Civil Liberties on The Truth Imperative

The ACLU defends YOUR rights too

Mon, 14 May 2007 12:48:00 -0700

This is also one that puzzles me. I think it is primarily that some people dislike some of the causes that the ACLU has taken up (e.g. against ridiculous religious wackos trying to instill their brand of religion or morality as the law of the land) and so they discard the whole organization out of pocket. But their slogan, “Freedom can’t defend itself” speaks to exactly what they are here for: to defend The Bill of Rights. You know, the Bill of Rights is what gives the religious people their freedom to practice religion. Too bad they don’t see that the ACLU is also fighting for their rights too.

Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:00:00 -0800

This is so rich. A group is trying an argument from absurdity tactic to show how ridiculous the claim that Washington State’s Andersen v. King County decision is that declared a “legitimate state interest” for the state to restrict same-sex couples from legal marriage.

Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance

If passed by Washington voters, the Defense of Marriage Initiative would:

* add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage; * require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled; * require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “unrecognized;” * establish a process for filing proof of procreation; and * make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

Nist Blasts Paperless Electronic Voting

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:58:00 -0800

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently published a paper condemning paperless electronic voting machines as insecurable. I’ll have to read the paper in-depth to see how they came to that strong of a conclusion, but I do know that there is no research showing that a purely electronic system can be completely trustworthy.

It’s amazing how far this subject has come in just a few years, yet how far it still needs to go as evidenced by the irregularities in the recent 2006 midterm election.

Dmca Still Stands But Now With Some Exemptions

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:19:00 -0800

It’s still a shitty law though. Something else I will happily ignore to avoid my fair use rights being infringed. Again, how could I watch DVDs (legally rented/owned) on my Linux box without doing so?

Boing Boing: Copyright Office creates 6 DMCA exemptions

the office refused to grant exemptions that would benefit the general public – space- and format-shifting, backing up your DVDs – and they took back an earlier exemption that let people reverse-engineer the blacklists maintained by censorware companies to bring some transparency to their process.

Verizon settles class Action suit about deceptive practices regarding crippled phones

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 07:48:00 -0800

This is great news. They did the same with other phones, including the e815 that I have. Fortunately, there are ways around this to re-enable the crippled features, but they are out of reach to most consumers. I had to buy a data cable and software on eBay to uncripple my phone.

[infowarrior] - Verizon Slapped for Crippling Bluetooth

Verizon has been getting weasely with some of its customers in California who bought its Motorola v710 Bluetooth-³capable² phone on or before January 31, 2005. Preliminary approval of the settlement was granted in a California court for a class-action suit against the company because it didn¹t accurately tell prospective customers that its Bluetooth features weren¹t what they appeared to be. Verizon said the phone ³works with a PC² but left out that part about how you can¹t wirelessly sync photos or contacts or any other files using Bluetooth.

Ballot Design Not Dre Issues At Play In Fl Undervote Anomalies

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 06:52:00 -0800

It is hard to believe that such a blatant undervote error could be attributable solely to the DRE itself not properly recording them. But user interface designs can certainly be abused maliciously, or likely unintentionally, to create these situations. How ironic is it that the DREs that were touted to Help America Vote are actually helping them to undervote, due to poor design/implementation of the ballots?

Proper UI is just as important as sound underlying technology in ensuring proper understanding and usability of a system. Recall Why Can’t Johnny Encrypt? A Usability Evaluation of PGP 5.0 and the more recent Why Johnny Still Can’t Encrypt: Evaluating the Usability of Email Encryption Software for how even known secure software can result in insecure and unintended actions by the user. The infamous Butterfly ballots were not DRE-based but certainly were flawed UI that caused voting errors in previous elections so this is not a new issue to software or to voting by far.

Bank Of America Jails A Customer Causes Backlash Gt 50 Million

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:07:00 -0800

The This is Broken blog is a pretty cool idea too. There are so many processes, instructions, websites, etc. that just don’t work quite right. They get posted to this blog!

