John Bresnahan reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has rejected a Senate plan to include amendments to the Patriot Act in a larger Pentagon funding bill covering the soaring cost of the war in Afghanistan, arguing that to do so would lead to a “revolt on the left,” according to Democratic insiders. Pelosi’s decision, announced…
Category: Laws
Privacy challenge to data-storage law reaches German constitutional court
A controversial law forcing communications companies to keep records of customers’ phone and internet use for six months was to be scrutinised on Tuesday by the constitutional court after 34,000 people lodged appeals against the law. Germany’s highest court, based in Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, was to examine 60 separate legal questions regarding…
MN: Law enforcement asking for data privacy flexibility
I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear that law enforcement is asking for “flexibility” when it comes to our privacy or civil liberties, I have a Pavlovian “uh-oh” response. Brad Swenson reports: State lawmakers may consider a special category for data to allow law enforcement more investigative options, says Sen. Mary Olson. “With…
AU: Human rights? Sorry, we’d rather strip-search children
Chris Berg writes in The Age: What’s the point of having a charter of human rights if it just gets ignored? The Summary Offences and Control of Weapons Acts Amendment 2009 is burrowing its way through State Parliament at the moment. Designed to tackle ”knife violence”, this bill will give police an extraordinary new array…