At
first, I thought this was a consequence of “big data” – just
too much to analyze in a timely manner. Actually it seems to be a
case of arrogance.
E.D.N.Y.:
Govt’s failure to examine seized hard drives leads to suppression
as “flagrant disregard” of warrant and Fourth Amendment
May 20, 2012 by Dissent
FourthAmendment.com points to a
suppression ruling out of EDNY:
The government
seized 61 hard drives to copy and copied four others then took it’s
time analyzing them. The court finds the delay was unreasonable and
was a “flagrant disregard” of the rights of the owner of the
computers and target of the search and suppresses. United States
v. Metter, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155130 (E.D. N.Y. May 17, 2011)
[apparently should be a 2012 citation]
Read the excerpt from the decision on
FourthAmendment.com.
[From the ruling:
The lack of good faith by the
government can be inferred from its conduct in this case. In the
affidavits in support of the search warrants issued in this case, the
government promised to review the evidence seized offsite to
determine whether any evidence fell outside the scope of the
warrants. (See McGuire Home Aff. ¶ 58; Carrano Aff. ¶
60; McGuire Email Aff. ¶ 130.) The government then failed to
commence the review, despite repeated requests from defense counsel
and directions from the Court to do so. In fact, the government
seemed shocked that the Court would require such a review, and, as
mentioned above, threatened to provide all of the
evidence seized and imaged to each defendant in the case, without
conducting any such review.
(See 2/4/11 S/C Tr. 24-26, 29-30; 2/28/11 Gov't Letter at 2.) The
government's own conduct and statements indicate that it had no
intention of fulfilling its obligations as promised in the search
warrants. Nor has the government presented any evidence or arguments
to the effect that it failed to fulfill this obligation due to
limited resources, such as it has argued in other cases.
“It's
for the children!”
Facebook
to lift ban on under-13s joining social network site?
May 20, 2012 by Dissent
Facebook may relax
a ban on children under the age of 13 joining its site after finding
that many kids, some with their parents’ permission and help, were
already using it. [Like they didn't know... Bob]
“There is
reputable evidence that there are kids under 13 who are lying about
their age to get on to Facebook,” Sunday Times quoted Simon Milner,
Facebook’s head of policy in Britain as saying.
Read more on Deccan
Chronicle.
I think I can already hear Congress
scrambling to hold hearings….
Tools for the modern stalker...
"On Friday, a company called
SceneTap
flipped the on switch enabling
cameras installed in around 20 bars to
monitor how full the venues are, the mix of men and women, their ages
— and to make all this information available live via an iPhone or
Android app. Privacy
advocates are unimpressed, though, as
the only hint that people are being monitored is via tiny stickers on
the windows. Beyond academics and policy experts, some San Francisco
bar owners that originally partnered with SceneTap have said that
they're pulling out and will be taking down the company's cameras.
An increasing number of bars still
listed on the SceneTap's site are now
saying that they're not working with the Chicago startup, including
Mr. Smith's, Southpaw, John Colins, and Bar None."
Whenever cities bribe companies, some
politician claims it's the company's fault and it's “not fair”
(which is political talk for “I have no clue what just happened.”)
"Eager to host Amazon
warehouses and receive a cut of the tax on sales to customers
statewide, the LA Times reports that two
California cities are offering Amazon most of the tax money they
stand to gain. After agreeing to collect
California sales taxes beginning in the fall, Amazon is setting up
two fulfillment centers in San Bernadino and Patterson, which will
gain not only jobs but also a tax bonanza: Sales to Amazon customers
throughout California will be deemed to take place there, so all
the sales tax earmarked for local government operations will go to
those two cities. The windfall is so lucrative
that local officials are preparing to give Amazon the lion's share of
their take as a reward for setting up shop there. 'The tax is
supposed to be supporting government,' said Lenny Goldberg, executive
director of the California Tax Reform Assn., of the proposed
sales-tax rebate. Instead, it's going back into Amazon's pocket.'
Sen. Mark DeSaulnier added: 'It seems like the private sector finds a
way to pit one city against the other. You
can't give away sales tax in this manner.'"
[Apparently, you can. Bob]
Since we have no clue how long this
should take, we'll rely on the estimates of the regulated
companies...
ICO
may give organisations years to comply with EU cookie law
May 21, 2012 by Dissent
Derek du Preez reports:
A senior policy
manager at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said
that it may give organisations with complex website
environments [Apparently this means incomprehensible or
unmanageable... Bob] years to comply with new EU cookie
laws, even though the new regulation came into effect in the UK
almost twelve months ago.
The government was
forced [“My God they have big guns too!” Bob]
to revise the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations,
which came into force in the UK on 26 May last year, to address a new
EU directive that demands that businesses and organisations running
websites in the UK need to get consent from visitors to their
websites in order to store cookies on users’ computers.
However, the ICO
stated at the time that it would give businesses a twelve month
‘moratorium’ period in which to get their house in order and to
comply with the new regulation.
Read more on CSO.
Looks like a job for IP lawyers with
JAG experience.
"The United States has pursued
Bradley Manning with full force for his role in supplying classified
documents to WikiLeaks, in part because of the substantial difficulty
in going after the organization directly. Criminal statutes
generally deployed against those who leak classified government
documents--such as the Espionage Act of 1917--are ill-equipped to
prosecute third-party international distribution organizations like
WikiLeaks. One potential tool that could be used to prosecute
WikiLeaks is copyright law. The use of copyright law in this context
has rarely been mentioned, and when it has, the approach has been
largely derided by experts, who decry it as contrary to the purposes
of copyright. But a paper
just published in the Stanford Journal of International Law
describes one novel way the U.S. could use copyright to go after
WikiLeaks and similar leaking organizations directly--by bringing
suit in foreign jurisdictions."
This sounds entirely too rational.
Cable
companies expand free Wi-Fi
The nation's biggest cable operators
are banding together to offer free Wi-Fi access to their broadband
customers in more than 50,000 hotspots around the country.
… The way it will work is that
customers of any of these cable companies can look for the CableWiFi
network and through a simple sign-on process connect using the same
credentials as when accessing their own providers' Wi-Fi networks.
Once subscribers have signed on once to any of the "CableWiFi"
networks, they will be able to automatically authenticate onto any
other CableWiFi network, the companies said in a press release.
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