This Is Broken - Bank of America jailing a customer

Matthew Shinnick dropped by a Bank of America branch in San Francisco to make sure a check he was about to deposit wasn’t fraudulent. The teller found that the check was fraudulent and told the manager, who then had Shinnick thrown in jail. Are you getting this right? The customer who wanted to make sure he wasn’t about to draw on a fraudulent check, got thrown in jail by Bank of America.

More Constitution Shredding By Bush Administration

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:52:00 -0800

Boing Boing: Bush legalizes martial law – what Constitution?

Congressman Oops Results In Legal And Civil Liberties Violation Of Student

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:45:00 -0800

Something tells me that the government has too much power…

Boing Boing: Congressman on Boarding Pass Generator guy: Uh… oops?

Last Friday, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) called for the arrest of Christopher Soghoian, and the takedown of his “Boarding Pass Generator” website which illustrated an airline security hole documented on the web for several years. Hours after the congressman’s statement, Soghoian says FBI agents visited his home, then returned a second time after he’d left – in the middle of the night – with a search warrant signed at 2AM, and seized Soghoian’s computer(s) and other belongings.

Educate Yourself And Help Defend The Constitution

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:36:00 -0700

Atheist Ethicist: Defending the Constitution

take some time, come up with a couple of sharp arguments, and spread those arguments among the people. We can complain about how well or how poorly legislators defend the Constitution. However, ultimately, it is our job to defend the Constitution, and this is one of the greatest assaults the Constitution has ever been subjected to.

Do you care enough to help defend it?

US Election System Still Frought with Systemic Problems

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:46:00 -0700

USNews.com: The road to reform in election corrections has been slow going

That messy 2000 election was supposed to be the jolt America needed. After chronic flaws in the country’s voting process became painfully public, an ambitious reform effort was supposed to make hanging chads and butterfly ballots relics of election nightmares gone by.

But nearly six years later, it hasn’t turned out that way. In the state of Washington, the 2004 governor’s election took more than six months to resolve–again before a court. And some liberal activists still believe that vote tampering and dirty tricks handed Ohio to the GOP, enabling President Bush to win re-election. Now, heading into the midterm congressional elections, despite the expenditure of billions of dollars, a litany of problems remains.

Cartoon The Revised Revised Story About Nsa Wiretapping

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:42:00 -0700

WorkingForChange-This Modern World: The revised revised story

Washington Supreme Court will decide if police need warrant for GPS 'tracking

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:12:00 -0700

Court will decide if police need warrant for GPS ’tracking’

But what if the same secret technology, called global positioning satellite tracking, could track anyone at any time?

The Washington Supreme Court will decide soon whether police agencies throughout the state may use the device freely – without a warrant. The Jackson case is the first in the state dealing with the issue.

The Security of Checks and balances

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:55:00 -0700

Schneier on Security: The Security of Checks and Balances

Very apropos read a couple of years later.

Same Sex Marriage Is An Issue Of Civil Rights And Discrimination

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:51:00 -0700

Marriage Rights

Summary of benefits of marriage that same sex couples are being denied.

The typical talking point of the gay bigots is that “marriage” is a “sacred institution”. But those assholes are guilty of equivocating (i.e. a logical fallacy, not to mention dishonesty). There are two completely separate concepts involved: Religious definition of marriage (which is not at all within the domain of government and is in no way changed by what the state decides to allow or not) and the Legal/Stata/Contractual definition of marriage, which is entirely secular and pragmatic.

Judge Prevents Divorce Due To Pregnancy

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:41:00 -0700

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Judge won’t let woman divorce while she’s pregnant

In comments submitted to Bastine, Hughes said: “If this court vacates my divorce and requires me to stay married to a man I have no desire ever to have a relationship with and who has brought significant physical harm to me over the years, I would be emotionally devastated. If the court vacates my divorce and stays it until the birth of my child, it will prevent me from marrying the father of my child prior to her birth.”

