Public Policy
Court: Memphis library cards can be used at the polls
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that photo ID cards issued by the Memphis Public Library qualify as a valid form of identification in Tuesday’s election. In a statement, state election officials said Memphis residents will be allowed to use library-issued IDs in next week’s election. The ruling applies only to voters within Shelby County.
After Tuesday’s presidential election, the high court will take up the question of whether the state’s new voter ID law is constitutional.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012311020065&nclick_check=1
Nonprofits, shell corporations help shield identity of ad backers; Names occasionally slip through
In the 2012 election, nonprofits have been the preferred vehicle for donors who prefer to keep their identities secret. But with the right lawyers, super PACs, which are supposedly transparent about their donors, can accomplish the same feat.
Super PACs do report their donors. In some instances, though, those donors are nonprofits. Or the funds might come from shell corporations, which have passed through millions of dollars to the political organizations from unidentified donors in this election. Last week, the American Energy Opportunity Fund, a 501(c)(4) group led by two executives at an oil and gas company, revealed it had paid for nearly $800,000 in radio ads targeting President Barack Obama on his energy policy and the funds came thanks to a donation from Las Vegas casino titan Sheldon Adelson. Adelson and his family have given more than $53 million to super PACs this election.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/10/30/11661/nonprofits-shell-corporations-help-shield-identity-ad-backers
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Privacy Issues
Angry Birds Has A Ravenous Ability to Collect Personal Data
Angry Birds, the top-selling paid mobile app for the iPhone in the United States and Europe, has been downloaded more than a billion times by devoted game players around the world, who often spend hours slinging squawking fowl at groups of egg-stealing pigs.
While regular players are familiar with the particular destructive qualities of certain of these birds, many are unaware of one facet: The game possesses a ravenous ability to collect personal information on its users.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/technology/mobile-apps-have-a-ravenous-ability-to-collect-personal-data.html?ref=technology
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Freedom of Information
Judge Orders DOJ to Justify Secrecy of Watergate-era Wiretaps
A federal judge in Washington today ordered the U.S. Justice Department to justify the continued need for secrecy over certain Watergate-era wiretap and grand jury records that remain sealed in a high-profile criminal prosecution.
Government lawyers oppose the public disclosure of any papers about illegally obtained wiretaps tied to the Watergate scandal. The Justice Department this summer, in response to a demand for those records, argued there’s no First Amendment or public right of access to illegally obtained wiretaps. Historical or scholarly interest, the government said, doesn’t justify discretionary disclosure.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/11/judge-orders-doj-to-justify-secrecy-of-watergate-era-wiretaps.html
Latest Dark Money Tallies: $213 million in the general election and counting, 81% on behalf of Republicans; 34 races with $1 million or more
Back in July, Senate Republicans successfully blocked the DISCLOSE Act, which would have required all organizations spending $10,000 or more to reveal their donors. Now we understand why.
Through Nov.1, at least $213.0 million has been spent in the general election by "dark money" groups to influence the 2012 elections. Of that, $172.4 million (81%) has been spent to help Republican candidates, as compared to $35.7 million (19%) to help Democrats. (By "dark money" we mean groups that do not disclose their donors and only are required to disclose their congressional race spending within 60 days of House and Senate elections and their presidential race spending following the national party conventions).
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/11/02/dark-money-tallies/
Redistricting: GOP and Dems alike have cloaked the process in secrecy
When state legislators in Wisconsin began work last year on a plan for redistricting, the once-a-decade process when states draw new district maps for Congress and state legislatures, they found themselves presented with non-disclosure agreements requiring them to keep their deliberations confidential.
In the lead up to the most recent round of redistricting, which began last year with the release of data from the 2010 census, politicians, advocates and "good government" groups nationwide pushed to open the process to citizens and allow for broader debate than in the past. The idea was that a transparent process would lead to maps that made more sense geographically and better reflected voters’ interests.
