health care, financial services to online commerce.”

March 30, 2011

FTC Charges Deceptive Privacy Practices in Google’s Rollout of Its Buzz Social Network

News release: "Google Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched its social network, Google Buzz, in 2010. The agency alleges the practices violate the FTC Act. The proposed settlement bars the company from future privacy misrepresentations, requires it to implement a comprehensive privacy program, and calls for regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. This is the first time an FTC settlement order has required a company to implement a comprehensive privacy program to protect the privacy of consumers’ information. In addition, this is the first time the FTC has alleged violations of the substantive privacy requirements of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework, which provides a method for U.S. companies to transfer personal data lawfully from the European Union to the United States."

March 27, 2011

Amnesty International - Death Penalty in 2010: Executing countries left isolated after decade of progress

News release: "Countries which continue to use the death penalty are being left increasingly isolated following a decade of progress towards abolition, Amnesty International has said today in its new report Death Sentences and Executions in 2010. A total of 31 countries abolished the death penalty in law or in practice during the last 10 years but China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA and Yemen remain amongst the most frequent executioners, some in direct contradiction of international human rights law."

Amnesty International, Death Sentences and Executions 2010

DOJ Releases Redacted Draft Version - Striving for Accountability in Aftermarth of Holocaust

The Office of Special Investigations: Striving for Accountability in the Aftermarth of the Holocaust, by Judy Feigin, Edited by Mark M Richard, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice Criminal Division, December 2008

"[T]he Holocaust is one of those few issues that the more distant we are from it, the larger it looms. Each decade since the end of the war has seen greater, not lesser, attention, and that is an oddity. There are very few issues which grow in magnitude as they are further away from the event. This is one of them. Perhaps
because it is the ultimate evil, because it takes so much time to absorb its lessons, and that those lessons have become universalized in Cambodia, in Rwanda, in ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, the Holocaust has taken on an even greater sense of urgency."

EEOC Announces Final Bipartisan Regulations for the ADA Amendments Act

EEOC fact sheets about the law and new regulations: EEOC - The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008
EEOC press release: EEOC Announces Final Bipartisan Regulations for the ADA Amendments Act
Federal Register: Regulations To Implement the Equal Employment Provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as Amended

[via Ohio Legal Rights Service]

March 25, 2011

EPIC Urges Court to Order Release of 2,000 Airport Body Scanner Images

"EPIC asked a federal court in Washington, DC to reconsider its earlier decision allowing the Department of Homeland Security to keep secret 2,000 airport body scanner images in EPIC's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Court relied on a legal theory in its decision, "Exemption High b(2)," that was recently struck down by the Supreme Court in Navy v. Milner. In Milner, the Court held that FOIA exemption 2 only applies to records concerning employee relations and human resources issues. Milner overturns previous lower court decisions that applied the exemption to broader categories of records, allowing federal agencies to block disclosure of documents to the public. EPIC argues in its motion that the Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully withholding information about the airport scanners from the public. For more information, see EPIC-Milner v. Dept. of Navy and EPIC v. DHS - Body Scanners."

Federal Reserve expands consumer protection regulations for credit transactions and leases of higher dollar amounts

News release: "The Federal Reserve Board on Friday adopted two rules that would expand the coverage of consumer protection regulations to credit transactions and leases of higher dollar amounts. The final rules amend Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing) to implement a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Effective July 21, 2011, the Dodd-Frank Act requires that the protections of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA) apply to consumer credit transactions and consumer leases up to $50,000, compared with $25,000 currently. This amount will be adjusted annually to reflect any increase in the consumer price index."

March 23, 2011

The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Market Report

24/7 Wall St.: "Twitter has, by most estimates, 175 million members, which makes it one of the largest social networks in the world. All major media companies are on Twitter and some have more than one million Twitter users. It raises the question of whether there is wisdom in crowds. 24/7 Wall St. will look at the Twitter posts at Reuters Biz, WSJ, Financial Times, CNN Money, MarketWatch, CNBC, and 24/7 Wall St. each day to see which stocks are most frequently mentioned. It is clear that in this area of social media these tweets are a sign of which companies the Twitter universe is interested in. Together, these financial sites are followed by nearly 1,000,000 Twitter users, which makes them a sizeable sample of Wall St.’s interests. In some cases, we will publish the actual tweets from the sites."

March 22, 2011

EPIC: Courts Rejects Google Books Settlement as Unfair

EPIC: "Judge Denny Chin struck down a proposed settlement between Google and copyright holders that would have imposed significant privacy risks on e-book consumers. Google's proposal would have entitled the company to collect each users' search queries as well as the titles and page numbers of the books they read. In a February 2010 hearing before the Court, EPIC President Marc Rotenberg explained EPIC Press Release: EPIC Urges Court To Reject Google Books Settlement; EPIC: Google Books Settlement and Privacy."

