The American Society of Newspaper Editors recently issued a memo, The Effect of Patriot Act II on Newspapers. It focuses on three areas in which the proposed draft legislation would impact First Amendment rights: “(1) Increased surveillance authority that might chill speech, especially political dissent; (2) Increased restrictions on access to government information, either generally or through the Freedom of Information Act; and (3) Increased criminal provisions that might affect the First Amendment protections of the right to free association.”
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Daily Archives: March 5, 2003
Supreme Court Decisions on Sex Offender Registry and Internet
Today the Supreme Court ruled in two cases involving Megan’s law, one from Connecticut and one from Alaska. In Smith et al v. Doe et al, No. 01-729, (PDF – appeal in Doe I v. Otte, 259 F.3d 979, C.A. 9, Alaska, 2001) the court upheld the right of states to use the web to… Continue Reading
EU Approves Hacker Penalties
EU Ministers agreed to establish a new criminal offense, “illegally accessing an information system,” which would include incarceration for “serious cases.” The text of this new policy is buried on page 19 of this 27 page document (PDF), under the heading “Attacks Against Information Systems.” See also this related article in today’s New York Times,… Continue Reading
California Financial Privacy Bill Proceeds
An update on SB 1, the California Financial Information Privacy Act: it received approval from the Senate in a vote of 23 to 6 on March 3. See my previous post on the bill here. Continue Reading
New Tech Magazine Bucks Trend
The recent demise of well regarded techzine Red Herring, just short of its tenth anniversary, follows the discontinuation of other prominent publications in the tech arena, including The Industry Standard in 2001, Upside magazine in 2002, and predictions that continued financial woes at Salon.com will also result in its closure. Amidst all this gloom comes… Continue Reading
New Bill to Protect Consumer Rights In the Digital Age
On March 4, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations, or BALANCE Act, that mirrors the text of H. R. 5522, the Digital Choice and Freedom Act of 2002, introduced by Lofgren October 2, 2002. From yesterday’s press release: “This legislation would ensure that consumers are able… Continue Reading
Free Online News Sources Dwindle
This Columbia Journalism Review article, Why Information Will No Longer Be Free, highlights the growing trend by newspapers to cut losses from free access to their websites with the addition of new subscriptions models, expanded advertising campaigns and the collection of more customer personal data for marketing purposes by third parties. Continue Reading
Trademark Decision from Supreme Court Impacts Domain Names
On March 4, the Supreme Court released a unanimous decision in Moseley et al., dba v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc., et al., No. 01-1015, a trademark dilution case (Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 (FTDA) at Section 43(c) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1125(c). According to Declan McCullagh’s article on the decision, “the justices… Continue Reading
