Anti-'Don't Ask' Bill Introduced
292418
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., on Wednesday revived legislation aimed at forcing the military to eliminate the policy preventing homosexual service members from being open about their orientation
6089
Gender rights activists Thursday hailed the legislature's approval of an anti-rape law that widens the definition of the crime and makes it illegal in Thailand for a husband to have sex with his wife without her consent.
705011
New York&#39;s attorney general and state legislative leaders presented a bill on Tuesday aimed at protecting people from sexual predators on the Internet, aand Facebook, MySpace, and Yahoo backed the effort.In a press conference, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced legislation they called &quot;groundbreaking&quot; in its proposed restrictions and controls of sexual offenders&#39; online activities.&quot;Today I believe we&#39;re proposing the most comprehensive, smartest, toughest law in the nation to keep people safe online, especially minors,&quot; Cuomo said.The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) responds to the widely documented use that sexual offenders make of the Internet, in particular social-networking sites, to stalk and victimize people, particularly minors.Specifically, e-STOP would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses, instant message screen names, and any other online identifiers with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. That data would then be made available to social-networking companies and other online services so that they can then block access to sexual offenders and remove them from their sites.The bill also calls for allowing sentencing courts and the state&#39;s Parole Board to restrict the online activities of sex offenders who used the Internet to commit their crimes, victimized a minor, or are considered highly likely to repeat their offenses. In particular, the bill would ban many sex offenders from using social-networking sites.There are more than 627,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., about 25,000 of whom are in New York, according to Cuomo&#39;s office.State attorneys general have been very vocal about their concerns over online safety, in particular of minors who are preyed upon by sexual offenders on social-networking sites, which are widely used by teens.The attorneys general have often criticized Facebook, MySpace, and other sites for, in their view, not doing enough to protect minors, but the two sides have recently seemed to get on better terms and have rolled out several joint security initiatives, partnerships and agreements.The e-STOP bill is needed to help social-networking companies keep their sites safer and will complement these companies&#39; in-house security efforts, Cuomo said.MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam agreed and said laws need to keep up with the times and technology. &quot;We hope [e-STOP] becomes a model for other states to follow,&quot; Nigam said.&quot;As Facebook and other Internet companies do our best to exclude [from our sites] those who would do our users harm, we need help from the government,&quot; said Chris Kelly, Facebook&#39;s chief privacy officer.Ideally, legislation like e-STOP would get enacted widely in U.S. states and also at the federal level, Cuomo said.
5181
The US Senate passed legislation Wednesday to bar the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique denounced by rights groups as torture.
537549
(InfoWorld) - An advocacy group called a U.S. government surveillance authorization bill, approved by a Senate committee Wednesday, one of the worst bills imaginable for people concerned about civil liberties. The National Security Surveillance Act, one of three surveillance bills approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would give congressional authorization to a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program that critics have complained is illegal. The bill, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, "would radically undermine the privacy of innocent Americans," the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said Thursday. The Specter bill would allow the U.S. government to conduct surveillance programs without court warrants for individual cases as long as the surveillance program is approved ahead of time by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This court is sometimes called FISA after the legislation created it. Specter defended his bill as necessary to help the U.S. government fight terrorism. The bill addresses "a national security issue," he said after the committee vote. The Judiciary Committee also approved a second bill, sponsored by Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine, allowing the U.S. president to authorize surveillance programs for up to 45 days without a court order. The U.S. attorney general can then review the program and continue it for another 45 days without a court order. The DeWine bill requires that the president report the programs to congressional subcommittees, but it also allows a 15-year prison sentence and a US$1 million fine to anyone who leaks the details of secret surveillance programs. The CDT include the Specter bill on its list of nine legislation efforts that "must be stopped" this year. The bill will give the U.S. government "broader authority to spy on Americans ... without judicial review," the group said. "Cutting the intelligence agencies loose from any checks and balances in this way can actually harm national security, since unfocused fishing expeditions are likely to produce more false leaders than valuable intelligence." Other civil liberties groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, have also raised privacy concerns about the Specter and DeWine bills. With U.S. President George Bush pushing for Congress to authorize the NSA program, the bill is likely to get action on the Senate floor this month, said Leslie Harris, CDT's executive director. "The FISA bill has taken on a political life of its own," she said. Congress may work to pass the FISA bills during the last weeks of the session as lawmakers up for re-election in November try to show their constituents they're tough on terrorism, Harris said. Bush has said he believes the NSA program is legal, but he's called on Congress to authorize the surveillance as a way to head off legal challenges to it. A third bill, which gives the FISA court more funding and resources, also passed out of the Judiciary Committee. Most civil liberties groups have not objected to that bill, sponsored by Specter and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. TheÂ CDT's watch list of "dangerous" tech legislation is online. "We're trying to shame [lawmakers] to better behavior," Harris said. "Even if one of these misguided legislative gambits succeeds, we will all be the worse for it."
269067
A bill intended to grant journalists the right to protect the identity of their sources when questioned in court passed the US House of Representatives yesterday, by a vote of 398 to 21. The version as passed contained much clarified language, closing a legal loophole that might have enabled courts to compel journalists to divulge their sources anyway.
706265
The British government is drafting new anti-terrorism legislation that would allow police to stop and question individuals without suspecting a crime has taken place, the Home Office said Saturday.
737177
SUPREME COURT - The Supreme Court is refusing to hear a challenge to the federal do-not-call telephone registry. Telemarketers have been trying to invoke free-speech rights to do away with the ban on unwanted phone solicitations.
469149
Canada's telecommunications regulator  laid out new rules on Tuesday for a national do-not-call list  that will enable consumers to prevent unwanted phone calls from  telemarketers.
220296
A government proposal to forbid smoking in all enclosed public spaces in England, including pubs, cafes, restaurants, factories, and offices, was released Tuesday.
34931
Laws outlawing ageism at work are due to come into effect on 1 October throughout the UK
87670
The Thai national assembly has passed into law the nation's first bill outlawing marital rape.
257854
Anti-gay bias has flared up in Hollywood and pro basketball recently, and soon the topic will be thrust dramatically into a new forum &#151; a reshaped Congress likely to pass the first major federal gay-rights bills.
223393
The House of Representatives, worried by abuse of Internet-age technology, has moved to crack down on video voyeurism by adopting a bill that makes secret production and distribution of pictures of people caught in their &quot;private moments&quot; punishable by fines and up to a year in jail.
507643
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) signed off yesterday on legislation to protect transgender individuals from discrimination, over the objections of religious and community groups that say the measure would give male cross-dressers access to women's restrooms and locker rooms.
481490
The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a dramatic increase in fines for indecent programming, rejecting criticism the penalties will stifle free speech and homogenize radio and TV broadcasts.
597694
A bill passed by state lawmakers would have barred school textbooks from using language that is discriminatory to gays, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused Wednesday sign it.