subpoena

For people worried that they may be accused of illegally sharing "The Hurt Locker," a movie about defusing bombs, the hope was that efforts to chase them down would fizzle out.

No such luck. The film's producers are finally moving to acquire the names of people they accuse of using peer-to-peer services to share unauthorized copies of the movie that won this year's Oscar for "Best Picture." Qwest Communications on Monday notified a customer in Denver that the Internet service provider has received a subpoena from lawyers representing Voltage Pictures, the production company that … Read more

NEW YORK--Facebook appears to be making peace with New York's aggressive attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo.

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon at Cuomo's office in downtown Manhattan, the attorney general along with Facebook vice president and chief privacy officer Chris Kelly unveiled a joint plan to address concerns about sexual predators on the fast-growing social-networking site.

"This did start out as an investigation," Kelly explained to the room full of reporters and photographers, "but it has turned into a great cooperative effort that we hope the whole industry will follow."

Cuomo had … Read more

Anne Milgram, the attorney general for the state of New Jersey, issued a subpoena on Monday against popular social-networking site Facebook, requesting that the company turn over information as to whether registered sex offenders have profiles on the site. The return date for the subpoena is October 12.

Milgram's office has additionally sent letters to 11 other social networking sites, asking that they release similar data. It's unclear as to which social-networking sites those are; representatives for the attorney general's office were not immediately available for comment.

"This is a matter of public safety, and more … Read more

It's official: a key U.S. Senate Democrat leader has escalated his committee's ongoing quest for more answers about a once-secret warrantless wiretapping program, issuing subpoenas on Wednesday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and three other Bush administration officials.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) formally requested an avalanche of documents describing the legal basis for the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program and any other ongoing classified surveillance programs. Besides Gonzales, the senator targeted high-level attorneys at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the National Security Council. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy heads, authorized the court orders … Read more

WASHINGTON--For more than a year, senators on a panel that oversees the U.S. Department of Justice have been trying to get their hands on Bush administration documents illuminating a once-secret National Security Agency surveillance program that operated without prior court approval. Now they may get their chance.

At around midday on Thursday--after a few hours of stalling, a floor vote and one meeting venue change--the Senate Judiciary Committee finally rounded up enough votes to authorize subpoenas compelling Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush's recordskeeper to turn over all documents related to its operation and legal analysis of … Read more