Asinine Terrorist Detection At Western Union

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:09:00 -0700

Western Union blocks Arab cash deliveries - Yahoo! News

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Money transfer agencies have delayed or blocked thousands of cash deliveries on suspicion of terrorist connections simply because senders or recipients have names like Mohammed or Ahmed, company officials said. ADVERTISEMENT

In one example, an Indian driver here said Western Union prevented him from sending $120 to a friend at home last month because the recipient’s name was Mohammed.

The Tyranny of the Executive

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:19:00 -0700

Atheist Ethicist

My concern is that the Bush Administration may be spying only on suspected terrorists the way that it invades only countries supporting those who attacked the United States on 9/11. My concern is with the possibility that Bush Administration officials might have an agenda, with an ulterior motive, that would involve invading a country so they rationalize a way of thinking about this country that makes it seem to them to be worthy of attack.

What's the catch?

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:52:00 -0700

Executive Order: Protecting the Property Rights of the American People

I think this is a very cool move. Too bad Congress couldn’t do something like this and too bad the courts had to side too much with corporations. This may restore some balance for the little guy against the Wal-Marts of the world…while it lasts.

But, what is the catch? Bush has been so pro-business I’m not seeing where this fits in…

Quot If You Are Not Doing Anything Wrong Why Should You Worry About Big Brother Quot-

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:07:00 -0700

quot-

Schneier on Security: Police Cameras in Your Home

Great rationale for how the “fully trust the government” crowd does not understand the legitimate purpose of limits on governmental intrusion and power. I’ve seen several pundits cry that the end (catching terrorists) justifies the means even still.

Artists And Consumers Get Screwed By The Music Industry

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:06:00 -0700

Passionate condemnation of the music industry:

[IP] MUST READ Courtney Love does the math The controversial singertak

[IP] last on this topic – Does File Trading Fund Terrorism? Successful artists not seeing any profit.

[https://www.marketplace.org/play/audio.php?media=/2003/03/12_mpp&start=00:00: 20:00.0&end=00:00:27:30.0](https://www.marketplace.org/play/audio.php?media=/2003/03/12_mpp&start=00:00: 20:00.0&end=00:00:27:30.0)

[IP] 2 more on Does File Trading Fund Terrorism?

Nsa Surveillance Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:18:00 -0700

A gaggle of links about the illegal NSA domestic spying program. More apropos in light of even more spying by the Bush Administration – this time on international wire transfers

Think Progress: NSA Whistleblower To Expose More Unlawful Activity: ‘People…Are Going To Be Shocked’

Media Matters - Myths and falsehoods on the NSA domestic call-tracking program

Open Debate On Drm

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 13:47:00 -0700

WSJ.com - ‘DRM’ Protects Downloads, But Does It Stifle Innovation?

Remember, DRM = Digital Restriction Management.

This is an awesome debate getting to the heart of the matter. Courtesy of BoingBoing

Call Your Phone Company

Fri, 12 May 2006 09:52:00 -0700

Daily Kos: ACTION ALERT: Tell ATT, Verizon, Cingular, SBC NO NSA SPYING!

I called Verizon Wireless and they said that it was not them, but the parent Verizon, which is the subject and that VZW does not divulge this information (known in the biz as CPNI).

I urge you also to call your phone company if they, like Qwest, did _not_ provide your information and thank them. I also did that for Qwest.

Telco liability could be staggering

Fri, 12 May 2006 09:39:00 -0700

Think Progress: Telcos Could Be Liable For Tens of Billions of Dollars For Illegally Turning Over Phone Records

Court Calls Fcc Calea Ruling Quot Gobbledygook Utter Nonsense Quot-

Sun, 07 May 2006 05:23:00 -0700

EFF: DeepLinks

I love it when the justice system works.

