Monthly Archives: March 2007

Big Brother *IS* Watching You

Posted on March 25, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention.

Not only did cops waste a phenomenal amount of resources infiltrating public meetings of obviously harmless groups such as Billionaires for Bush, but having made files about lawful activities by harmless groups they shared their files with cops nationwide.

For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.

From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.

…

In at least some cases, intelligence on what appeared to be lawful activity was shared with police departments in other cities. A police report on an organization of artists called Bands Against Bush noted that the group was planning concerts on Oct. 11, 2003, in New York, Washington, Seattle, San Francisco and Boston. Between musical sets, the report said, there would be political speeches and videos.

Political speeches and videos! The horror!

What NYC Cops did may well have been legal. But it was not only a distraction from real police work, but something that bespeaks a level of one-sided political paranoia that is a danger to democracy.

Can you imagine the police infiltrating the Federalist Society? Or a meeting of the Freepers? And even if you can, could two wrongs make a right?

Posted in Civil Liberties | Comments Off on Big Brother *IS* Watching You

Herald Does Blogs in Teaching

Posted on March 25, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The Miami Herald has a short article on blogs in teaching in today's education supplement, Blogs taking place of teachers' lounge chats, which includes some quotes from yours truly — although what I said is entirely about teacher-student communication and thus has little to do with their headline.

Posted in Blogs | Comments Off on Herald Does Blogs in Teaching

Some Dare Call It Tyranny

Posted on March 25, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Jim Henley, writing about the Pernicious Effects of National Security Gag Orders that I blogged about earlier, under which the FBI (probably failing to follow the statutory requirements) serves a man with an order that gags him from even mentioning the order to his family or his Congressman,

The government has taken the most intimate aspects of this man’s life from his own control. There is no part of his waking day untwisted by the injunctions of the Patriot Act, and probably little enough of his sleep. The man has been accused or convicted of no crime. This is tyranny. Not “the threat of” tyranny, not “practically” tyranny – the thing itself. It hasn’t directly touched me yet and it may not have touched you, but if it has already ensnared your neighbor you won’t even know.

Posted in Civil Liberties | 2 Comments

Another WH Document Dump

Posted on March 24, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Late Friday? After the networks and the newspapers' deadlines? Must be time for another White House document dump.

McClatchy kindly puts some pdf's online:

McClatchy also has a first take on their significance, Documents highlight Gonzales' role in the firings. Among them,

The latest documents also raise new questions about how involved White House political operatives were in the decision to fire the prosecutors.

In a Dec. 3, 2006, e-mail released Friday night, Scott Jennings, one of presidential adviser Karl Rove's aides, asked Sampson if he had a list of “all vacant, or about-to-be vacant, US Attorney slots.” Jennings' request came on a Sunday, so Sampson offered to send it to him the next day.

Jennings, a political operative, had earlier passed along complaints from Republican Party activists about U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, who was fired from his job in New Mexico. Some Republicans were angry that Iglesias hadn't been more aggressive in investigating Democrats.

The e-mails also show that administration officials struggled to find a way to justify the firings and considered citing immigration enforcement simply because three of the fired prosecutors were stationed near the border with Mexico. While the e-mails don't provide evidence of partisan motives for the firings, they seem to undercut the administration's explanation that the prosecutors were dismissed for poor performance.

Posted in Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals | 2 Comments

Virtual Conversion (in NY)

Posted on March 24, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

In a decision issued Thursday, Thyroff v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., — N.E.2d —-, 2007 WL 844860 (N.Y.), 2007 N.Y. Slip Op. 02442, the NY Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, responded to a question certified by the Second Circuit: “whether the common-law cause of action of conversion applies to certain electronic computer records and data.” And, 7-0, it says the answer is “yes” — expanding the tort to intangible property. (Not all courts agree.)

So next time you take those virtual gold pieces from some newbie avatar — New York says that's conversion.

More seriously, what remains to be determined about virtual item theft is whether the communal agreement to the game license and rules amounts to license or waiver. But I can see some game EULA's being re-written to make this clearer.

Key parts of the decision below:

Continue reading →

Posted in Virtual Worlds | Comments Off on Virtual Conversion (in NY)

Gonzales Red-Handed

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

On March 13. I rashly predicted Gonzales wouldn't last two weeks. Then Bush had his petulant press conference, made his crazy proposal for the Senate to invite Rove and Miers to lie to them, and gave Gonzales a new lease on life.

But leases on life may have a short half-life. Although I'm starting to suspect I was a little optimistic, you have to wonder how Gonzales can survive revalations that contrary to his earlier statements Gonzales was in fact much more involved in discussions about firing the US Attorneys than he admitted:

Documents Show Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Approved Firings of Several U.S. Attorneys

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.

The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.

There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.

The documents indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who decided which prosecutors to fire and how to do it.

Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said it was not immediately clear whether Gonzales gave his final approval to begin the firings at that meeting. Scolinos also said Gonzales was not involved in the process of selecting which prosecutors would be asked to resign.

On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.

Even if the Attorney General lacked the requisite intent to in fact be guilty of a criminal act when he approved the results of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, he has by his series of prevarications achieved negative credibility with Congress, with the press, and now with the nation.

Alberto Gonzales must go. Swiftly.

Posted in Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals | 5 Comments