Portland politicians said it was okay for police to seize a citizen’s garbage without a search warrant. But when some reporters swiped their garbage and reported the contents they screamed foul play — via Slashdot
Lesley McCulloch is paying the ultimate price for her own academic integrity
. After being jailed by the Indonesian authorities for her academic research into human rights abuses
Each year, governments chip away at citizens’ civil liberties. It’s a tactic the United States condemned during the Cold War but now uses in the war on terror
On the internet, you can learn about virtually anything. You can seek comfort from others similarly afflicted by a rare disease or explore such sensitive topics as birth control. Just as long as you’re not connecting from work, a school or a public library
After 19 years as a state Fish and Wildlife officer, Bob Lantiegne says he is being harassed because he’s gay — and that a number of investigative agencies say they can do nothing about it
Joseph Turow has begun a crusade to de-capitalise the word Internet and, by extension, to acknowledge a deep shift in the way that we think about the online world
Mexico’s equivalent of the RIAA used federal police to raid Grupo Mekong, responsible for half of the 400 million virgin CDs imported each year, accusing them of being in league with the Piracy business in Mexico. The rationale being that record companies buy only 20% of Mekong merchandise, so the other 80% must be going to pirates, disregarding computer users, independent labels or other legal uses — via Slashdot
While the Pentagon has spent the past year planning for a war against Iraq, the peace movement has been gearing up to disrupt domestic military activity, tie up commerce and get out the anti-war message
Since the dawn of the information age, computer security commandos have battled the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse: child pornographers, drug lords, mafiosi, and terrorists. A noble struggle, to be sure, but mostly vapourware. The Feds have a massive, multi-agency plan to protect the national information infrastructure. Get ready for IT police and network smart bombs. Because of the inroads the Internet and other digital network technologies have made into everyday life over the last decade, it is increasingly possible to amass Big Brother-like surveillance powers through Little Brother means. The basic components include everyday digital technologies like e-mail, online shopping and travel booking, ATM systems, mobile phone networks, electronic toll-collection systems and credit-card payment terminals
New Jersey has just enacted legislation that would require all handguns to be able to recognise their owners and only fire when their owners grip them. Gun manufacturers will be required to implement this within three years of the New Jersey Attorney General’s approval of an acceptable, commercially available model — via Slashdot
The US Copyright Office asked for public comment on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it got it. Critics worry about everything from losing great art to restricting blind people’s access to information
Psychologists at the University of Sussex found that people who get involved in campaigns, strikes and political demonstrations experience an improvement in psychological well-being that can help them overcome stress, pain, anxiety and depression
The Denver police have gathered information on unsuspecting local activists since the 1950s, secretly storing what they learned on simple index cards in a huge cabinet at police headquarters. Among those the police spied on were nuns, advocates for American Indians and church organisations.
A new Amnesty International report reveals that China’s Internet police force is brutally efficient — and becoming more so every day.
A handful of US municipalities are refusing to let their employees collaborate with federal officials seeking to spy on residents under the Patriot Act. Meanwhile, librarians are launching their own protests
Music and film producers have been slammed as rip-off merchants in a scathing industry review by Forrester Research chairman and chief executive George Colony. And according to Gartner analyst Daniel McHugh, attempts to block copying of music CDs will spark an arms race between record labels and hackers
According to a new United Nations report, despite global treaties, children are being recruited as soldiers by governments in the Congo, Burundi and Liberia and are prevalent among rebel groups in Colombia, the Philippines, Uganda and Sri Lanka
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was shocked at the public humiliation of a woman councillor beaten and paraded naked through a village on the orders of a powerful landlord
Software meant to protect young people from the seamier side of the Internet may also be blocking important health information
The NSW Government has backed off repealing controversial internet censorship laws, putting the legislation in the deep freeze while it waits for a federal review
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