Update on the right to fly without ID

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 09:36:00 -0800

Boing Boing: Gilmore responds to “TSA ID-checking security lax” story

This would have been my guess, that people will refer to a nebulous rule/law to justify the practice or simply say, well even though it’s not legally required, it is company policy. I’m interested in trying this myself.

Zphone: Encrypt your VOIP

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 12:40:00 -0800

Boing Boing: Encrypted VOIP from PGP creator Zimmermann: Zfone

Encrypted VOIP from PGP creator Zimmermann: Zfone

Good reason to switch to VOIP instead of traditional phones to protect yourself from Big Brother Bush.

Defeating Censorware

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:17:00 -0800

If your employer or corrupt, undemocratic, dictator-based government uses a filtering service such as Secure Computing’s SmartFilter to block access to BoingBoing.net, you can try the following workarounds…

Boing Boing’s Guide to Defeating Censorware

Of course, good network admins take evasive action for these evasive actions, but the reality is that there are always ways to get around proxies. Especially when they do stupid shit like “Smart” filter does. Smartfilter will often block an entire domain in a category for one single page that may fit in that category. They blocked attrition.org under “criminal skills” and several other security sites. I recall them blocking geocities.com or something like it when only some of the pages met the criteria. Why don’t they block specific URLs or URL patterns instead of an entire domain?

British Video Association Admission Debunks Claims Of Quot Piracy Quot-

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:21:00 -0800

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Digital film: Industry answers

Oops?

Hollywood Misleads The Press On Piracy Statistics

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:17:00 -0800

Hollywood: Thousands Dead From File Sharing

Statements and statistics from the music, movie and software cartels are about as accurate as their claims that they’re honest, hard-working companies with consumers’ and performers’ best interests at heart.

A couple of years back, the Big Four Organized Music family’s RIAA said a raid against a New York counterfeit operation resulted in the equivalent of 421 CD burners being seized.

Judges Order Publishing Of Breathalyser Source Code

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:14:00 -0800

-code

LiveAmmo Security Blog: Drunk drivers granted access to breathalyser source code

If only I was able to be granted the source code for the laser detector that incorrectly clocked me over the speed limit…

I like when judges don’t treat technology as infallible. In my case, there was not any argument that could detract from the “evidence” , even the likely EMI!

Quot Cybercrime Quot Treaty Is Criminal

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 13:39:00 -0800

Fuzzy logic behind Bush’s cybercrime treaty | Perspectives | CNET News.com

the Convention on Cybercrime will endanger Americans’ privacy and civil liberties–and place the FBI’s massive surveillance apparatus at the disposal of nations with much less respect for individual liberties.

Well, it has “cyber” in its name so it must be good… This legislation sounds like a really bad idea without the fix to ensure that requests are only allowed under “dual criminality” situations.

Congress May Curtail Some Patriot Act Powers

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:01:00 -0800

Congress May Curb Some Patriot Act Powers - Yahoo! News

Now that congress has apparently taken the time to read the PATRIOT Act, they are more likely to do the right thing before voting for it a second time:

WASHINGTON - Congress is moving to curb some of the police powers it gave the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including imposing new restrictions on the FBI’s access to private phone and financial records. ADVERTISEMENT

Does Voting Machine Technology Affect The Outcome Of Elections

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:30:00 -0800

Some interesting results found in a study of 2000-2004 election data.

We first show that there is a positive correlation between use of touch-screen voting and the level of electoral support for George Bush. This is true in models that compare the 2000-2004 changes in vote shares between adopting and nonadopting counties within a state, after controlling for income, demographic composition, and other factors. Although small, the effect could have been large enough to influence the final results in some closely contested states.

Fixes To The Patriot Act Seen As Sufficient To Address Concerns

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:23:00 -0800

Appropriate rational commentary on the specifics that need to be changed about the PATRIOT act to address privacy and governmental power and oversight issues.

