Author archives

Possible Reprieve for Webcasters

H.R. 5469, referred to as the “Relief for Small-Business Webcasters” bill, was introduced on 9/26/2002 by Rep Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. Its purpose is to buy time for webcasters by delaying for six months “the determination of the Librarian of Congress of July 8, 2002, relating to rates and terms for the digital performance of …

Subjects: Copyright

Amazon Will Change Privacy Policy

Amazon.com plans to update its privacy policy this October in response to pressure from advocacy group EPIC, consumer complaints and a coalition of state attorney generals. See this press release from Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly indicating that Amazon has agreed “to clarify policy, protect customer data.”

Subjects: E-Commerce, Internet, Privacy

GAO Report on Freedom of Infomation Requests

A new GAO report, Information Management: Update on Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act Amendments, indicates that agencies throughout the government are experiencing significant backlogs in the responding to requests. In addition, the GAO noted that part of the problem stems from the fact that government sites have not kept pace with the publication …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2002

Testimony of Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center, on September 24, 2002, before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, on H.R. 4678. Mr. Rotenberg stated, “In many respects it seems crafted to protect privacy violators from legal accountability. On almost every key provision it favors industry over the consumer, the …

Subjects: Privacy

Free Data on Discarded PCs

This Wired article details the data security issues inherent in the sale or donation of used PCs, even those whose hard drives have been removed. Personal or corporate data can be pirated even “from the RAM chips and CPU core.”

Subjects: PC Security

First Amendment Online

This site comes via the University of Minnesota Law School, its librarians and student assistants. It provides annotated links to dozens of first amendment cases from the Supreme Court (current and retrospective), as well as Courts of Appeals and the Minnesota Supreme Court. In addition, there are links to primary sources for researchers, historical materials …

Subjects: Civil Liberties

Research Guide for Pennsylvania Law

Pennsylvania Legal Research Web Sites is maintained by Dittakavi Rao, Associate Director, Duquesne University Center For Legal Information. This portal should be your first stop for Pennsylvania legal research. Here you will find links to a wide range of resources that include the state’s administrative code and administrative law, statutory law, county court rules, federal, …

Subjects: Legal Research

State E-Government Programs

The Technology Privacy Group is an organization that implements e-commerce sites and applications for state governments and counties. In addition, the site hosts a keyword searchable database of The Presidential Privacy Archives from the Clinton administration.

Subjects: E-Commerce