The press release is here. The full-text report, Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society, was issued by the ACLU on January 15. Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2003
Discarded Hard Drives Full of Private Data
Think twice, and then a third time, before you trash your old PC hard drive. This MIT press release describes a recently released study conducted by two of the university’s grad students about their purchase of 158 used drives from which they successfully salvaged a treasure trove of personal credit card information, banking transaction data,… Continue Reading
New Free E-Filing Tax System
According to this press release from the Department of the Treasury, today the IRS will announce details about a new program (IRS Free File) that facilitates the free e-filing of tax forms by most Americans. The home page for Free File is here. The IRS entered into a agreement with a consortium of tax software… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Upholds Copyright Protections
On January 15, the Supreme Court issued a 7-2 decision in Eldred et al. v. Ashcroft, Attorney General, upholding the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and extending by 20 years existing copyrights and future copyrights. Via Cornell’s Legal Information Institute there is access to the PDF versions of the Syllabus (PDF version), the Opinion… Continue Reading
Throwing Stones at Search Engine Giant Google
This Business Week article provides perspective on Google’s growing pains, as the high profile, successful company (fielding an amazing 75% of all search engine queries) increasingly becomes the target of rivals in the advertising and e-commerce arenas. See also this Business Week review of Google’s beta web shopping network search engine, Froogle. Continue Reading
Resources on 108th Congress
The website for the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives provides quick access to a wealth of information for the 108th Congress, including: an official, searchable list of members (by name or state), links to Democratic and Republican leadership data, links to House Floor Proceedings for the last 7 legislative days,… Continue Reading
Microsoft Source Code Available to Governments
There are several reports today that Microsoft will release its source code to governments around the world in an attempt to stem the tide of their migration to open source operating systems such as the increasingly popular Linux. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Russia and NATO have already signed up for the Microsoft initiative.”… Continue Reading
E-Commerce, Privacy and Fraud
eMarketer has published an article, Personal Information: The Push-Pull Between Companies & Consumers, that incorporates survey data collected by a number of organizations including, Harris Interactive, ConsumerWebWatch, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. E-privacy and ID theft concerns dominate consumer perspectives when conducting online transactions. In a related article, MSNBC reports on extensive credit card fraud complaints involving PayPal,… Continue Reading
Music/Tech Industry Reach Digital Rights Agreement
Yesterday afternoon, the Recording Industry Association of America announced via this press release that “key members of the recording and technology industries” had reached an agreement on a set of principles as the foundation for their joint anti-piracy and copyright protection lobbying efforts in the 108th Congress. The agreement is a result of efforts by… Continue Reading
Sen. Leahy and EPIC Issue Letters on TIA
Following quickly on the heels of Sen. Harkin’s letter requesting a hearing on the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, Vermont’s Senator Leahy also sent a letter to Attorney General Ashcroft requesting answers to a list of specific questions, so at to determine “the extent to which the Justice Department is relying on data-mining” applications and… Continue Reading
Copyright and Open Source Software
With Microsoft making news today regarding their efforts against government use of open source software (OSS), this newly revised article, Making Copyright Ambidextrous: An Expose of Copyleft, is a useful resource on the history of OSS and associated licensing issues. Continue Reading
Journalists' Ethics Codes Online
Via CyberJournalist.net, here is a link to a guide for online journalists’ ethics codes from around the world. Organized by country and topic (accuracy, copyright, civil rights, privacy, etc.), this is a fascinating, and up-to-date resource. Continue Reading
