http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controversy/ Information, Law, and the Law of Information Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:08:14 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controversy/comment-page-1/#comment-726 Info/Law » Web-Braille and Cautious Gatekeepers Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:16:04 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controvers#comment-726 [...] It’s not clear to me how likely it is that infringers would be able to copy Web-Braille works and redistribute them to sighted readers on any large scale. Maybe there was some blind infringer out there who registered for the progam and then translated Web-Braille files in order to poach copyrighted material. But I am skeptical, and whatever NLS says now, its unwarranted caginess at the outset undermines their credibility about what really happened. (Kind of a more benign version of this situation).  Besides, the statutory carveout provided by Congress should cover Web-Braille, with its specialized format, its registered users, and its authorized entities. So it seems likely that Mike has identified another over-cautious gatekeeper. [...] [...] It’s not clear to me how likely it is that infringers would be able to copy Web-Braille works and redistribute them to sighted readers on any large scale. Maybe there was some blind infringer out there who registered for the progam and then translated Web-Braille files in order to poach copyrighted material. But I am skeptical, and whatever NLS says now, its unwarranted caginess at the outset undermines their credibility about what really happened. (Kind of a more benign version of this situation).  Besides, the statutory carveout provided by Congress should cover Web-Braille, with its specialized format, its registered users, and its authorized entities. So it seems likely that Mike has identified another over-cautious gatekeeper. [...]

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controversy/comment-page-1/#comment-150 Info/Law » Some Objections to DOJ’s Data Retention Proposal Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:18:37 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controvers#comment-150 [...] Yet placed against the backdrop of the NSA’s program to obtain comparable records about telephone calls, this assurance fades away. While details of the NSA program remain very sketchy (as I complained earlier), it seems clear that no search warrants were secured before the NSA obtained at least some data, and I am pretty confident that previously existing statutes required such warrants (as analyzed in the posts collected here). In the distinct category of recording telephone calls placed between the United States and other countries, the Administration has argued that warrants were not required because of a combination of the asserted Article II power to fight terrorism and a resolution Congress passed after the September 11th attacks authorizing the use of force against al Queda (fairly weak arguments in my view and the view of this memo by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service). [...] [...] Yet placed against the backdrop of the NSA’s program to obtain comparable records about telephone calls, this assurance fades away. While details of the NSA program remain very sketchy (as I complained earlier), it seems clear that no search warrants were secured before the NSA obtained at least some data, and I am pretty confident that previously existing statutes required such warrants (as analyzed in the posts collected here). In the distinct category of recording telephone calls placed between the United States and other countries, the Administration has argued that warrants were not required because of a combination of the asserted Article II power to fight terrorism and a resolution Congress passed after the September 11th attacks authorizing the use of force against al Queda (fairly weak arguments in my view and the view of this memo by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service). [...]

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controversy/comment-page-1/#comment-25 Info/Law » Is There NSA Surveillance of Wireless and VoIP? Sun, 21 May 2006 02:59:10 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/05/17/denying-reality-in-the-nsa-controvers#comment-25 [...] I wrote previously about how the excessive secrecy surrounding the NSA’s collection and analysis of domestic phone records leaves the press and the public to engage in a sort of Kremlinology. This morning, to take one example, NPR correspondent Larry Abramson spoke about how journalists try to parse the lawyerly statements by BellSouth and Verizon denying their involvement in the program (contrary to the original report in USA Today), but end up unsure what to believe. [...] [...] I wrote previously about how the excessive secrecy surrounding the NSA’s collection and analysis of domestic phone records leaves the press and the public to engage in a sort of Kremlinology. This morning, to take one example, NPR correspondent Larry Abramson spoke about how journalists try to parse the lawyerly statements by BellSouth and Verizon denying their involvement in the program (contrary to the original report in USA Today), but end up unsure what to believe. [...]

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