Policy

U.S. customs officials must have a reasonable justification before snatching your laptop at the border and scanning through all your files for incriminating data, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Homeland Security's border agents must have "reasonable suspicion" before they can legally conduct a forensics examination of laptops, mobile phones, camera memory cards, and so on.

Today's opinion (PDF) is a limited -- but hardly complete -- rejection of the Obama administration's claim that any American entering the country may have his or her electronic files … Read more

Google could announce a settlement in the long-running Street View privacy case as early as next week, according to new reports.

Bloomberg said the search giant had agreed to pay about $7 million to settle allegations that it improperly collected personal data using Street View between 2007 and 2010. Attorneys general representing 30 states have sued over the program, which the Federal Communications Commission found to have improperly collected sensitive data including e-mail, text messages, passwords, and Web history.

The parties have reached an agreement in principle, according to Bloomberg. A spokesperson told AllThingsD: "We work hard to get … Read more

Myanmar is one of the most closed off and least-connected countries in the world -- but with a newly opening government, this is rapidly changing.

Cisco announced today that it is setting up two technology training centers in the Southeast Asian country, according to USAID. The centers, dubbed Networking Academies, will be aimed at teaching residents tech skills.

This announcement comes after Cisco executives joined USAID, Google, HP, Intel, and Microsoft in a tech delegation visit to the country.

"We knew that in order for everyone in the country to benefit from a digital economy and for the government … Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to require the Defense Department to disclose whether military drones are being operated domestically to conduct surveillance on American citizens.

A requirement buried in a lengthy appropriations bill calls on newly confirmed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to disclose to Congress what "policies and procedures" are in place "governing the use" of military drones or other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) domestically. The report is due no later than 90 days after the bill is signed into law.

The vote on the bill, which was overwhelmingly supported by Republicans and … Read more

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended the criminal case against the late activist Aaron Swartz today, saying the penalties sought represented a "good use of prosecutorial discretion."

In an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder denied that Justice Department prosecutors engaged in any wrongdoing, arguing that Swartz could have avoided a lengthy prison sentence if he had simply accepted a guilty plea of up to six months.

Swartz committed suicide on January 11 in New York. His family and friends have blamed prosecutors for filing 13 felony charges -- meaning years or decades in prison if … Read more

The FBI and other police agencies would be required to obtain search warrants before reading Americans' e-mail or tracking their mobile devices under a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives today.

It's not a new proposal: Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat whose district includes the heart of Silicon Valley, announced almost exactly the same measure last fall. But because the clock ran out without Congress acting, she's trying a second time.

"Fourth Amendment protections don't stop at the Internet," Lofgren said in a statement today. "Americans expect Constitutional protections to extend … Read more

The European Parliament will vote Tuesday on a proposal that could lead to a blanket ban on pornography in any forms of media with potentially wide-ranging implications for freedom and expression in the 27-member state bloc.

Passage of the proposal, "Eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU," would allow the EU to help secure the rights for those across the gender spectrum, particularly women. While the report states that there is an "increasingly noticeable tendency...to show provocatively dressed women, in sexual poses," it also notes that pornography is becoming mainstream and is "slipping into our … Read more

A once-obscure copyright law that the U.S. Senate unanimously approved in 1998 has finally irritated so many members of the public that Congress might bother to defang it.

It's not like the flaws of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have remained a state secret for the last 15 years: it's been wielded to threaten Princeton security researchers, restrict replacement garage door openers, and jail a programmer who dared to create an e-book converter. One federal appeals court even invoked the law when banning "linking" to certain DMCA-offending Web sites.

Not one of those extrusions of … Read more

The United States' top arms control official thinks the public can play a vital role in helping to combat international arms control violations and threats.

At South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, this Friday, Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller will take part in a session, to be moderated by CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman, in which she will talk about the U.S. State Department's plans to develop initiatives that utilize technology and public participation in tackling some of the thorniest security problems the United States and its allies face today.

During … Read more