LibertyVoice

Pirate Bay Ban Rockets Pirate Party Website Into The Big Time

enigmax — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:17:44 +0000

The court-ordered ISP blockade of The Pirate Bay immediately backfired earlier this month when it massively raised awareness and caused the site to receive millions of extra visitors. Now, and as a direct result of the Pirate Bay ban, the website of the UK Pirate Party is benefiting hugely too. In just over three weeks it has jumped more than 100,000 places in the UK rankings and any moment now will become the 1,500th most-visited website in the country.

Source: Pirate Bay Ban Rockets Pirate Party Website Into The Big Time

Don’t let this sticky wicket overshadow Internet freedom

rbowe — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:29:49 +0000

An upcoming treaty renegotiation process could prove to be the next great threat to online freedom in the international realm. As we have explained, the World Conference on International Telecommunications – “WCIT” for short, pronounced “wicket...

File-Sharing Is Linked to Depression, Researchers Find

Ernesto — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:40:49 +0000

A new paper published by researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology reveals that people with depressive symptoms are more avid file-sharers than those without them. The research in question was conducted among students whose connections to the campus network were monitored. Perhaps more worrying than the results themselves, the lead researcher suggests that it might be a good idea to monitor people's file-sharing habits for use as a diagnostic tool.

Source: File-Sharing Is Linked to Depression, Researchers Find

In Congress Today: Testifying in Support of Geo-Privacy

Jay Stanley — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:23:00 +0000

Today I testified before the House Judiciary Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee in support of the Geolocational Privacy Surveillance Act, a law that would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant based upon probable cause before tra...

With New Privacy Policy, Twitter Commits to Respecting Do Not Track

rainey — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:56:33 +0000

Under a new policy announced today, Twitter will be suggesting accounts for Twitter users to follow based on data collected from an individual’s browsing habits on websites that have embedded Twitter buttons. While this is sure to garner scrutiny fro...

Buddhists, “True Threats” and Twitter

Jay Stanley — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:55:00 +0000

One of the very few pleasant things about being an attorney is that even some of the most boring cases have wacky backstories. This post is about one of the wackiest--though the issues raised illustrate certain constitutional concerns with a very short...

Op-Ed: A Judge’s Plea for Pot

Rekha Arulanantham — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Today, in a powerful and brave opinion piece in the New York Times, Judge Gustin L. Reichbach tells of how he relies on marijuana to tame the abysmal effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which in turn are meant to tame the cancer that ravages his bod...

The Shameful Index of Prison Rape – Action on PREA Can End the Violence

Rekha Arulanantham — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:29:00 +0000

Today the Department of Justice released the long-awaited Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) regulations, representing the first time that the federal government has issued national standards to help end sexual abuse in correctional facilities. Th...

Inappropriate Appropriations: The House Votes to Waste Taxpayer Money on Unnecessary Border and Immigration Enforcement

Jessica Monaco, ACLU — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:22:00 +0000

“Trimming excess.” That’s how Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, described the committee’s recently released 2013 budget for the Department of Homeland Security. Rogers says the bill, whi...

Citizen Counter-Surveillance of the Police? There’s an App For That.

Bryce Newell — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:49:46 +0000

Despite the welcome 7th Circuit decision in ACLU v. Alvarez on May 8 that directed a federal district court to enjoin the application of the Illinois eavesdropping statute to an ACLU police accountability program, citizens around the country remain v...