"Politicians using Twitter: Morons or visionaries?"

“The vacuous utterances Twittered daily from members of Congress make me wonder how they have the time to spend keying in on such banalities and marveling over the narcissism implicit in their belief that anyone cares about their every single thought and reaction to contemporaneous events,”

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/03/27/politicians-using-twitter-morons-or-visionaries/

Obama trade officials promise thorough review of transparency policies

On Thursday, President Obama’s trade officials met with several civil society groups and promised a thorough review of the USTR policies regarding transparency. The review is expected to be completed within a few months. The process will include a meeting within a month to discuss initial specific proposals for openness and transparency. Citizens and NGOs are encouraged to think about the specific areas where openness and transparency can be enhanced and how.

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/20/ustr2review-transparency/

Voter Fraud in Kentucky

KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With 'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001

Judge orders defendant to decrypt PGP-protected laptop

A federal judge has ordered a criminal defendant to decrypt his hard drive by typing in his PGP passphrase so prosecutors can view the unencrypted files, a ruling that raises serious concerns about self-incrimination in an electronic age.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10172866-38.html

NEWS ROUNDUP (to make up for the lack of recent activity)

I've been sick, and on top of that, really busy with a handful of other projects. So I neglected this blog quite a bit (since no one reads it anyway). But a lot of interesting stuff happened while I wasn't posting.

Here are som headlines and links to check out. No commentary from me this time, I'm just trying to get you up to date quickly. I just pulled these from Slashdot to be lazy.

Network Neutrality Still Lives (Sen. Diane Feinstein Failes)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=09/02/14/205246

N.Y. Gov. Aims To Tax Downloads
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100746980

Bill Would Require ISPs, Wi-Fi Users To Keep Logs
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=09/02/20/131224

Obama Admin Fights Missing White House Email Lawsuit
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=09/02/22/1254248

Diane Feinstein Attacks Net Neutrality

Proving once again that democrats are just about as bad as republicans, Sen. Feinstein attempted to put language into the stimulus bill that would kill net neutrality. Even though it initially failed, she apparently about to attempt a redo.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/feinstein_stimulus_amendment/

Expect some big changes to the way we do P2P.

According to CNET, "President Obama is continuing to fill the senior ranks of the U.S. Department of Justice with the copyright industry's favorite lawyers" with the selection of Donald Verrilli, from the Verrilli Family, el Señor Presidente's latest acquisition.

http://gizmodo.com/5146966/riaa-and-bsas-favorite-lawyers-taking-top-department-of-justice-posts