But with few exceptions, the political parties in control of statehouses rammed their own partisan proposals through the legislatures as quickly as possible, leaving little more than nominal opportunities for the public to influence the process. In several states, legislatures outsourced the actual work to lawyers and used claims of attorney-client privilege to further exclude the public.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/11/01/11670/redistricting-gop-and-dems-alike-have-cloaked-process-secrecy
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Intellectual Property Issues
Good News for Libraries in Latest Round of DMCA Exceptions
Last Friday the Librarian of Congress officially issued the latest iteration of rules describing exceptions to the general rule in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that it is unlawful to break digital locks (also known as technical protection measures (TPMs) or digital rights management (DRM)).
The law requires that every three years the Copyright Office seek information about noninfringing uses that are frustrated by digital locks, and based on submissions from the public, recommend exceptions to the Librarian, who issues a final order with classes of works that can be unlocked. This time around, two rule changes should be of particular interest to research libraries.
First, there is a significantly expanded exception to allow breaking digital locks on ebooks in order to facilitate access for the print disabled. ….
Second, the exception for using video materials is significantly expanded. ….
http://policynotes.arl.org/post/34574967404/good-news-for-libraries-in-latest-round-of-dmca
Supreme Court seeks a way around "perpetual copyright" on foreign goods
If the Supreme Court is looking for a middle ground in Wiley v. Kirtsaeng, it’s going to be hard to find. That copyright case, argued this morning, could have a big impact on resale markets around the country.
It’s impossible to know from reading into oral arguments which way the court will go. Questions from the bench today show the justices are seriously concerned about the possible effects on resellers of common goods, as well as legal obstacles that could be created for museums and libraries. At one point, Justice Stephen Breyer grilled Wiley’s lawyer about how a victory for his side would avoid interfering with the sale of millions of used Toyotas.
The case started in 2008, when textbook manufacturer John Wiley & Sons sued Supap Kirtsaeng for re-selling textbooks he bought in Thailand on the cheap. Wiley argues that by importing and selling the books without permission, Kirtsaeng violated copyright law – even though the books aren’t pirated, they’re simply cheap foreign editions.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/supreme-court-seeks-a-way-around-perpetual-copyright-on-foreign-goods/
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International Outlook
Torture Fears for Open Source Software Activist Detained in Syria
In July, the Electronic Frontier Foundation called for the immediate release of open source developer and Creative Commons volunteer Bassel Khartabil, who had been detained in Syria since March 12, 2012 as part of a wave of arrests made in the Mazzeh district of Damascus. We felt that the situation was especially urgent in light of a recent Human Rights Watch report documenting the use of torture in 27 detention facilities run by Syrian intelligence agencies. Now it appears that our concerns were well-founded. According to a new Amnesty International report, a released detainee has informed Bassel Khartabil’s family that he is being held at the Military Intelligence Branch in Kafr Sousseh and had been tortured and otherwise ill-treated.
In response to this alarming news, Bassel’s friends and supporters around the world have launched a letter-writing campaign, hoping to flood Syrian officials and diplomats with physical mail demanding that Khartabil be formally charged and given access to a lawyer or released immediately. Participants are encouraged to send photographs of their letters to info@freebassel.org.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/torture-fears-open-source-software-activist-detained-syria
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Libraries
New York City Libraries Relatively Unscathed; New Jersey Still Taking Stock
As New York City public transportation crawls back to life and New Yorkers struggle to resume their lives after Sandy, those seeking refuge–or simply reading materials–will be able to plug in and warm up at 55 of the New York Public Library’s 90 branches this morning. The rest, including the main 42nd Street branch, remained closed on Thursday–mostly due to power problems rather than flooding, says Angela Montefinise, NYPL’s Public Relations Director.
Remarkably, NYPL’s system, incorporating libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx, suffered virtually no structural damage, says Montefinise.
Elsewhere, in New York and New Jersey, assessments are still being made.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/11/industry-news/new-york-city-libraries-relatively-unscathed-new-jersey-still-taking-stock/