Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Judge: State silenced dissent
He strikes down law banning publication of personal info on police
'A federal judge has struck down a new state law that banned the publication of such personal information about police, corrections and court officers as their home addresses and Social Security numbers without their permission. The law, enacted last year, made it illegal for anyone to disseminate personal information about law enforcement-related employees if it was being done for malicious reasons. But U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, the chief federal judge in Seattle, ruled it unconstitutional Thursday, assailing the state attorney general and King County prosecutor for making such weak arguments in suppressing free speech and finding their positions "troubling."....'
My favorite quote from the decision: "Thought-policing is not a compelling state interest recognized by the First Amendment." Well, at least we have one sane judge in this country.
Full text of article linked below
Judge: State silenced dissent
Also, here's the link to the website that is involved.
And finally, here's a link to one of the pages that really points out why William A. Sheehan built the site in the first place, to keep police accountable for things like this.
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He strikes down law banning publication of personal info on police
'A federal judge has struck down a new state law that banned the publication of such personal information about police, corrections and court officers as their home addresses and Social Security numbers without their permission. The law, enacted last year, made it illegal for anyone to disseminate personal information about law enforcement-related employees if it was being done for malicious reasons. But U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, the chief federal judge in Seattle, ruled it unconstitutional Thursday, assailing the state attorney general and King County prosecutor for making such weak arguments in suppressing free speech and finding their positions "troubling."....'
My favorite quote from the decision: "Thought-policing is not a compelling state interest recognized by the First Amendment." Well, at least we have one sane judge in this country.
Full text of article linked below
Judge: State silenced dissent
Also, here's the link to the website that is involved.
And finally, here's a link to one of the pages that really points out why William A. Sheehan built the site in the first place, to keep police accountable for things like this.
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The Phoenix Program
'Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at "neutralizing"—through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture—the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying "final solution" that violated the Geneva Conventions and traditional American ideas of human morality.'
Sounds about right, huh? Of course, most of these documents were destoyed by the CIA. Suprised? Yeah. Me too. Howver, Nelson Brickham, the creator of the program, saved copies Here's the link:
Documents from the Phoenix Program
There is evidence that some of these ideas are being used as a framework for the new "Homeland Security" Department and its operations. Yay!
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'Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at "neutralizing"—through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture—the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying "final solution" that violated the Geneva Conventions and traditional American ideas of human morality.'
Sounds about right, huh? Of course, most of these documents were destoyed by the CIA. Suprised? Yeah. Me too. Howver, Nelson Brickham, the creator of the program, saved copies Here's the link:
Documents from the Phoenix Program
There is evidence that some of these ideas are being used as a framework for the new "Homeland Security" Department and its operations. Yay!
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Tuesday, May 20, 2003
American Civil Liberties Union : Total Information Compliance: The TIA's Burden Under the Wyden Amendment
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Friday, May 16, 2003
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Ahh...good ole democracy in action...wait...
Some Audience Members Told Not to Wear Ties for Bush Speech
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Some Audience Members Told Not to Wear Ties for Bush Speech
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Tuesday, May 13, 2003
RIAA apologizes for threatening letter
The Chromatics song that triggered the RIAA's cease-and-desist letter:
http://www.astrocappella.com/swift.shtml
Their music is great. Acappella songs about physics and stuff, a definate must-listen
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1001095.html
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 12, 2003, 3:16 PM PT
WASHINGTON--The Recording Industry Association of America apologized Monday
to Penn State University for sending an incorrect legal notice of alleged
Internet copyright violations.
The notice and subsequent apology appears to be the first time a faulty
incorrect notification has been made public. The incident also shows just
how easily automated programs that search for copyrighted material can be
fooled, as well how disruptive such notices can be on college campuses.
Last Thursday, the RIAA sent a stiff copyright warning to Penn State's
department of astronomy and astrophysics. Department officials at first
were puzzled because the notification invoked the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act and alleged that an FTP site was unlawfully distributing
songs by the musician Usher. The letter demanded that the department
"remove the site" and delete the infringing sound files.
But no such files existed on the server, which is used by faculty and
graduate students to publish research and grant proposals. Matt Soccio, the
department's system administrator, said that he searched the FTP server
"for files ending in mp3, wma, ogg, wav, mov, mpg, etc., and found nothing
that would precipitate this complaint."
Except, that is, when Soccio realized two things. The department has on its
faculty a professor emeritus named Peter Usher and the same FTP site hosted
Usher's work on radio-selected quasars. The site also had a copy of an a
capella song performed by astronomers about the Swift gamma ray satellite,
which Penn State helped to design.
The combination of the word "Usher" and the suffix "mp3" had triggered the
RIAA's automated copyright crawlers.
[...remainder snipped...]
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The Chromatics song that triggered the RIAA's cease-and-desist letter:
http://www.astrocappella.com/swift.shtml
Their music is great. Acappella songs about physics and stuff, a definate must-listen
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1001095.html
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 12, 2003, 3:16 PM PT
WASHINGTON--The Recording Industry Association of America apologized Monday
to Penn State University for sending an incorrect legal notice of alleged
Internet copyright violations.
The notice and subsequent apology appears to be the first time a faulty
incorrect notification has been made public. The incident also shows just
how easily automated programs that search for copyrighted material can be
fooled, as well how disruptive such notices can be on college campuses.
Last Thursday, the RIAA sent a stiff copyright warning to Penn State's
department of astronomy and astrophysics. Department officials at first
were puzzled because the notification invoked the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act and alleged that an FTP site was unlawfully distributing
songs by the musician Usher. The letter demanded that the department
"remove the site" and delete the infringing sound files.
But no such files existed on the server, which is used by faculty and
graduate students to publish research and grant proposals. Matt Soccio, the
department's system administrator, said that he searched the FTP server
"for files ending in mp3, wma, ogg, wav, mov, mpg, etc., and found nothing
that would precipitate this complaint."
Except, that is, when Soccio realized two things. The department has on its
faculty a professor emeritus named Peter Usher and the same FTP site hosted
Usher's work on radio-selected quasars. The site also had a copy of an a
capella song performed by astronomers about the Swift gamma ray satellite,
which Penn State helped to design.
The combination of the word "Usher" and the suffix "mp3" had triggered the
RIAA's automated copyright crawlers.
[...remainder snipped...]
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Friday, May 09, 2003
Friday, May 02, 2003
PATRIOT Act Raid
I don't know if this story is true or not. It's hard to verify since the name of the restaurant was left out, as were the names and badge numbers of any law enforcement agents involved. However, this raid is DEFINATELY POSSIBLE given the legislation recently passed by congress. Read this story and be afraid. This is what happens when you give authoritarian conservatives unfettered power. Now, I'm not one of those who thinks that 9/11 was a plot to take away our freedoms, but it does seem to be working out that way doesn't it. Read the PATRIOT Act if you haven't. It is truly frightening. I think Ashcroft should be fired immediately, if not charged, for writing legislation which DOES NOT abide by the rules set forth by the constitution.
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I don't know if this story is true or not. It's hard to verify since the name of the restaurant was left out, as were the names and badge numbers of any law enforcement agents involved. However, this raid is DEFINATELY POSSIBLE given the legislation recently passed by congress. Read this story and be afraid. This is what happens when you give authoritarian conservatives unfettered power. Now, I'm not one of those who thinks that 9/11 was a plot to take away our freedoms, but it does seem to be working out that way doesn't it. Read the PATRIOT Act if you haven't. It is truly frightening. I think Ashcroft should be fired immediately, if not charged, for writing legislation which DOES NOT abide by the rules set forth by the constitution.
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