Politics and Law

ST. PAUL, Minn.--The tremendous jump in online requests for sexual services that seems to occur during large political conventions has placed police departments and advocacy groups on the alert.

Denver and St. Paul police, as well as nonprofits the Klaas Foundation and the Polaris Project, have turned to classified advertising Web sites like Craigslist to monitor such illegal activities during the Democratic and Republican conventions.

The Colorado branch of the Polaris Project, a national organization that combats human trafficking, monitored ads on Craigslist, particularly in the "casual encounters" section, from April 1 through the Democratic convention last … Read more

Sarah Palin had her first big moment on the national stage Wednesday night, as she sought to show why she should be the next vice president of the United States.

The VP nominee was the evening's marquee speaker at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. For many attendees, and for much of the country, it was the most thorough introduction yet to Palin, who currently serves as the governor of Alaska.

Other speakers included two men--former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani--who had contended early in the primary season to get the … Read more

MINNEAPOLIS--The streets of the twin cities were relatively quiet Wednesday afternoon: convention attendees were busy wandering from one private event to another. For technology lobbyists, the choice was Chambers, a self-described luxury art hotel here.

A large crowd of Silicon Valley types mingled at a Washington-esque party hosted by trade associations including the Business Software Alliance, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, and the Consumer Electronics Association. Folks from Facebook, Oracle, Advanced Micro Devices, and other tech companies sipped cocktails amid sleek, minimalist design and large pieces of contemporary art.

The late-afternoon event had a festive feel, though perhaps not … Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn.--Two of Silicon Valley's best-known female executives on Wednesday enthusiastically endorsed Sen. John McCain's presidential bid, saying he was a far more attractive candidate than his Democratic rival on economic and tax grounds.

The pro-McCain pair were Meg Whitman, who stepped down as eBay's chief executive officer in March, and Carly Fiorina, the chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005. Both are active in the McCain campaign; both have been talked about as receiving high-level appointments if McCain is elected.

"I know John McCain," Fiorina said. "He will demand … Read more

Silicon Valley start-up NebuAd has suspended plans to deploy a controversial program that displays ads based on the monitoring of Web activity while Congress reviews privacy concerns, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The secretive company, which intercepts and performs deep-packet inspection of what's flowing through a company's network in hopes of delivering relevant ads, announced earlier this week that co-founder and CEO Bob Dykes was resigning. His departure comes as several Internet companies canceled or suspended trials of the tracking technique.

"Our platform was architected to be a multi-channel ad system," spokeswoman Janet … Read more

Oracle deliberately destroyed or withheld CEO Larry Ellison's e-mails and failed to preserve audio recordings sought as evidence in a class-action lawsuit filed against the software maker, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said Tuesday that Oracle willfully withheld tapes and transcripts of interviews that a journalist conducted with Ellison in 2001 and 2002 while researching a book about the Oracle founder called Softwar. The recordings and transcripts were stored on laptop by the author, Matthew Symonds, who directed a computer repair shop to destroy the laptop in late 2006 or … Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn.-- Plans are back on track at the Republican National Convention, but Hurricane Gustav's unexpected interference with the four-day event highlighted the deft communications needed to direct nearly 5,000 delegates and alternate delegates through the formal presidential nomination process.

The RNC turned to cloud computing for the most efficient means of registering the delegates, and when the clouds of Hurricane Gustav threatened to throw the event off course, the RNC stepped up their communications with the delegates.

Early in the week, before the storm subsided, Republican leaders were reviewing the convention schedule on a day-to-day … Read more

Day two of the Republican National Convention marked the first big night of speeches and celebration for the GOP, following a subdued opening day when elected officials and journalists alike turned their attention to Hurricane Gustav, which was bearing down on the New Orleans area.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, who earlier this year was a presidential aspirant himself, held center stage to deliver a condensed biography of soon-to-be Republican nominee Sen. John McCain and to offer folksy praise of McCain's pick as vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The night was also notable for an address by Sen. Joe … Read more

MINNEAPOLIS--Ron Paul is no longer a candidate this year to be president of the United States.

But on Tuesday, the Republican congressman from Texas nevertheless attracted up to 10,000 supporters here for a 10-hour event called Rally for the Republic, held at the sports center home of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team.

It was only about 10 miles from the official Republican convention that's taking place in St. Paul, but a galaxy away in message and spirit. Instead of access being carefully limited to delegates, insiders, and well-heeled party donors, this rally was open to the general public. … Read more