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Daily Archives: February 4, 2006

Release of Historic Gov. Docs Chronicle White House Position on Wiretapping

Follow-up to February 3, 2006 posting, Judiciary Cmte. Democrats Again Request Data on Domestic Surveillance From AG, which referred to an AP article, Papers: Ford White House Weighed Wiretaps…George H.W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are cited in the documents, see this additional documentation from the National Security Archive:

  • “Despite objections from then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-CIA director George H. W. Bush, President Gerald Ford came down on the side of a proposed federal law to govern wiretapping in 1976 instead of relying on the “inherent” authority of the President because the “pros” outweighed the “cons,” according to internal White House documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.”
  • Related legal documents:

  • From the Center for Security Studies, Legislative History of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
  • Postings on FISA
  • Copyright Office Releases Report on “Orphan Works”

    “The Copyright Office has completed its study of problems related to ‘orphan works’—copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate. As requested by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Office submitted its Report on Orphan Works to the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 31, 2006. The Report is also available… Continue Reading

    Customer Info Collected By Search Engines Increasingly Subject to Scrutiny

    FAQ: When Google is not your friend, by Declan McCullagh: “Google’s recent legal spat with the U.S. Department of Justice highlights not only what information search engines record about us but also the shortcomings in a federal law that’s supposed to protect online privacy.” Related references: New York Times – Increasingly, Internet’s Data Trail Leads… Continue Reading