Kashmir Hill writes: The Senate passed a $63 billion bill Monday to provide four years of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. One of the provisions of the Reauthorization Act is that the FAA clear the path for wider spread use of drones (a.k.a. unmanned aircraft) for governmental and commercial purposes. Within 90 days, the FAA has to speed…
Category: Laws
Real Name Deadline for China’s Microblogs is Looming, New Users Already Way Down
Steven Millward writes: We’ve known since the first week of January that real-name registration was going to be a government-mandated requirement on Chinese Twitter-like services – and now we know the deadline will be March 16th. That’s the day by which current users of the major ‘Weibo’ platforms – such as Sina’s (NASDAQ:SINA) Weibo.com, and…
Wash. considers collecting DNA upon arrest
Gene Johnson of Associated Press reports: Anthony Dias is the poster boy for why police and prosecutors hope Washington will join a growing number of states that require people to give DNA samples as soon as they’re arrested for a serious crime, rather than waiting until they’re convicted. In 2005, Dias was released on bail…
Audio recording law under scrutiny in Illinois
Associated Press reports: Tiawanda Moore didn’t think she was doing anything wrong when she took out her smartphone and started recording a conversation with two Chicago police officers she says were trying to stop her from filing a sexual harassment complaint against one of their colleagues two years ago. Moore was promptly arrested and charged…