GAO: Federal Government's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook, Elder Justice

The Federal Government's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: January 2011 Update [Reissued on March 22, 2011] GAO-11-451SP, March 18, 2011
Elder Justice: Stronger Federal Leadership Could Enhance National Response to Elder Abuse [Reissued on March 22, 2011] GAO-11-208, March 02, 2011

March 21, 2011

New on LLRX.com - FOIA Facts: Funding FOIA

Via LLRX.com - FOIA Facts: Funding FOIA: Scott A. Hodes contends that reducing FOIA Operations any further is the wrong way to go if the objectives of increasing government transparency are to be pursued. The actual process of searching for records in response to FOIA requests and processing those requests requires human interaction - in other words, while the documents themselves can be digitized, a person will always be required to search for and process responsive records.

March 20, 2011

Filings in the Federal Judiciary Continued to Grow in Fiscal Year 2010

Judicial Caseload Indicators 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2010: "In fiscal year 2010, the federal district courts saw continued growth in civil, criminal, and bankruptcy filings, as well as the number of pretrial services cases and persons under supervision. This continues a decade-long trend of growth in these filings. Only the total number of appeals filed declined, pulled down by slight drops in criminal and administrative agency appeals. The number of civil appeals filed remained relatively unchanged. Federal court caseload statistics for fiscal year 2010 were released today by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Complete statistics for FY 2010, which ran from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2010, are now available in Judicial Business of the United States Courts, here."

March 17, 2011

Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process

News release: "The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) today is publishing its Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process. The report contains the conclusions of an investigation the IACHR carried out to ascertain whether policies and practices on immigrant-related detention in the United States were compatible with the country's international obligations in the area of human rights. The report also includes recommendations for ensuring that detention policies fulfill those obligations. One of the Inter-American Commission's main concerns is the increasing use of detention based on a presumption of its necessity, when in fact detention should be the exception. The IACHR is convinced that detention is a disproportionate measure in many if not most cases, and that programs that provide for alternatives to detention would be a more balanced means to serve the State's legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with immigration laws. For those cases in which detention is strictly necessary, the Inter-American Commission is troubled by the lack of a genuinely civil detention system with general conditions that are commensurate with human dignity and humane treatment, as well as special conditions called for in cases of non-punitive detention. The IACHR is also disturbed by the fact that the management and personal care of immigration detainees is frequently outsourced to private contractors, yet insufficient information is available concerning the mechanisms in place to supervise the contractors."

March 16, 2011

EURO-LEX Official launches of LII of India - 108 databases

"The Legal Information Institute of India (LII of India) was officially launched in Delhi on 9th March, 2011, followed by the first regional launch in Hyderabad on 11 March. Further regional launches will take place in Bangalaru and Kolkota over the next fortnight. Each launch is hosted by a partner National Law University. The official launch in Delhi was by Dr (Shri) M Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Law and Justice, Government of India. Other Guests of Honour to speak at the launch included Dr Lachlan Strahan, Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Chief Justice Dipak Misra of the Delhi High Court, the Justice V P Reddi, Chairman of the Law Commission of India, and Prof Ved Prakash, Chairman of the University Grants Commission, as well as representatives of LII of India and of AustLII. The Delhi launch, at the Vigyan Bhavan, was hosted by the National Law University, Delhi (NLUD)...LII of India now has 108 databases (plus 8 virtual databases), with the recent additional of 59 databases of State and Territory legislation. It currently provides free online access to Indian legislation (63 databases), treaties (2 databases), case law (41 databases), law reform (1 database) and legal scholarship (9 databases). Further databases are being added." [Graham Greenleaf AM Professor of Law & Information Systems, University of New South Wales (UNSW)]

March 14, 2011

TRAC: New tools provide updates on IRS audits and criminal enforcement

"In anticipation of April 15, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) today posted updates to much of its data on the Internal Revenue Service. Included in this edition are the following features all of which can be reached from TRAC's IRS Data Tools and Applications page:

Audits - two applications graphically display changes in the number of field and correspondence audits, both individual and corporate, for fiscal years 1992 through 2010.
Graphical Highlights - national enforcement trends for corporate and individual audits along with information about levies, liens and seizure activities.
Criminal Enforcement - the latest figures from the Department of Justice on the criminal enforcement of cases referred by the IRS, presented with detailed maps, ranking tables, and individual district tables for the United States and each of 90 federal judicial districts.
U.S. Code - an updated list of the most frequently cited lead charges that eventually led to formal charges or convictions.
TRACFED - expanded information and exclusive data analysis tools are available on TRAC's newly expanded subscription site.