The Wall Street Journal

November 12, 2004

COMMENTARY

Patriot Fixes

By BOB BARR November 12, 2004; Page A12

The most common charge levied against critics of the Patriot Act – one that Alberto Gonzales, the new face of Justice, is likely to repeat in his days ahead – is that they’re “misinformed.” Well, as a former U.S. attorney appointed by President Reagan, a former CIA lawyer and analyst, and a former Congressman who sat on the Judiciary Committee, I can go mano a mano with any law-enforcement or intelligence official on the facts. And the facts say that the Patriot Act needs to be reviewed and refined by Congress.

Blast From The Past Dmv Fraud

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 14:56:00 -0700

As the REAL ID act meets reality, recall a previous report on DMV fraud and lax security. If you think you have problems budgeting for security in your company, imagine being handed an unfunded mandate from the federal government. Do you think current problems will magically go away?

Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 09:50:52 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Security Holes at DMVs Nationwide Lead to ID Theft and Safety Concerns

Federal Court Quot Smacks Down Quot Specious Dmca Claim

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:17:00 -0700

Fed. Circuit Smacks Down Bad DMCA Decision Re: Independent Repair Techs

Great news for the public’s rights over “copy” rights.

the DMCA must be read in the context of the Copyright Act, which balances the rights of the copyright owner against the public’s interest in having appropriate access to the work.

Evidence Of The Expanding Us Totalitarian State

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 14:52:00 -0700

From John Gilmore to the cryptography list:

> one that is all too relevant today. The pertinent question is no longer > whether Americans spied, but rather how highly educated, intelligent men > and women failed to comprehend the true nature of Stalinist communism, and > why they were willing to risk their lives and imperil the security of their > families, neighbors and friends to commit crimes on behalf of a foreign > power opposed to the basic tenets of modern society.

More Tsa Idiocy

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 15:04:00 -0700

Following up on my earlier posting on TSA idiocy… Supposedly this was also at SeaTac.

Just met with some friends tonight and the subject of airline/airport “security” came up. A true story about a recent run-in with TSA:

85-year-old resident of Washington state arrives home after an international flight where he had successfully taken about six different flight legs without incident carrying on a small watch/clock repair toolkit with him in his carry-on luggage. On the final leg, he is accosted by TSA because he is carrying a 2 inch hammer in this kit with a metal head and wooden handle!! The TSA tells him that tools are prohibited and that they are going to confiscate this tiny hammer.

TSA abuse of power comes to a city near me

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:23:00 -0700

This story from my hometown of Seattle is further proof that the current airport security procedures are nothing more than window dressing and are leading to the loss of civil rights for innocent people.

When was the last time you heard about these security procedures actually catching a terrorist?

komo news | ‘This Is Not Right’

DES MOINES - Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist.

Quot Terri'S Law Quot Unconstitutional

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 08:53:00 -0800

At least there is some good and rationality left in the world. This is great.

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers’ blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution. Since I have sworn, as have they, to uphold and defend that Covenant, I must respectfully concur in the denial of the request for rehearing en banc.

WE NEED VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER TRAILS!!!

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 13:09:00 -0800

To all of you who are claiming to this day that with current security knowledge and technology we can have all-electronic voting equipment and still have a meaningful recount, read this story. Un-be-freaking-leivable.

local6.com - News - 13,000 Ballots Rushed From Voting Site, Must Be Recounted

Maher Arar Releases Details On How The Us Sent Him To Syria To Be Tortured

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:07:00 -0700

An update to this story: As of Sept 2004, a heavily-redacted report was released that reportedly found fault with some of the RCMP’s handling of the case, but, according to the CBC timeline, claims that the RCMP did not know that the US was planning to arrest and deport him to Syria.

“Prime Minister Jean Chr�en tells the House of Commons that the U.S. government’s deportation of a Canadian to Syria was “unacceptable,” but he is adamant that he will not allow an independent inquiry into the case of Maher Arar. He says his government has asked U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for an explanation and that the government also wants to find out whether Canadian intelligence officials played a role in the deportation of Arar.”

