From the New York Times article, Measuring Lost Freedom vs. Security in Dollars, this statement, “In a notice published last month, the budget office asked experts from around the country for ideas on how to measure “indirect costs” like lost time, lost privacy and even lost liberty that might stem from tougher security regulations.” The document referenced above is the Office of Management and Budget Draft 2003 Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations. The article highlights the troubling and questionable application of monetary formulas to assess the impact of openly diminishing freedom and civil liberties.
See also this recent, related joint AEI-Brookings working paper (PDF), Sacrificing Civil Liberties to Reduce Terrorism Risk.
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Daily Archives: March 12, 2003
Virginia Will Remove Personal Data From Court Sites
A bill passed by the Virginia House and Senate, H.B. 2426, “relating to posting certain information on the Internet; prohibitions” stipulates that “Beginning January 1, 2004, no court clerk shall post on a court-controlled website any document that contains the following information: (i) an actual signature; (ii) a social security number; (iii) a date of… Continue Reading
Cybertheft at University Prompts Review of Privacy Bill
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,… Continue Reading
Primer on Copyright Law
From the Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship 2003, this extensive and well documented resource, An Education in ©opyright Law: A Primer for Cyberspace. The author, Dr. Robert N. Diotalevi reviews copyright law basics, the fair use doctrine (and provides examples of permissible and non-permissible uses), how copyright applies to distance learning (illustrated by… Continue Reading
Vounteers for Dean Leverage Blog For Presidential Campaign
Volunteers on behalf of Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont and Democratic candidate for President, have created a blog, Howard Dean 2004. The site provides links to press clippings, speeches and interviews (audio and video), articles about the candidate (including an archive from 08/25/2002 to present), postings on his campaign schedule, as well as an… Continue Reading
EU Plan to Promote Safe Use of The Internet
European Parliament and Council decision amending Decision No 276/1999/EC adopting a multiannual Community action plan on promoting safer use of the Internet by combating illegal and harmful content on global networks, COM(2002) 152 Final. Continue Reading
President Signed "Do Not Call" Registry Bill
H.R. 395, The Do-Not-Call Implementation Act, P.L. 108-10, 117 Stat. 557; 2 pages, “To authorize the Federal Trade Commission to collect fees for the implementation and enforcement of a “do-not-call” registry,” was signed by the President on March 11. For more information on the procedure to remove your name from the telemarketers registry, see this… Continue Reading
How About Some Fries With Your High Speed Net Access
This story is just to good to pass up: McDonald’s is test marketing a new service in restaurants in three cities – NYC, Chicago and somewhere to be announced in California: the purchase of a combination meal (I have no idea what that is having been a vegetarian for 29 years) is accompanied by one… Continue Reading
Lessig Files Petition for Rehearing
Larry Lessig has filed a petition (PDF) with the Supreme Court for a rehearing of the Eldred v. Ashcroft case. Continue Reading
