Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Honoring Sunshine Week. The Total Information Awareness project FOIA saga. Honoring Sunshine Week. 27B tells the sad tale of requesting open records on the government's Total Information Awareness project. 44 months later, still no word. In 27B Stroke 6. [Wired News: Top Stories] 4:29:39 PM

U.S. Spy Case Will Be Heard. U.S. Spy Case Will Be Heard. A Northern California judge will hear arguments in the case of two American lawyers who say they can prove the U.S. spied on them without a warrant. The government says the case should never be heard. In 27B Stroke 6. [Wired News: Top Stories] 4:17:14 PM

FCW.com News - Bill would protect information about students from recruiters An amendment to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act seeks to keep military recruiters from accessing secondary students' personal data by requiring parents to choose to share that information rather than having to opt out of sharing it. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) introduced the legislation March 6. The Student Privacy Protection Act would require local school systems to obtain written consent before releasing information on secondary school students to military recruiters or their agents. The measure will next be referred to the House Education and Labor Committee sometime during this session, said a spokesperson for Honda. That committee's chairman, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), is a co-sponsor of the bill. Because of a provision in the NCLB, school districts are directed to give information about students to military recruiters unless parents explicitly request that their children's data remains private. Since the enacting of NCLB, secondary schools have been supplying the names, addresses and telephone numbers of students to recruiters sponsored by the military services. However, schools often failed to make parents aware of the option to keep that information private, Honda said. 3:54:06 PM

CDT Calls for Judicial Approval of National Security Letters. CDT Calls for Judicial Approval of National Security Letters. CDT is calling on Congress to require judicial supervision of FBI requests for access to the sensitive records of US citizens to protect privacy and national security. Recent revelations regarding violations in the use of so-called "national security letters" have shown that no matter how many internal controls the FBI adopts, self-certification is not sufficient when the government is obtaining the sensitive financial and communications records of citizens. CDT believes Congress should reform the law and adopt a reasonable system of judicial checks and balances. [Center for Democracy and Technology] 3:35:59 PM

DMCA Abuser Apologizes for Takedown Campaign. DMCA Abuser Apologizes for Takedown Campaign. Michael Crook Agrees to Stop Attacks on Free Speech San Francisco - Michael Crook, the man behind a string of meritless online copyright complaints, has agreed to withdraw those complaints, take a copyright law course, and apologize for interfering with the free speech rights of his targets. The agreement settles a lawsuit against Crook filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of Jeff Diehl, the editor of the Internet magazine 10 Zen Monkeys. Diehl was forced to modify an article posted about Crook's behavior in a fake sex-ad scheme after Crook sent baseless Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices, claiming to be the copyright holder of an image used in the story. In fact, the image was from a Fox News program and legally used as part of commentary on Crook. But Crook repeated his claims and then attempted to use the same process to get the image removed from other websites reporting on his takedown campaign. "Crook's legal threats interfered with legitimate debate about his controversial online behavior," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "Public figures must not be allowed to use bogus copyright claims to squelch speech." In addition to withdrawing current complaints against Diehl and every other target of his takedown campaign and taking a copyright law course, Crook has also agreed to limit any future DMCA notices to works authored or photographed by himself or his wife, or where the copyright was specifically assigned to him. All future notices must also include a link to EFF information on his case, as well as the settlement agreement. Crook has also recorded a video statement to apologize and publicize the dangers of abusing copyright law. "We're pleased that Crook has taken responsibility for his egregious behavior," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Hopefully, this will set a precedent to prevent future abuse of the law by those who dislike online news-reporting and criticism." The settlement with Michael Crook is part of EFF's ongoing campaign to protect online free speech from the chilling effects of bogus intellectual property claims. EFF recently filed suit against the man who claims to have created the popular line dance "The Electric Slide" for misusing copyright law to remove an online documentary video that included footage of people trying to do the dance. For the video statement from Michael Crook: http://blip.tv/file/169553 For more on Diehl v. Crook: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/diehl_v_crook/ Contacts: Corynne McSherry Staff Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation corynne@eff.org Jason Schultz Staff Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation jason@eff.org [EFF: Breaking News] 3:33:48 PM

OpenCongress OpenCongress brings together official government data with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind each bill. 3:30:38 PM

© Copyright 2007 Paul Hardwick. Last update: 3/18/07; 7:46:43 PM.