Fox Not Quot Fair Amp Balanced Quot In First Amendment Treatment

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 06:36:00 -0700

This is such a great line.

In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox and a Victory for Al Franken

Judge Chin said the case was an easy one, and chided Fox for bringing its complaint to court. The judge said, “Of course, it is ironic that a media company that should be fighting for the First Amendment is trying to undermine it.”

Copyright Conundrum Q Amp A On Quot Digital Copyright Quot Issues

Thu, 12 Jun 2003 03:29:00 -0700

Good stuff to refer to from Lawrence Lessig.

Online NewsHour: Forum – Copyright Conundrum

Doj Inspector General Criticizes Doj For Treatment Of Immigrant Detainees

Sat, 07 Jun 2003 04:54:00 -0700

Courtesy of EPIC Alert 10.10. https://www.epic.org

====================================================================== [3] Inspector General Criticizes DOJ on September 11 Detainees ======================================================================

The Inspector General of the Department of Justice has released a 198-page report examining the treatment of people who were held on immigration charges in connection with the investigation of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The report details how the Justice Department used federal immigration laws to detain 762 persons, mostly of Arab or South Asian origin, who were suspected of having ties to the attacks or connections to terrorism, or who were simply encountered during the course of the FBI’s inquiry into the attacks. The report highlights serious problems with the round-up and treatment of the 762 detainees, including arbitrary detentions, prolonged detentions, restrictive detention conditions, and in some instances physical and verbal abuse. The Office of Inspector General is an independent internal investigation unit within the Justice Department.

Danger And Absurdity Of The Tsa No Fly List

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:53:00 -0700

John Gilmore points out how to have fun with bomb scanners by using hand lotion with Glycerine, or at least points out how easily such expensive equipment can be rendered useless. If equipment has any significant number of false-positives, be sure that it, or procedures, will tune out any hope of finding a real needle in the haystack.

Also, if you notice an “S” on your boarding pass, prepare for extra scrutiny at the airport. The TSA believes, based on often erroneous matching, that you are a member of its “Selectee” list of people who need additional security measures.

Is The Price Right For Your Freedom

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:41:00 -0700

How do you measure a cost-benefit for the new security measures or of your liberty? It is hard to even come up with a causal link from the “increased” security measures (ask me about the absurd experience I had in LAX…) to increased safety, let alone quantifying such a benefit.

There is also a discussion at https://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=03/03/12/06265215;cmt=42

NYTimes.com Abstract

In an unusual twist on cost-benefit analysis, an economic tool that conservatives have often used to attack environmental regulation, top advisers to President Bush want to weigh the benefits of tighter domestic security against the ‘‘costs’’ of lost privacy and freedom.

Aclu Dmca Case Against N2h2 Is A Loss For Freedom

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:23:00 -0700

This is a very disturbing development and more reason why the DMCA has a chilling effect on speech and freedom to do legitimate research.

“*RESEARCHER, ACLU LOSE DMCA CASE

N2H2 Inc. can use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to stop a researcher from attempting to reverse engineer its Web filtering product, a judge ruled last week.

Harvard Law student Benjamin Edelman says he wants to crack the filtering tools to test them. Edelman planned to hack into N2H2�s cryptography-protected list of filter parameters, but, fearing prosecution, sought court protection. Edelman and the ACLU believe filters, used at libraries and schools, limit free speech.

Quot If You Want To Win An Election Just Control The Voting Machines Quot-

Fri, 23 May 2003 11:06:00 -0700

quot-

A couple more sites working against all-electronic voting machines:

https://www.blackboxvoting.com/ https://www.ecotalk.org/VotingSecurity.htm

Also, an article discussing a situation that, if true, is truly egregious:

The senator who won the election in Nebraska allegedly “was the head of, and continues to own part interest in, the company that owns the company that installed, programmed, and largely ran the voting machines that were used by most of the citizens of Nebraska.”

