Free speech advocates and civil libertarians begin their court battle against the Children's Internet Protection Act in Philadelphia on Monday.

Political News from Wired News - Porn-Filter Judge Boots Public.

PHILADELPHIA -- A trio of federal judges abruptly kicked members of the public out of a library filtering trial on Monday, saying they feared confidential smut-blocking techniques would be disclosed.

Filterware vendor N2H2 filed an emergency request to intervene in the trial, which began Monday in Federal District court. Company officials argued that expert witnesses could leak proprietary data about how the company trawls for additions to its catalog of off-color, gambling, prurient and other verboten websites.

N2H2's motion created an unlikely pair of allies: Both the ACLU, which filed the lawsuit, and the U.S. Justice Department, which is defending it, opposed closing the doors to the 16th-floor courtroom.

CNET NEWS.COM - Spammers lose in small-claims court.

Free-speech group Peacefire.org has won a legal round in its fight against unsolicited e-mail, invoking Washington state's anti-spam law.

The King County District Court in Bellevue, Wash., on Monday granted Peacefire $1,000 in damages in each of three complaints filed by Peacefire Webmaster Bennett Haselton. The small-claims suit alleged that Red Moss Media, Paulann Allison and Richard Schueler sent unsolicited commercial messages to Haselton that bore deceptive information such as a forged return e-mail address or misleading subject line.

Washington's tough anti-spam law bans such deceptive e-mail. Enacted four years ago, the law is one of the nation's first measures that sets standards for junk e-mailers and levies stiff fines for violators. In October, the Supreme Court refused to review a constitutional challenge to Washington's law.

KoreaTimes : Wiretapping Requests Rise Sharply in 2001.

Wiretapping requests by law enforcement authorities for fixed-line telephones, wireless phones and e-mails soared in 2001, according to a report released by the Ministry of Information and Communication.

The report said the number of wiretapping aid requests last year rose by 21.2 percent to 2,884 cases.

For all of 2001, telecommunication data provision cooperation requests jumped 68.6 percent to 270,584 cases.

Europemedia.net: Phone tapping scandal continue.

Controversy generated two months ago by the Armaghedon II scandal have now reached the highest level of security institutions in the government.

The Romanian Intelligence Agency (SRI) recently said the number of illegal phone tappings and other types of communication has grown considerably in recent years, with a strong involvement, on the criminal side, of bodyguard companies and employees of communication operators.

InformationWeek > News Scan > Privacy Watchdog Sues DOT Over Security March 25, 2002.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center is suing the Department of Transportation to obtain details about the DOT's proposed airline-passenger profiling and screening system and a network linking reservation systems with private and government databases. EPIC, a privacy watchdog organization, also is seeking information about plans to create passenger ID cards with biometric data. The DOT has 30 days to respond to the suit.

LA Times - Bill Would Boost Md. Wiretaps.

Maryland lawmakers are preparing to pass anti-terrorism legislation today that would dramatically expand the ability of police to tap phones and eavesdrop on the e-mail and Internet activity of suspected criminals--part of a deluge of terror-busting measures under consideration in nearly every state.

The Maryland bill, like those in dozens of other states, has inspired a heated clash between civil libertarians and those who believe that some rights must be compromised to prevent another attack on U.S. soil.

Each time that conflict surfaced last week, as Maryland delegates met in committee to craft the legislation, concerns about security ultimately outweighed fears about the potential for police abuse. "I realize that this bill basically says you can tap someone's phone for jaywalking, and normally I would say, 'No way,' " said Del. Dana Lee Dembrow (D-Montgomery). "But after what happened on Sept. 11 . . . ."

AccountingWEB - free Registration will be required soon E&Y To Provide Assurances on Online Privacy.

Ernst & Young has announced that it will offer its clients the option of reporting on a website's compliance with key requirements of the BBBOnLine privacy program. BBBOnLine is a program of the Better Business Bureau system.

The new service will be offered to clients for whom E&Y is engaged to perform recurring attestation services under the American Institute of CPAs' WebTrust program for online privacy.

Essentially, E&Y will issue a report of findings to its clients for use in determining whether a business meets certain BBBOnLine privacy program eligibility requirements. Once accepted by BBBOnLine, the company will be able to display the consumer-friendly BBBOnLine privacy program trustmark on their websites.