EPIC: “The Ninth Circuit found that the companies may have violated Facebook’s privacy policies when they disclosed user information for advertising purposes. Separately, the court ruled that there was no violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act because the data disclosed (including Facebook IDs and HTTP referers) is not “contents” of a communication. Congress is set to consider several ECPA reforms,… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Courts
New Scientist – US Supreme Court air pollution ruling will save lives
Lisa Grossman: “Citizens of the US, breathe easier. The Supreme Court has ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can regulate air pollution that drifts across state lines. The ruling means about 1000 power plants will be forced to reduce their emissions. The states hit hardest by the rules include Texas and Ohio, where coal-fired power plants are… Continue Reading
Annual FISA Report Shows Decrease in Surveillance Orders, Questions About Scope Remain
EPIC: “The Department of Justice has published the 2013 FISA Report. The brief report provides summary information about the government’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In 2012 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court granted 1,789 FISA orders and 212 “Section 215” orders. In 2013, there were 1,588 requests to conduct FISA surveillance, with 34 modifications.… Continue Reading
Pew – Public strongly backs affirmative action programs on campus
“The use of affirmative action programs in college admissions has roiled campuses and the public for years, leading to state-passed laws banning the practice and to the April 22nd Supreme Court ruling upholding a Michigan voter initiative banning the use of racial preferences. But while the debate and the battles continue, a new Pew Research Center poll finds that… Continue Reading
Recidivism Of Prisoners Released In 30 States In 2005: Patterns From 2005 To 2010
Alexia D. Cooper, Ph.D., Matthew R. Durose, Howard N. Snyder, Ph.D. April 22, 2014. NCJ 244205 “Examines the 5-year post-release offending patterns of persons released from state prisons in 2005 by offender characteristics, prior criminal history, and commitment offense. It provides estimates on the number and types of crimes former inmates commit both prior to their… Continue Reading
WaPo – Surveillance court rejected Verizon challenge to NSA calls program
Ellen Nakashima’s article [snipped] – Verizon in January filed a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s program that collects billions of Americans’ call-detail records, but a surveillance court rejected it, according to newly declassified documents and individuals with knowledge of the matter. In denying the phone company’s petition in March, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court… Continue Reading
EFF Outlines Key Issues With Mass Surveillance to Government Oversight Board
“EFF recently filed comments with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) concerning Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (FAA), one of the key statutes under which the government claims it can conduct mass surveillance of innocent people’s communications and records from inside the US. EFF maintains that the government’s activities under Section 702 that we know… Continue Reading
Coalition Urges White House to Recognize EU Opinion; End NSA Telephone Records Program
“In a letter to the White House, a coalition of US organizations urged the Administration to recognize the recent opinion by the Court of Justice, the highest court in Europe, that ended a European data retention mandate. The European law required telephone and internet companies to retain metadata on customers for national security purposes. The European Court of Justice… Continue Reading
The Bureau of Prisons: Operations and Budget
CRS – The Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Operations and Budget. Nathan James, Analyst in Crime Policy, March 4, 2014 “The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is the largest correctional agency in the country, in terms of the number of prisoners under its jurisdiction. The BOP must confine any offender convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in a federal court. Changes in federal criminal… Continue Reading
Law review article – The Court Cannot Hold
Bassok, Or, The Court Cannot Hold (April 10, 2014). Journal of Law and Politics, Vol. 30, 2014. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2423398 “In recent decades the American Supreme Court has been struggling with two main issues: articulating America’s constitutional identity and the decline of legal expertise in the public mind. First, since American national identity is… Continue Reading
ICE Deportation Data by Gender, Age, and Country of Citizenship
“An individual deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in fiscal year 2013 was most likely to be a Mexican male about 30 years old, according to examination of the latest available agency records obtained from ICE by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University under the Freedom of Information Act. However, the number… Continue Reading
Unlawfully Present Aliens, Higher Education, In-State Tuition, and Financial Aid: Legal Analysis
CRS – Unlawfully Present Aliens, Higher Education, In-State Tuition, and Financial Aid: Legal Analysis. Kate M. Manuel, Legislative Attorney, March 28, 2014 “The existence of a sizable population of “DREAMers” in the United States has prompted questions about unlawfully present aliens’ eligibility for admission to public institutions of higher education, in-state tuition, and financial aid. The term DREAMer is… Continue Reading
