Dan Goodin reports: A federal judge has thrown out key evidence in a child pornography trial because the laptop alleged to contain more than 1,000 illegal images wasn’t searched until about five months after US customs officials seized it at a US border crossing. The ruling by US District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the…
Category: Court
More on vehicle “black boxes”–applying the “Big Brother” standard under the Fourth Amendment
Over on FourthAmendment.com, John Wesley Hall, Jr. has a commentary on the use of automotive “black boxes” and under what conditions the government can use them as evidence. The commentary seems inspired by a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposal to require black boxes in all cars. John writes, in part: What about the privacy…
Anti-Gay Marriage Group Must Fork Over Donor Info
Nick DiVito reports: The National Organization for Marriage must hand over its donor information to the state of Massachusetts, the 1st Circuit ruled. The anti-gay marriage group gave nearly $2 million in an unsuccessful bid to overturn Maine’s gay marriage law. The state Ethics Commission is investigating the organization after accusations arouse that it failed…
Links to defamatory content in email made sender liable, says US court
The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas was dealing with the bankruptcy of William Perry. It examined Perry’s sending of an email with links in it to a blog. Perry had not commented on or added to the links, US pressure group the Reporters Committee For Freedom Of The Press (RCFP) said….