Civil Liberties

Senator Whitehouse Dodges the Telecom Immunity Issue

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 16, 2007 |

Remember “I voted for it before I voted against it” from the 2004 Presidential campaign? Well, according to a report from the Dow Jones Newswire (via CNN), Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has come up with a version for the year 2007. The issue is whether telecommunications companies who have cooperated with the government’s electronic…

Senator Whitehouse Supports Telecom Immunity, So Far

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 9, 2007 |

One issue being considered as part of the reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is whether telecommunications companies that have complied with customer information requests from the government should be granted immunity from privacy lawsuits. According to The Hill, an overwhelming majority of the Senate Intelligence Committee has approved an immunity provision…The Senate Intelligence…

Can We At Least Agree on Banning the Hyperbole?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 1, 2007 |

Over on his blog, America’s Report Card (named after a novel he published, not the scope of topics he addresses) Professor John McNally has put up a post claiming that PINHEADS (all caps in the original) have succeeded in getting When I Was a Loser, the now-controversial collection of essays he edited, banned from…well, he…

The Latest, Not Greatest, Proposed Revisions to Electronic Surveillance Law, Part 2

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 18, 2007 |

1. The Democratic leadership pulled its version of surveillance reform off of the House floor yesterday, according to National Public Radio, after the Republicans proposed the following change to the Democrats proposed change to the Section 105A “exception”…What threw the bill into limbo was a motion by Lamar Smith (R-TX) to send the bill back…

The Latest, Not Greatest, Proposed Revisions to Electronic Surveillance Law, Part 1

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 17, 2007 |

Here’s a quick primer on the latest version of electronic surveillance law moving through Congress. Warning: there’s some heavy (and not very well written) legalese in the portions of the new law excerpted below. At the moment, foreign electronic surveillance is being conducted under a reasonably clear rule written into a temporary law (it expires…

Religious People Have the Right To Assemble Too

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 28, 2007 |

Someone needs to tell the facilities manager at the Rhode Island State House that the government can’t deny members of religious groups the right to assemble when the same right is extended to secular groups. From Elizabeth Gudrais in last Wednesday’s Projo…Marco Schiappa, associate director for facilities management with the Department of Administration, told the…

England Continues to Ask for Calamity

By Justin Katz | August 27, 2007 |

Hot on the heels of news that gun crimes are up since Britain banned guns comes this controversy: The database, which goes live next year, is to contain details of every one of the 11 million children in the country, listing their name, address and gender, as well as contact details for their GP, school…

A Greater Toll than You Know

By Justin Katz | August 12, 2007 |

It would seem that our discussion of civil rights and E-ZPass toll booths was not far fetched: Generally mounted inside a vehicle’s windshield behind the rearview mirror, E-ZPass devices communicate with antennas at toll plazas, automatically deducting money from the motorist’s prepaid account. Of the 12 states in the Northeast and Midwest that are part…

What the New Wiretap Law Means

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 7, 2007 |

An NSA agent listens into a cell phone call between parties in Great Britain and Iran. This is what he hears…All materials and personnel are in place. We await further orders.Immediately, the party in Great Britain receives a return call…Begin operations in 2 hours. All primary targets are to be destroyed.Now, the NSA monitor detects…

Re: On-the-Spot License Suspension

By Justin Katz | July 25, 2007 |

On the spot… after a trial… whatever. I don’t think a 5% reduction is worth taking the step of granting a police officer with a tube the power of judge, jury, and executioner. If we’re serious about curtailing drunk driving, let’s not revoke licenses at all, or at least without multiple warnings (unless death or…