Wired has an article indicating that the TSA has suspended testing on the controversial CAPPS II airline security system. Although the suspension is temporary, it does give some hope that there may be thinking going on in the government that privacy may be a good thing.... perhaps. Under the system …

All of this discussion about nearly-flawless DRM, GPS-based tax programs, and travel restrictions makes me wonder what happens as technology makes it more possible to locate and cite every transgression and whether that means we need to be changing the underlying laws. Imagine this: you are driving down a country …

Linux Journal has an article this week on pending open source legislation and the groups lobbying against it. Nobody will be surprised at the finger pointing against Microsoft, but it is good to know which organizations are funded by the company (such as the Initiative for Software Choice), which wants …

An article from CNet reports that Representative Lamar Smith (R,TX), made a speech June 10th explicitly warning the FCC that future regulations for HDTV should "have an adverse affect on how consumers may legitimately use lawfully acquired entertainment products." This is in marked contrast to Senator Hollings (D,SC …

I was reading an article this morning from CNET, when it dawned on me that the rationale and complaints in most of the article could have been for a half dozen other issues, and didn't need to be discussing the legislature's newly passed bill against Internet gambling. The "Unlawful Internet …

Rejoice! Number portability is at hand! The Washington Post reports that Friday an appeals court ruled against cellular providers who wanted to delay or stop the required implementation of the FCC ruling by November 2003. At this rate, I'll finally be able to get rid of my second cellular account …

Marking a sad day, Verizon will hand over the names requested by RIAA members according to an article from CNET. Although Verizon will continue the fight in court over the legality of the subpoena, which through the DMCA was not required to go through a court, the DC appeals court …

According to this article on CNET, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) is planning to introduce a bill to the US Senate that will put the control of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems under the control of the FTC. The draft of the bill reviewed by CNET also contains provisions that limit …

SCO, embroiled in a nasty fight with the Linux community, has shut down their German web site, according to this article from CNET. The move comes after a Linux advocacy group, LinuxTag, succeeded in getting a temporary restraining order in Germany due to what it has called unsubstantiated claims being …

Chalk one up for the game industry (and the future of online game distribution). Yahoo! is reporting (from the Associated Press) that a St. Louis federal court has ruled unconstitutional an ordinance passed by the St. Louis city council.

The FCC has announced that they are moving up registration for the national do-not-call list to July. This is good news for those of us who get too many calls from telephone solicitors.

An interesting paper (abstract here) was posted at SSRN (Social Science Research Network) yesterday. The paper is about law and its relationship to virtual worlds.

An article in CNET reports that the lawsuit by rival search advertising seller SearchKing has been thrown out of court. The suit contended that Google had intentionally removed links from the sites that SearchKing is trying to draw traffic to and that this was somehow illegal. The court, however, found …

An article from CNET today reports that an online retailer who is dedicated to selling out of date sewing patterns has been taken off of the net by his Hosting Provider (Digital River) due to complaints by pattern manufacturers Simplicity and McCall Patterns. Their claim is that he didn't buy …

The ACLU's program to bolster civil liberties in the wake of the USA Patriot Act has new friends in Vermont. That state joins Alaska and Hawaii in passing legislation that restricts law enforcement from gathering intelligence on social, political, and religious views and actions and reining in the level …

This article in Wired this morning reports that although the number of channels the average American receives in their homes has jumped substantially in the last decade, the variety of owners has not increased nearly as much and that most of the ownership is still centered in a relatively small …

A reasonably fair article in Wired looks at the upcoming FCC rule changes that have been proposed and will be under consideration at the meeting of the Commission on June 2. They do a reasonable job of laying out what is at stake and bringing in some lessons from the …

Infoworld reports that the FCC is proposing to fit an additional 255MHz into the free 5GHz band (where 802.11a lives), which would be an 80% expansion of the frequencies available. This would bring the number of 802.11a channels to 24 and make the US and Europe more similar …

Controversial Gator is under investigation again. This time, it is the venerable Harvard Law School that is stopping to examine the company's tactics. An article from CNET covers the report at a high level. The report contains a number of interesting statistics, technical descriptions, and even some tools for figuring …

An article from Wired tells of a court case where a man convicted of murdering his daughter would like to go free because the police used a GPS device to find the grave of the slain girl. The crux of the case (being taken up by the ACLU, of course …