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Government’s dangerous crackdown on whistle-blowers

FAC March 17, 2013

In a New York Times op-ed, two esteemed First Amendment advocates argue that the Private Bradley Manning case underscores a grave threat to the press and public — no matter what you think of Manning’s judgment when he released volumes of documents to WikiLeaks. While attorney Floyd Abrams argues that Manning acted carelessly, Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler asserts that Manning behaved much like Daniel Ellsberg, who famously released the Pentagon Papers — secret documents

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The role of leaks in a democracy

FAC March 14, 2013

Government struggles to protect its secrets; the media struggle to expose government excess. It’s a delicate dance, and an essential one in a democracy, says the New York Times’ public editor. While the administration has an obligation to protect the national security, the public has a right and need to know about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and justification for drone killings, among other things, she says. So the chilling effect of the Obama administration’s

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New York tightens gun laws – and access to records of who owns them

FAC January 16, 2013

The New York law expanding background checks for gun purchases and broadening the definition of assault weapons carried another provision: limits on access to records of who owns guns. The law came amid controversy over a newspaper’s publication of the names and addresses of gun owners in two New York counties. While advocates for access to government data decried the law, many also questioned The Journal News decision to map and list addresses for residents

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Facebook’s New Graph Search Is Google’s Nightmare Come True

FAC January 16, 2013

By PETER SCHEER–Although the stock market yawned at Facebook’s announcement of “Graph Search,” its new search service, with investors wagering it would only hurt smaller, vertical search services like Yelp and Linkedin, the truth is that it is potentially much more significant than that. For the last several years Google’s management has had two nightmares. The first focused on the mass migration in internet usage from computers to smartphones, a development that threatened Google’s core

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A&A: Is a recorded message on a voicemail considered private?

FAC January 9, 2013

Q: Is a recorded message on a voicemail considered private or can it be recorded for legal purposes? A: It is doubtful that the recording of a message from someone who voluntarily leaves a message on a voicemail will violate a wiretapping law because the laws generally prohibit only surreptitious listening or recording. Those leaving voicemail messages fully expect that such messages will be recorded. For example, California’s Eavesdropping Law, Cal. Penal Code section 632

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