CRS - Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues

Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues, February 11, 2011

"The closure of the Guantanamo detention facility raises a number of legal issues with respect to the individuals formerly interned there, particularly if those detainees are transferred to the United States. The nature and scope of constitutional protections owed to detainees within the United States may be different from the protections owed to aliens held abroad. The transfer of detainees to the United States may also have immigration consequences. This report provides an overview of major legal issues likely to arise as a result of executive and legislative action to close the Guantanamo detention facility. It discusses legal issues related to the transfer of Guantanamo detainees (either to a foreign country or into the United States), the continued detention of such
persons in the United States, and the possible removal of persons brought into the country. It also discusses selected constitutional issues that may arise in the criminal prosecution of detainees,
emphasizing the procedural and substantive protections that are utilized in different adjudicatory forums (i.e., federal civilian courts, court-martial proceedings, and military commissions)."

BJS: Prisoner Recidivism Analysis Tool

News release: "...the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics released the first in a series of data analysis tools that will enable the public to explore the recidivism patterns of persons involved with the criminal justice system. The new Prisoner Recidivism Analysis Tool allows users to conduct customized analyses of a large database describing the recidivism of prisoners released in 1994 and followed for a three-year period after release. In 2012, BJS plans to update the tool with new recidivism data on prisoners released in 2005. The public can use this online tool to analyze a large research database and verify statistics found in government publications, media reports or other sources that use these data. The tool allows users to move beyond the published statistics to explore in more detail the recidivism patterns of released prisoners. Users may examine the recidivism patterns of released prisoners based on one or more attributes, such as gender, age at release, race, commitment offense, sentence length, prior arrests and prior commitments."

March 13, 2011

New on LLRX.com: Knowledge Discovery Resources 2011 - An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation

Via LLRX.com, Knowledge Discovery Resources 2011 - An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation: This new guide by Marcus P. Zillman focuses on the most current and reliable resources for knowledge discovery available on the Internet. With the constant addition of new and pertinent information to the web, it is very easy to experience information overload. A critical requirement for researchers is finding the best knowledge discovery resources and sites in both the visible and invisible World Wide Web. These carefully selected knowledge and information discovery sources will help you accomplish your research goals.

March 11, 2011

FTC Accepts Final Settlement with Twitter for Failure to Safeguard Personal Information

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a proposed settlement that it announced in June 2010 with social networking site Twitter, which resolved charges that Twitter deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information. The FTC alleged that serious lapses in the company’s data security allowed hackers to obtain unauthorized administrative control of Twitter, including both access to non-public user information and tweets that consumers had designated as private, and the ability to send out phony tweets from any account. The privacy policy posted on Twitter’s website stated that “Twitter is very concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. We employ administrative, physical, and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access.” In addition, Twitter offered its users privacy settings that enabled them to designate their tweets as private."

March 07, 2011

EPIC: Supreme Court Affirms Open Government, Limits Exemptions

EPIC: "In Navy v. Milner, the Supreme Court held that the Freedom of Information Act’s “Exemption 2” is limited to employee relations and human resources issues. The decision overturns previous decisions by lower courts that applied the exemption to broader categories of records, allowing federal agencies to block disclosure of documents to the public. The Court stated that this practice contravened Congress’s intent. The Court emphasized that Congress intended all nine FOIA exemptions to be construed narrowly. EPIC is currently challenging the use of Exemption 2 in its lawsuit to force disclosure of records concerning full body scanners at airport checkpoints. The Court's decision in Navy v. Milner demonstrates that the Department of Homeland Security is improperly withholding information about the scanners from the public. For more information, see EPIC-Milner v. Dept. of Navy, and EPIC: OPEN Government."

FTC Report Recommends Improvements in Patent System

News release: "A new Federal Trade Commission report recommends improvements to two areas of patent law policies affecting how well a patent gives notice to the public of what technology is protected and remedies for patent infringement. The report, The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition, emphasizes that the patent system and competition policy share the goal of promoting innovation that benefits consumers."

March 06, 2011

NARA 2010 Records Management Self-Assessment Report

An Assessment of Records Management Programs in the Federal Government National Archives and Records Administration, February 22, 2011

"Federal records are national assets. They are essential to Government transparency and accountability, and the people who use Federal records – American citizens, Government officials, researchers – must have confidence in their integrity, authenticity, and reliability. Towards this ideal, a number of laws and regulations are in place to govern the creation, maintenance, and disposition of Federal records. Agency employees at all levels, and in all aspects of their work, are required to practice proper Federal records management. They have to document their actions (and by extension the actions of the Government), retain records in a usable format for as long as necessary, and ensure the preservation and availability of permanent records. Agencies must have robust records management programs, with leadership and support from senior officials, and professional staff and adequate resources, to help their employees do this."

