Friday, May 22nd
Last update08:31:53 AM GMT
Domestic Glance
EFF has uncovered widespread violations stemming from FBI intelligence investigations from 2001 - 2008.
In a report released today, EFF documents alarming trends in the Bureau’s intelligence investigation practices, suggesting that FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was previously assumed.
American students scored poorly on a national test of science proficiency, a new report said, suggesting a tough road ahead for President Barack Obama's goal of educating a workforce to compete in the global economy.
The results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the Nation's Report Card, showed that only 21 percent of high school seniors were performing at or above the proficient level in science. About a third of fourth and eighth graders were found to perform at the same level.
An artist who used a video camera to record being arrested by police is facing up to 15 years in prison.
Chris Drew has been charged with Class 1 felony under the Eavesdropping Act in Chicago, Illinois.
Under the Eavesdropping Act, which applies in 12 states, all parties must consent to a recording being made.
A US engineer who sold military secrets to China has been sentenced to 32 years in prison. Indian-born Noshir Gowadia, 66, had helped to design the propulsion system for the B-2 bomber.
A court in Hawaii found guilty in August of passing on information which helped China to design a stealth cruise missile. Prosecutors had hoped for a life sentence but said 32 years was "in many ways appropriate".
The drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is entering the national airspace: Unmanned aircraft are patrolling the border with Mexico, searching for missing persons over difficult terrain, flying into hurricanes to collect weather data, photographing traffic accident scenes and tracking the spread of forest fires.
But the operation outside Austin presaged what could prove to be one of the most far-reaching and potentially controversial uses of drones: as a new and relatively cheap surveillance tool in domestic law enforcement.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to report his wife's income from a conservative think tank on financial disclosure forms for at least five years, the watchdog group Common Cause said Friday.
Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation's IRS records. Thomas failed to note the income in his Supreme Court financial disclosure forms for those years, instead checking a box labeled "none" where "spousal noninvestment income" would be disclosed.
Newly energized by their success in November’s midterm elections, conservative legislators in dozens of states are mounting aggressive campaigns to limit abortions. The lawmakers are drafting, and some have already introduced, bills that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks after conception, push women considering abortions to view a live ultrasound of the fetus, or curb insurance coverage, among other proposals.
In Florida and Kansas, legislators plan to reintroduce measures that were vetoed by previous governors but have the support of the new chief executives, like ultrasound requirements and more stringent regulation of late-term abortions.
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