The bigger issue, in my opinion, is not whether the senator had rigged his election but the fact that we are entirely unable to verify whether this occurred or not. With a voter verifiable and recountable audit trail, we could.

Horrible Precedent Guantanamo Detainees Have No Us Legal Recourse

Fri, 23 May 2003 10:53:00 -0700

[IP] Stuart Taylor’s column today –“Falsely Accused ‘Enemies’ Deserve Due Process

Couldn’t say it better myself. And regarding those lists of “known or suspected terrorists”, Bruce Schneier said it best, “there is an incentive for law enforcement to put people on this list, but no incentive for them to take people off. So the harrassment continues.”

“It ought to be unnecessary to say this, but even *correctly* accused enemies of the state deserve due process – not least because due process is the best way of determining whether they were, in fact, correctly accused.”

Illogical Rantings On Quot Under God Quot Issue

Thu, 22 May 2003 15:28:00 -0700

I couldn’t pass this one up.

Miami News-Record - Gerald Stone Column

" At a time when we need God and religion in our lives more than ever, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to strike down the words �under God� from the Pledge of Allegiance."

I’ll add some clarification to this statement:

“we” = you and those who believe as you do “our lives” = the lives of you and those who believe as you do.

Big Brother Is All Around You

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:59:00 -0800

ABCNews is reporting that several police agencies are under fire for domestic spying. Those of you who think that the government can have all the power it thinks it wants without checks and balances should take heed that this certainly breeds abuses. Read this article. See the trend toward more domestic spying. Be afraid.

I hope that Seattle maintains their current ban on this practice.

ABCNEWS.com : Is Police Spying Back in Fashion?

Copa Ruled Unconstitutional-

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:11:00 -0800

The Washington Post has a story about the victory for free speech handed down by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday. They upheld a lower court injunction blocking the law (COPA) as being too squishy to withstand constitutional muster.

“Previously, the 3rd Circuit had ruled the law unconstitutional on grounds that it allowed the legality of Internet content to be judged by “contemporary community standards.”

Also see discussion at Slashdot | Appeals Court Rejects Child Online Protection Act, Again

Debate On Copyright Vs Innovation At Stanford

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 05:13:00 -0800

[IP] Pondering Value of Copyright vs. Innovation

“Technology scholars, business leaders and policy makers gathered at California conferences this weekend to argue whether a mismatch between two different technologies and the legal policies that govern them could inhibit free expression and innovation. "

““We have ceded too much power to copyright owners,” said Ms. Lofgren, who plans on Tuesday to reintroduce a bill that would amend the 1998 law. “People are afraid to proceed on innovative measures.””

Outlawing Encryption Under Patriot Ii

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 05:10:00 -0800

ot-ii

Among other nasty things, the US government is trying to make the use of encryption while committing a crime over a computer a new crime that would add 5 years onto your sentence, if convicted.

“If you order a book from Amazon.com and fail to pay state tax, the SSL session with Amazon supports a five year felony. [RFF - I’d also include using GSM cell phones with the built-in encryption….]”

Google Removes Quot Illegal Quot Site From Its Index On Request

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 00:53:00 -0800

Seth Finkelstein has details on a troubling case about someone in Chester county in the UK complaining to google about a site run by someone calling themselves “Chester the Molester” as an illegal paedophile site that they found by searching for “Chester Guide” on google. The site, in fact, was not illegal at all but a list of “sick humor” that included a link to a humor article entitled, “Chester’s guide to: picking up little girls”.

Truth in music on its way?

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 00:51:00 -0800

Senator Ron Wyden (D) from Oregon is pitching a simple idea to lead to a market-driven solution to the DRM problems being imposed on consumers: to require music companies to disclose to consumers the restrictions they will impose on the consumer’s use of the product.

“When customers know, for example, that the compact disc they’re buying is technologically rigged so they can’t rip MP3 files from it for use on a portable player, they won’t buy it. Eventually, these informed customers will demand change in the copyright laws.”