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Unpatriotic Acts: The FBI’s Power to Rifle Through Your Records and Personal Belongings Without Telling You, July 2003, from the ACLU. The focus of this 26 page report (pdf) is an examination of, along with related resources and legal documents on, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, “which gives the FBI unprecedented access to …
CIPA Decision Response: A statement from ALA President Carla D. Hayden and the ALA Executive Board, July 25, 2003.
Defamation Immunity On The Internet, by John W. Dean: “Recently, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unwisely held, in Batzel v. Cremers, that a federal statute immunizes certain statements on the Internet from defamation liability. But Judge Ronald M. Gould dissented, urging a closer look at the consequences of the ruling.”
Prof. Anthony D’Amato, Northwestern University School of Law, notes his opposition to Loyola University Chicago’s compliance with an RIAA subpoena for the names of two students who allegedly engaged in file-sharing, contrary to university policy.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) maintains a no-fly blacklist that may include thousands of names, to which the CIA, FBI, Immigration and Dept. of State contribute information. See also Airline passenger screening tested: “The Homeland Security Department will begin testing a program to classify all airline passengers according to their security risk.” CAPPS II Privacy …
“Microsoft’s Web site was made inaccessible for an hour and 40 minutes Friday afternoon when a denial-of-service attack overwhelmed the site with traffic, making it impossible for legitimate page requests to get through.” [Link]
Robin Good’s Mini Guide: Become a News G-d: How to be the first one to know everything about anything – Intelligent Information Agents Come of Age. This 102 page guide, in pdf, is available for purchase via Robin Good’s Sharewood Tidings website. Arranged in 14 short chapters, it evaluates a wide range of free and …
Music Downloading, File-sharing and Copyright: A Pew Internet Project Data Memo [Link] “The struggle to enforce copyright laws in the digital age continues to be an uphill battle for content owners. Data gathered from Pew Internet & American Life Project surveys fielded during March – May of 2003 show that a striking 67% of Internet …
“Pacific Bell Internet Services, a unit of SBC Communications Inc., claims subpoenas filed by the Recording Industry Association of America and Titan Media Inc. threaten the privacy rights of its subscribers, most of whom live in California.” [Link] Thanks to Ella V. Delaney, who also provided the following information: Pacific Bell Internet Services v. RIAA …
From the American Library Association Washington Office Newsline: “Last night, July 31, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), introduced the “Protecting the Rights of Individuals Act.” (S. 1552) This bill contains many provisions that will help to restore some protections of civil liberties weakened by the USA PATRIOT Act. Several provisions are of …
Storing e-text for centuries describes the LOCKSS (for “lots of copies keep stuff safe”) project for permanent publishing on the Web, which is the brainchild of Stanford University librarian Vicky Reich and researcher David Rosenthal. From the LOCKSS website: “LOCKSS creates low-cost, persistent digital “caches” of authoritative versions of http-delivered content. The LOCKSS software enables …
Special Report: E-Gov under construction “A look at three prominent programs reveals how far government has come and how far it has to go.” “When the Office of Management and Budget two years ago unveiled its e-government program, e-gov became a buzzword, and OMBs 25 high-profile projects requiring extensive collaboration among agencies became synonymous with …
