SurfWax Launches New Search Engine
See the recently launched SurfWax News Accumulator, a “news aggregator with 100,000 topic-specific news pages, covering 4,000 news sources in 86 categories.”
Biometric ID Will Be Added to US Passports
U.S. passports to get ID chips: The State Department will be testing machine readable passports, incorporating facial scanning for U.S. citizens, this fall, with plans for wider implementation in 2005. DHS Secretary Ridge and Sec. of State Powell recently requested a two-year extension for 27 countries who had been required to meet a “October 26, …
DOJ Advisory Cmte. Warns About Data Mining and Privacy
According to the New York Times, the Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee advises the DOJ, in an report delivered in March, but just made available (although not yet on the TAPAC website), that due to data mining undertaken by the government in the fight against terrorism, there is the need to establish additional legislative protections …
Senate Resolution Calls for Substantial Improvements to THOMAS Website
S. Res. 360 – Expressing the sense of the Senate that legislative information shall be publicly available through the Internet. May 13, 2004: From the statement by co-sponsor Sen. Leahy: “In particular, we are calling on the Library of Congress to improve its public website, called “THOMAS (U.S. Congress on the Internet),” in order to …
Congress Requests That GAO Investigate E-Voting Technology
David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, received a letter last week signed by a bipartisan group of 13 House members, requesting a formal investigation of e-voting security and reliability. The group stated the issue involved “a critical aspect of American democracy the ability of Americans to have confidence that the votes …
The Impact of Technology on Current Events and Freedom of Information
From the New York Times, an article whose significance will no doubt have even wider context as the rapid flow of information around the world continues to expand: New Technology Loosens Controls Over Images of War. See also The Needle in the Database, an op-ed on the need for inter-agency cooperation in intelligence gathering and …
ID Theft Bills Progress on Hill
The Fraudulent Online Identity Sanctions Act (H.R. 3754), to provide additional civil and criminal remedies for domain name fraud, was approved by the House Judiciary Cmte. on May 12, as was H.R. 1731, the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act. For reference, see the Lanham Act.
FTC Settles Fair Credit Reporting Act Case
From an FTC press release yesterday: “One of the nations largest debt-collection firms will pay $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by reporting inaccurate information about consumer accounts to credit bureaus. The civil penalty against Pennsylvania-based NCO Group, Inc. is the largest civil penalty …
FOIA Request Made for Iraqi Detainee CDs
“In a Freedom of Information Act request, the Federation of American Scientists requested copies of [three CDs] discs with “abuses committed against Iraqi prisoners held in the custody of US government or coalition forces in Iraq.” [Link]
Reliability of E-Voting Technology Challenged Again
From the Miami Daily Business Review via law.com, this article adds fuel to the fire that is threatening to undermine public support for e-voting machines in the upcoming national election. After the recent high profile news about California’s decision to decertify Diebold equipment, this article documents serious problems with the iVotronic Touch Screen Electronic Voting …
Website Posting on Patriot Act Case is Redacted
From the ACLU press release, Judge Revises Sealing Order in Controversial Patriot Act Challenge, May 12: “A federal judge today revised a strict sealing order in a challenge to the Patriot Act’s expanded “National Security Letter” power filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union. The government had relied …
VeriSign v. ICANN Over SiteFinder
As a follow-up to my previous postings on ICANN’s dispute with VeriSign’s over SiteFinder, from February, VeriSign Files Lawsuit Against ICANN, this update today from AP, ICANN’s latest challenge tests new Internet services, and the following related information and documents: Verisign Inc. v. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers et al. (Central Dist. of …