Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
Open Society Foundation: “Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency embarked on a highly classified program of secret detention and extraordinary rendition of terrorist suspects. The program was designed to place detainee interrogations beyond the reach of law. Suspected terrorists were seized and secretly flown across national borders to be …
Description of Civil Liberties and Privacy Protections in the updated NCTC Guidelines, January 2013, Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “In March, 2012, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Attorney General, and the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) approved the updated Guidelines for Access, Retention, Use, and Dissemination by the National …
EFF: “Representative Zoe Lofgren has posted on Reddit a modified draft of Aaron’s Law, a proposal to update the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and wire fraud law in honor of our friend Aaron Swartz and to make sure that the misguided prosecution that happened to him doesn’t happen to anyone else. We’re very pleased …
CRS – The Federal Prison Population Buildup: Overview, Policy Changes, Issues, and Options. Nathan James, Analyst in Crime Policy. January 22, 2013 “Since the early 1980s, there has been a historically unprecedented increase in the federal prison population. Some of the growth is attributable to changes in federal criminal justice policy during the previous three …
Google Official Blog: “..January 28, is Data Privacy Day, when the world recognizes the importance of preserving your online privacy and security. If its like most other days, Googlelike many companies that provide online services to userswill receive dozens of letters, faxes and emails from government agencies and courts around the world requesting access to …
Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 – Transparency International “Looking at the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012, it’s clear that corruption is a major threat facing humanity. Corruption destroys lives and communities, and undermines countries and institutions. It generates popular anger that threatens to further destabilise societies and exacerbate violent conflicts. The Corruption Perceptions Index scores countries on …
Council of Councils Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research Report, January 2013 “This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in National Institutes of Health (NIH)-Supported Research. The NIH formed this committee within the Council of Councils, a federal advisory committee, to advise …
News release: “This morning, Google released their semi-annual transparency report, and once again, it revealed a troubling trend: Internet surveillance around the world continues to rise, with the United States leading the way in demands for user data. Google received over 21,000 requests for data on over 33,000 users in the last six months from …
Via Public Intelligence: “The following request for participants (RFP) was issued by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on June 8, 2012. The RFP concerns the construction of a wireless control and communications system for managing the citys future network of dimmable LED streetlights. The RFP states that future uses for the secure wireless network …
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse – “The odds of an asylum claim being denied reached an historic low in FY 2012, with only 44.5 percent being turned down. Ten years ago, almost two out of three (62.6%) individuals seeking asylum lost their cases in similar actions. Asylum applicants also made up more than a quarter (29.4%) …
Marcia Hoffman/EFF: “Over the past two years, Aaron was forced to devote much of his energy and resources to fighting a relentless and unjust felony prosecution brought by Justice Department attorneys in Massachusetts. His alleged crimes stemmed from using MIT’s computer network to download millions of academic articles from the online archive JSTOR, allegedly without …
CRS – Internet Domain Names: Background and Policy Issues. Lennard G. Kruger, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy. January 3, 2013 “Navigating the Internet requires using addresses and corresponding names that identify the location of individual computers. The Domain Name System (DNS) is the distributed set of databases residing in computers around the world that …