Nextgov: "After investigating itself for almost a year, the Justice Department reported to the National Archives and Records Administration that it is unable to determine whether any e-mails related to its notorious 2002 "torture memos" were improperly destroyed. The department's finding, which it delivered to NARA in February, appears to close a troubling case of lax records management by a federal agency. Officials at NARA accepted the explanation of the Justice Department's chief records keeper of why thousands of e-mails vanished when they were needed for an investigation and closed the agency's examination of the matter."

March 02, 2011

FTC Steps Up Efforts Against Scams That Target Financially-Strapped Consumers

More Than 90 Actions Brought By Commission and Its Law Enforcement Partners: "The Federal Trade Commission today stepped up its ongoing campaign against scammers who falsely promise guaranteed jobs and opportunities to “be your own boss” to consumers who are struggling with unemployment and diminished incomes as a consequence of the economic downturn. “Operation Empty Promises,” a multi-agency law enforcement initiative today announced more than 90 enforcement actions, including three new FTC cases and developments in seven other matters, 48 criminal actions by the Department of Justice (many of which involved the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service), seven additional civil actions by the Postal Inspection Service, and 28 actions by state law enforcement agencies in Alaska, California, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia."

March 01, 2011

New on LLRX.com: Breaking Down Link Rot

Breaking Down Link Rot: The Chesapeake Project Legal Information Archive's Examination of URL Stability: "This guide for researches by Sarah Rhodes focuses on the highly significant impact of "link rot", which refers to the loss or removal of content at a particular Uniform Resource Locator (URL) over time. When an attempt is made to open a documented link, either different or irrelevant information has replaced the expected content, or else the link is found to be broken, typically expressed by a 404 or "not found" error message. This is not an uncommon occurrence. Web-based materials often disappear as URLs change and web sites are changed, updated, or deleted."

February 25, 2011

Congress by the Numbers, 112th Congress, 1st Session

Via Capital.net, the guide - Congress by the Numbers, 112th Congress, 1st Session, includes the following resources: Congress Seating Charts - Congressional Schedule - Congressional leadership and committees - Leadership of the current Congress - with photos, and more.

Sealing Court Records and Proceedings: A Pocket Guide

Sealing Court Records and Proceedings: A Pocket Guide, Robert Timothy Reagan, Federal Judicial Center, 2010

"In practical terms, it may be of little consequence whether a
right of access is rooted in the First Amendment or “only” in
the common law. It may be a rare situation in which the need
for confidentiality is strong enough to outweigh the commonlaw
right of access, but the need for confidentiality is not compelling
enough to overcome the First Amendment right of access
and the court has determined that the First Amendment
does not apply to the proceeding or record. On the other hand,
some courts of appeals have said that appellate review of sealing
decisions under the First Amendment is more searching
than appellate review of sealing decisions under the common
law."

February 24, 2011

The State of Sentencing 2010 Developments in Policy and Practice

The Sentencing Project - The State of Sentencing 2010 Developments in Policy and Practice, Nicole D. Porter, February 2011

"Today, 7.2 million men and women are under correctional supervision. Of this total, five million are monitored in the community on probation or parole and 2.3 million are incarcerated in prisons or jails. As a result the nation maintains the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 743 per 100,000 population. The scale of the correctional population results from a mix of crime rates and legislative and administrative policies that vary by state. In recent years, lawmakers have struggled to find the resources to maintain state correctional systems; 46 states are facing budget deficits in the current fiscal year, a situation that is likely to continue, according to the National Governors Association. Many states are looking closely at ways to reduce correctional costs as they seek to address limited resources. States like Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York have successfully reduced their prison populations in recent years in an effort to control costs and effectively manage prison capacity. Overall, prison populations declined in 24 states during 2009, by 48,000 persons, or 0.7 percent."

February 23, 2011

2010 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual - in Spanish

"The Federal Reserve on Wednesday issued a Spanish version of the 2010 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual. The Federal Reserve, in conjunction with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, developed the Spanish version to make the regulatory expectations regarding Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering compliance programs accessible to a wider group of people. The manual provides current and consistent guidance on risk-based policies, procedures, and processes for banking organizations to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and safeguard operations from money laundering and terrorist financing."

Deloitte - Privacy and Security in Health Care: A Fresh Look

Privacy and Security in Hea