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Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Buck Doe v. Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Labor (No. 02-1377), involving the Privacy Act of 1974 and the wrongful disclosure of the social security number of a coal miner seeking benefits for black lung disease. EPIC Files Amicus Brief in Supreme Court SS# Case The Supreme …
Dr. Avi Rubin of the Johns Hopkins’ Information Security Institute gave the keynote today, Electronic Voting: A case study of how closed systems fail, at the Secure Trusted Operating System Consortium Symposium underway at George Washington University. Dr. Rubin’s research identified critical security flaws in e-voting machine manufacturer Diebold Inc.’s software. The company announced this …
From the press release: “The Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age today released its second report, concluding that the U.S. government has not yet taken advantage of America’s technology expertise to fight the war on terrorism. In its report, the Task Force catalogs current gaps in the nation’s system for …
On November 21, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) introduced the Congressional Research Accessibility Act (H.R. 3630), To make available on the Internet, for purposes of access and retrieval by the public, certain information available through the Congressional Research Service Web site. The press release from Rep. Shays states: “CRS products are created with taxpayers’ dollars and …
The redesigned website for Washington, DC was recently honored by the Center for Digital Government as the Best of the Web city portal. The site has more than 120,000 pages, available in seven languages, in addition to English, and receives in excess of 100 million annual visits (yeh DC!). Content is arranged into the following …
From today’s LA Times (reg. req’d), FBI Seeks Wiretap Capabilities for Phone Calls Made Over the Internet. As I posted yesterday, FCC Commissioner Powell released a strong statement opposing regulation of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). According to the Times article, DOJ officials maintain that such a position would “jeopardize the ability of federal, state …
The Internet and the right to communicate: “This paper examines the development of a right to communicate and how it can be defined and implemented.”
Today the Federal Communications held a public forum on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). From the Opening Remarks of FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell: “As one who believes unflinchingly in maintaining an Internet free from government regulation, I believe that IP-based services such as VOIP should evolve in a regulation-free zone.” Links to FCC Commissioners’ …
The Tampa Tribune reported on November 26 (the article is now in the archives $$) that the Florida Supreme Court appointed a committee, chaired by Jon Mills, to determine new procedures to address privacy issues related to the release of personal data in electronic court records. From the Florida State Supreme Court Press Information webpage, …
Press release from the House Government Reform Committee: “Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) wrote last week to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge seeking assurances about the upcoming implementation of the US-VISIT program.” “As the January deadline for implementing the program at 115 airports and 14 seaports approaches, Davis sought information …
Victim advocates want names, addresses, records offline.
From the EFF: Diebold Backs Down, Won’t Sue on Publication of Electronic Voting Machine Flaws: “Voting machine company Diebold Systems, Inc., agreed today in federal court not to sue or send any further legal threats to anyone who publishes their corporate email archive indicating flaws in Diebold’s voting machines and irregularities with certifying the systems …
