Legal Issues

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Maryland State Senator Catherine E. Pugh has introduced four bills in this legislative session, and Governor Martin O’Malley has announced a package of initiatives designed to further Maryland’s leadership as a hub for cybersecurity jobs.[read more]

What can social media do for law enforcement? A new study finds nine different ways that police are using social media in Europe.[read more]

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In the US, material created by the Federal government is, by default, owned by the public. In the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and others, governments are transitioning from closed copyright systems to more open ones. There's continuing scrutiny, review and debate over the 'right' setting for copyright, with the companies who only exist due to copyright often at odds with their own customers, who wish to share books, music and video material they enjoy.[read more]

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Calling for a more comprehensive review of issues related to gun violence, Gov. Rick Snyder today vetoed legislation that would have allowed concealed pistol license holders who completed additional training to carry a concealed pistol in schools and other places that currently are off-limits.[read more]

Beyond voter ID, getting elections officials to collude on voting hours like Governor Scott is attempting to do in Florida and officials in Ohio seem to have been successful at – including removing opposing officials from office, is another tactic.[read more]

It is a huge shame when things go like this, but in the open org/open community world of course these things will happen. But luckily the majority of the time they don’t.[read more]

Photo credit: Minna Blumenthal

At the root of the productivity problem in America are three mistaken beliefs: 1."Busy-ness" and "productivity" are positively correlated. 2. Misery and productivity are positively correlated. 3. Being unhappy, uncomfortable, displeased, or angry is always bad for you. A lot of stuff got done when we all believed the first two and...[read more]

Louisiana has lost an $80 million rural broadband grant for failing to keep their broadband expansion project on track. The Commerce Department rescinded the grant stating that the project administrators were repeatedly unresponsive to requests for information and updates on where the project stood. Senator Mary Landrieu has said that...[read more]

You & Yours

Tuesday lunchtime there was a debate on the Radio 4 programme "You and Yours" on "Do Strikes Work?" UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis was a guest with Ed Holmes, from the hard right Tory think tank "Policy Exchange". I rang into the programme and was able to say (about 9 minutes in) that strikes can work if they are a last...[read more]

I'm pleased to hear David Cameron speak out about the way that our state-funded broadcaster reported the riots.  A couple of weeks ago, in an article for the Mail on Sunday I made much the same point.  With the BBC in mind, I noted how “Many of those who two weeks ago were telling us that the looters were...[read more]

Photo credit: David Elop

The whole time I was watching the riots after the game in Vancouver from my Regina hotel room, I couldn’t help but think of how easy it will be for Seth Myers on SNL to do his “Really?” skit after this sad scene. I hate to slam against youth, being a Gen Y’er myself, however the display on Wednesday night helped solidify what I often...[read more]

Indivo is an open-source Personal Health Record (PHR) system. Last month, Andy Oram interviewed Daniel Haas of Children's Hospital about this project, which Haas will present at OSCON. Photo by Kurhan.      [read more]

As the role of the Internet as a platform for collective actions grows, access to the rest of wired humanity becomes more important. Today, United Nations special rapporteur Frank La Rue released a report on freedom of expression and the Internet that described cutting off Internet access as a breach of human rights. The report, which...[read more]

Welcome to the the next installment in my series of social media tips. These are aimed primarily at a police audience, but hopefully applicable to a wider group of people too, especially those in the public sector. This series of posts will aim to identify some good practice and useful hints and tips for police officers and staff to...[read more]

What would society be like if there weren’t any prisons?  Peaceful arcadia or hell on earth?  I ask because getting rid of prisons seems to me to be where we are headed if the leftist elite who appear to preside over our criminal justice system get their way.  First came the fashion for non-custodial sentencing....[read more]