Congress seems intent on delaying any debate on repealing the military’s ban on open service by gays until next year. As the House passed its version of the 2010 defense authorization bill, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee talked about having hearings later this year on the possible repeal of the so-called “don’t…
Category: Govt
FBI justifies gag order — in secret
When the FBI uses a national security letter (NSL) to force the cooperation of an ISP or phone company in the surveillance of a suspect, the agency typically slaps a gag order on the service provider to prevent it from revealing the existence of the NSL. Civil liberties groups have successfully challenged the DOJ on…
Privacy policies: public vs. private sector
In a Brookings Institute study, “Comparing Technology Innovation in the Private and Public Sectors” (pdf), authors Darrell M. West and Jenny Lu compared the sectors on a number of factors, including privacy and security. They report, in part: A growing number of websites offer privacy and security statements, yet they remain more prevalent on commercial…
Forcible DNA extraction violated the Constitution
A Las Vegas detective violated an inmate’s constitutional rights by “forcibly extracting” his DNA without a warrant while he was shackled and chained to a bench, the 9th Circuit ruled on a 2-1 vote. The extraction was requested by Deputy District Attorney Elissa Luzaich, who wanted to put Kenneth Friedman’s DNA sample into a cold-case…