Crime statistics are political dynamite, and the media is trying constantly to light the fuse of public alarm. As law and order becomes a permanent political campaign issue, each new statistic is a bullet in a war of words
In a misguided fit of patriotism mere weeks after the World Trade Centre and Pentagon attacks, a corporate employee handed over the records — almost literally, the grocery lists — to federal investigators from three agencies that had never even requested them. In a flash, the most basic of exchanges became fodder for the Patriot Act
The Federal Government is under fire for its decision to vote against a new United Nations protocol against torture. The protocol calls for independent visits to prisons as a way of halting torture. Australia was one of eight countries to vote against the protocol, while the United States abstained, having earlier expressed its opposition to the protocol
Voters in San Francisco will decide this fall whether the city should grow its own marijuana. Under a measure that will be on the ballot in November, city officials would explore growing pot and distributing it to seriously ill patients who have permission from their doctors. Supporters said such a program on city-owned land could double as agriculture job training for the unemployed
The Federal Government is attempting to change freedom of information legislation to prevent the public discovering that Internet censorship laws have failed, according to civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia
The Norwegian Government has dropped their contract with Microsoft. Microsoft had an exclusive deal with national and regional government. Administration Secretary Victor Norman states that we feel that our contract with Microsoft in reality has given Microsoft a monopoly in a field where competition would serve us better
— via Slashdot
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Cyber Security Enhancement Act that would allow for life prison sentences for malicious computer hackers
The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has been accused of having a conflict of interest regarding his responsibilities towards children in Australia’s detention centres
The NSW Government will consult with its interstate counterparts before deciding whether to repeal controversial internet censorship legislation
Britons, among the heaviest users of cannabis in Europe, will soon be able to smoke dope without fear of arrest after the government relaxed its laws on the drug in the face of a dramatic rise in its use. And voters in Nevada, which up until last year had the US’s strictest marijuana law, will decide in November whether to let adults legally possess small amounts of pot
Australia’s skilled migration program is failing IT professionals and needs urgent reform
The newest candidate challenging Secretary of State Katherine Harris in her bid for Congress is truly an underdog: a border collie mix. According to his owner and campaign manager, Wayne Genthner, Percy the dog is running as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary
According to a recent survey, information technology professionals think a major attack on US government computer systems is coming and that the government is not adequately prepared for it
The Canadian government has given the military and RCMP permission to jam radio signals during the G8 summit and the Pope’s visit in July — via Slashdot
Greenpeace has said it would name smog-filled days in Toronto after local members of the federal Liberal government in order to draw attention to Canada’s failure to ratify the Kyoto accord, a world-wide effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
Industry groups have welcomed the recommendations in a recent report that legislation dealing with Internet censorship be repealed, which would return Internet law enforcement to the Crimes Act of 1900
Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, the maverick former professional wrestler whose election stunned the political establishment, announced on Tuesday that he would not seek a second term
The Australian Consumers Association says the insurance industry has hoodwinked governments and the community into thinking there has been a blow-out in public liability claims
The UK Government has admitted that it failed to investigate the hardcore pornographic web sites run by Richard Desmond, the adult magazine publisher, when it decided that he was a fit and proper
person to acquire the Daily Express and Sunday Express
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