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From Edward Felton’s Freedom to Tinker, this page, State Super-DMCA Bills and Laws, provides a chart listing legislation introduced in nine states (AL, CO, FL, GA, MA, MD, MI, SC, TN, TX) that would preclude corporate and personal use of firewalls, routers and encrypted e-mail. See also this related posting from LawMeme about an April …
The Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property postponed their March 27, 2003 Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1417, the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act. See my previous posting on the demise of music webcasts as well as Declan McCullagh’s March 27 article.
From the SWALL Bulletin Spring 2003: The Legislative Reference Library of Texas recently launched a new website. It provides links to content in the following four areas: Legislative Information, Research Tools, What’s New, and Citizen Resources.
The Washington State Senate passed SB 5242, requiring libraries to offer filtering software for minor access to the internet, by a vote of 36 to 13. The bill has been referred to the House Technology, Telecommunications & Energy Committee.
S.692, A bill to require the Federal Trade Commission to issue rules regarding the disclosure of technological measures that restrict consumer flexibility to use and manipulate digital information and entertainment content. Sponsor: Sen Wyden, Ron [OR] (introduced 3/24/2003). See Wyden’s press release here.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced yesterday that the Senate Commerce Committee approved an amendment that would put into place Congressional oversight of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) controversial Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II). The CAPPS II system is at the center of a contentious battle between advocates of the privacy and civil liberties …
On March 12, Senator Patrick Leahy(D-VT), joined by Senators Levin (D-MI), Jeffords (I-VT), Lieberman (D-CT) and Byrd (D-WV), introduced new legislation, S. 609, the Restoration of Freedom of Information Act (“Restore FOIA”). See Leahy’s statement here. See Levin’s statement here. See also this Letter to Senate leaders on the Restoration of Freedom of Information Act …
Subsequent to the hacking of UT Austin’s computer system last week, resulting in the theft of personal data from more than 50,000 records as reported in my previous posting here, Texas lawmakers are giving closer consideration to a previously introduced bill banning the use of social security numbers on student IDs. The act, HB 1026, …
New e-commerce bill introduced in the House on February 26: the Jurisdictional Certainty Over Digital Commerce Act, H.R. 945.
From OMB Watch: “In an effort to encourage use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to access information, Illinois State Reps. Barbara Flynn Currie and Mary K. OBrien have introduced House Bill 438 to the Illinois state legislature. The bill would provide reimbursement for court costs and attorney fees for individuals who are successful …
From the Center for Democracy and Technology, this new 108 page compendium of papers (PDF), Considering Consumer Privacy: A Resource for Policymakers and Practitioners. The papers address a range of privacy issues including: notice, consent/choice, access, security, private right of action, state pre-emption, the online/offline question, ADR, safe harbors, and verification. The CDT’s resource was …
The National Computer Recycling Act was introduced on March 6, “to encourage and promote the recycling of used computers and to promote the development of a national infrastructure for the recycling of used computers.”
