Constitution
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Fourth of July Rallies Protest NSA Surveillance
In marking Indpendence Day, protesters nationwide called for outlawing National Security Agency domestic spying. In response, NSA officials released a statement endorsing demonstrators’ constitutional right to free speech. Officials made no mention of the constitutional right to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures... Read More »
3 NSA Veterans Speak Out On Whistle-Blower: We Told You So
In a roundtable discussion, a trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers tell USA TODAY that Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed. Read More »
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40 Years Later, The Cruelty Of Papillon Is A Reality In U.S. Prisons
Two generations after the famous film about solitary confinement first appeared, it's still relevant to the deplorable treatment of inmates in America's prisons today. Read More »
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5 Things To Know About The NSA Court Ruling
A District Court decision that the NSA's sweeping data collection program is unconstitutional paves the way for a Supreme Court review of the counterterrorism program, and creates a major headache for the Obama administration in the process. Read More »
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America’s Prisons: The Worst National Disgrace
The U.S. correctional system is the worst of America’s domestic disgraces. More people languish behind bars in the United States than in any other country, except perhaps China if we factor in the unknown numbers in labor camps. [...] Read More »
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An Overview Of The "Patent Trolls" Debate
Congress has recently demonstrated significant ongoing interest in litigation by “patent assertion entities” (PAEs), which are colloquially known as “patent trolls” and sometimes referred to as “non-practicing entities” (NPEs)... Read More »
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Apple's Star Chamber
Impossible as it sounds, Judge Denise Cote has found a way to make the Justice Department's antitrust assault on Apple AAPL +0.18% even more abusive. Because it presumed to enter the e-books market, the court is forcing the company to pay for a special prosecutor to investigate itself—and shredding the separation of constitutional powers too. Read More »
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Department Of Veterans Affairs Stripping Veterans Of Gun Rights
The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun sending letters to certain veterans of the U.S. military informing them that they are being stripped of their right to own firearms without due process, said Constitutional attorney and executive director of the United States Justice Foundation, Michael Connelly, J.D. on Wednesday. Read More »
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Diagnosing the Online Health Exchange Debacle: "Proprietary" Software Needs a Dose of Open Source
As the problem-plagued roll-out of President Obama’s signature healthcare policy undergoes congressional scrutiny for the first time, we speak with Clay Johnson, a former Obama campaign innovation expert who founded Blue State Digital, the company that built Obama’s 2008 website. During a House panel on Thursday, lawmakers questioned executives of two of the lead contractors behind the website, healthcare.gov — CGI Federal and Quality Software Systems Incorporated — about the myriad of glitches and defects. Johnson says the new website is built with outdated and proprietary software. "When the government is building software like this, it ought to be built out in the open — built with a licensing system called open source so that the public truly owns it," Johnson says. He notes that "In 1996, Congress lobotomized itself by getting rid of its technology think tank called the Technology Assessment Office. So they’re writing bills where they don’t understand the technology required in their laws."
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Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.’s
For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls — parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency’s hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. Read More »
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EFF Files 22 Firsthand Accounts Of How NSA Surveillance Chilled The Right To Association
Advocacy Organizations Seek Immediate Court Ruling on the Legality of the NSA’s Mass Collection of Telephone Records Read More »
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Fighting For Rights In A Time Of Big Data
More than a dozen civil rights groups are working to establish fairness guidelines for use by big data wielding law enforcement, hiring and commerce entities. They rightly point out the potential use of big data in discriminating against seniors and other groups. Below is the set of principles they think should be adopted across the board to prevent discrimination. [...] Read More »
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If PRISM Is Good Policy, Why Stop With Terrorism?
Defenders of the program say its effectiveness excuses it -- but they ignore the Fourth Amendment. Read More »
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In Depth Review: New NSA Documents Expose How Americans Can Be Spied On Without A Warrant
The Guardian published a new batch of secret leaked FISA court and NSA documents yesterday, which detail the particulars of how government has been accessing Americans’ emails without a warrant, in violation of the Constitution. [...] Read More »
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Microsoft Asks Attorney General To Release Gag Order On NSA Spying
Microsoft is tired of getting pummeled in the press over reports that it hands over emails and Skype conversations to the National Security Agency. [...] Read More »
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