A federal judge just ruled the NSA’s widespread collection of phone records is most likely unconstitutional and gave the go ahead for plaintiffs to file a lawsuit. And pending appeal, the judge said that the data collection should be halted. Of course, until that appeal goes through, the NSA will continue spying.
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Countries frequently amend or draft constitutions, but they can’t always find example constitutions to work from — not every country publishes its founding documents in accessible formats. So, Google’s simplifying nation building by launching Constitute, a website that puts all the world’s constitutions in one place. The tool indexes both basic details as well as policies. It’s easy to filter charters by their creation date, for example, or to find countries that protect equality based on gender. Whether you’re forming a government or just like to dabble in political science, you can try Constitute at the source link.
Filed under: Internet, Alt, Google
Via: Google Official Blog
Source: Constitute
Edward Snowden—the former NSA contractor who revealed
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For all the worries about sweeping US surveillance programs, Americans are claiming at least a few victories in the fight for privacy. Just look to New Jersey’s Supreme Court for an example — it has ruled that police need search warrants to obtain tracking information from cellular carriers. Citing a ruling that requires warrants for GPS tracking devices, the court has decided that attempts to obtain cellphone location data represent searches and fall under constitutional oversight. Cellphone users can expect a reasonable level of privacy when they sign up for service, according to the Supreme Court. While there’s no law on the books to restrict tracking, like there is in Montana, the ruling sets a precedent for police monitoring that could extend beyond New Jersey’s borders.
[Image credit: Jeff Schuler, Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones
Via: New York Times
Source: New Jersey Supreme Court (PDF)
Bad news if you’re a drug dealer or murderer or some sort of sex criminal: a judge just ruled your “friends” can show cops your Facebook profile. And then you can go to jail, GigaOm reports. Time to start deleting! More »
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