Politics and Law

An uninvited guest showed up at dinnertime for some Pennsylvania families last week: a robotic telephone message informing them that Barack Obama had associated with a terrorist.

The robocall warned of Obama's "extreme leftist agenda" and noted that the Democratic presidential nominee "has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans."

That message, which identified itself as originating with the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign, was telephonically delivered to voters in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and other states as well.

Because of a … Read more

The government is taking steps to protect consumers by reducing its use of Social Security numbers, yet with identity theft complaints numbering in the millions, counties across the country are still making the numbers available in bulk or online to businesses and the public.

The President's Identity Theft Task Force released a report (PDF) Tuesday marking the progress of federal agencies in combating identity theft. Steps taken include better assisting identity theft victims and increasing prosecutions and other deterrent measures--federal identity theft convictions increased 26 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the report.

Many steps have also been … Read more

The Ohio secretary of state's office has limited the access to its Web site after discovering it may have been hacked.

"Due to security concerns experienced by the Secretary of State's website, full functionality of the website has been suspended to protect the integrity of state records and data," a message on the site reads. "Full functionality will be restored when we are assured that all data has been protected and restored to acceptable levels of security."

The site was temporarily shut down on Monday afternoon after the security breach was discovered, the Cleveland … Read more

With just two weeks left until the presidential elections, a coalition of public interest groups is calling on both broadcast networks and YouTube to modify their approaches to copyright infringement claims that involve political content.

On Monday, groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, and American University's Center for Social Media, sent an open letter (PDF) to CBS, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Fox, and NBC, asking them to stop sending Digital Millenium Copyright Act takedown notices to YouTube over short clips of news footage used in election-related videos. (Disclaimer: CNET is published by CBS … Read more

The federal agency responsible for regulating the export of sensitive goods and technologies is moving to an entirely Net-based system to process applications for export licenses and other requests.

Starting Monday, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is requiring members of the public to submit export and re-export license applications--along with classification requests, encryption review requests, and agricultural commodities license exception notifications--via its Simplified Network Application Process (SNAP-R) system.

The BIS is retiring its Electronic License Application Information Network (ELAIN). Paper forms may only be submitted if the applicant meets one of a handful of exceptions, such … Read more

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Silicon Valley heavyweight Google, plans to campaign on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

On Tuesday, just two weeks before Election Day on November 4, Schmidt will join Sen. Obama at an event in Florida to moderate a panel on the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Schmidt has unofficially been advising the Obama campaign on technology and energy matters.

Schmidt says the endorsement of a party nominee is his own, and not a statement on behalf of his company. "I'm doing this personally," he said in an interview with the … Read more

BURLINGAME, Calif.--In the 50 years since Burt Blumert founded Camino Coin Company, a precious metals dealer in this quiet San Francisco suburb, he's never witnessed such a frenzy of interest in gold and silver coins.

"There are no gold coins available," said Blumert, who is now mostly retired after giving the business to a longtime employee last year. "This is just as true of silver, even more so."

Call it the Great Gold Rush of 2008. Or, more accurately, the Great Gold Shortage of 2008. Like many dealers with physical storefronts, the Internet accounts … Read more

In a purported effort to cut down on "ID sharing" in Beijing's Internet cafes, the government will require that by the end of 2008, first-time visitors will have their picture taken and ID scanned before being allowed online, according to The Beijing News and the China Media Project.

Users were already required to show identification when they entered, a rule that has been spottily enforced at times but more strictly, by most accounts, since preparations for the Olympics began. David Bandurski at China Media Project writes:

The newspaper quoted Li Fei (李菲), a spokesperson for the Beijing Cultural … Read more

The magazine-sharing Web site Mygazines.com has shut down, just weeks after it was compelled by a lawsuit to remove the free digital copies of the popular copyrighted magazines it offered users.

The site, which was launched in July, provided users with free, uploadable copies of many popular magazines like People, Esquire, and Allure. Users of the site could comment on the magazines or articles, leave ratings, and use articles to create their own "custom" magazines.

Mygazines quickly drew the ire of publishers, and a group including Time Inc., Hearst, and Newsweek, filed suit in a New York … Read more