Oral hearing for Wikileaks Twitter appeal cancelled
Today's hearing of oral arguments has been cancelled in the appeal of last month's order over whether the US government has the right to access the online information of three Twitter users in aid of its WikiLeaks investigation, and also whether they can be informed of what other internet companies have turned over their information without notifying them. The three, Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir, US citizen Jacob Appelbaum and Rop Gonggrijp of the Netherlands, were all notified by Twitter of the order against their data. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have been assisting the three users with their challenge.
EFF earlier wrote "cooperating counsel John Keker of Keker and Van Nest will urge the court Friday to require the government to protect the First Amendment freedoms of speech and association of the Twitter users and the Fourth Amendment rights of the users in their locations. ACLU attorney Aden Fine will ask the court to unseal all documents related to other requests for private data".
US District Court Judge Liam O'Grady canceled the hearing and will instead issue a ruling after reading both sides' written briefs.
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The US Judiciary Exudes Cowardice
Seems to me that sooner or later the United States Judiciary system will have to face the Music. In this case, a hearing would have provided a showcase for their hypocrisies, and US Judges want to avoid that at all costs - even Justice.
This has long been an attribute of US "justice." It is a nontrivial part of what is wrong with the torpid traditions of legal recourse in the US. Courts only act with alacrity when big money squawks, while the rest of the population either gets railroaded without time or resources to truly prepare, or (as in the case of Bradley Manning)delayed so long as to actually have no real legal remedies.
The Courts and practice of Law in the United States have been foisting such Garbage practices on the Persons of the United States for far too long. It won't fly much longer.
Just Sayin'.
-dcm
@dredeyedick
Obama is expanding Gov power to invade citizen's private lives
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/nsrc/Cloud.pdf
CLOUD COMPUTING & NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
By
The Harvard Law National Security Research Group
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-obama-administration-wants-to-read-...
Strengthening privacy laws is precisely what Obama pledged during the 2008 presidential campaign. He told CNET at the time that: “I will work with leading legislators, privacy advocates, and business leaders to strengthen both voluntary and legally required privacy protections.”
In addition to industry groups, the coalition lobbying Congress to expand privacy protections to email on third-party servers ranges from the American Civil Liberties Union on the left to Americans For Tax Reform and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. All of these groups have agreed on a core set of principles that Congress should follow in updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act for the new era of electronic communications:
1.The government should obtain a search warrant based on probable cause before it can compel a service provider to disclose a user’s private communications or documents stored online.
2.The government should obtain a search warrant based on probable cause before it can track, prospectively or retrospectively, the location of a cell phone or other mobile communications device.
3.Before obtaining transactional data in real time about when and with whom an individual communicates using email, instant messaging, text messaging, the telephone or any other communications technology, the government should demonstrate to a court that such data is relevant to an authorized criminal investigation.
4.Before obtaining transactional data about multiple unidentified users of communications or other online services when trying to track down a suspect, the government should first demonstrate to a court that the data is needed for its criminal investigation.
These all sound like excellent ideas to me. It’s too bad that the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, is more intent on expanding the power of law enforcement than protecting the rights of American citizens.
In the current political climate
any source of information will be tapped. On a global scale, very few nations respect the right to privacy. Even probable cause would be no protection against an acusation of terrorism, finacial fraud, or the catch all justification of 'child pornography'. I really wonder if child pornography is as pervasive as the authorities would like to suggest (but a nice nasty subject like child pornography is enough to make people afraid.)