Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday introduced legislation to address expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, which are slated to sunset on December 31. The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act on Wednesday, September 23. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the chair of…
First Amendment lawsuit challenges Florida ‘Police Privacy Statute’
Robert Brayshaw says that the City of Tallahassee arrested and prosecuted him twice for publishing a police officer’s address online at Ratemycop.com. Now Brayshaw is challenging the constitutionality of Florida Statute §843.17, which states: Any person who shall maliciously, with intent to obstruct the due execution of the law or with the intent to intimidate,…
Universities Spar Over Disappearing Electronic Messages
John Markoff reports: In less than two months after a group of University of Washington computer researchers proposed a novel system for making electronic messages “disappear” after a certain period of time, a rival group of researchers based at the University of Texas at Austin, Princeton, and the University of Michigan, has claimed to have…
Last major PC makers ditch Chinese Web filter
Owen Fletcher reports: Some of the few PC makers who offered a controversial Web filtering program mandated by China have reversed those plans, dealing the latest blow to China’s efforts to deploy the software nationwide. Lenovo, Acer and Sony have all stopped bundling the program, named Green Dam Youth Escort, with PCs sold in China,…