Olives @olives@qoto.org

https://techfreedom.org/coppa-rule-amendments-must-be-grounded-in-coppas-text/
"“Alone among regulations aimed at protecting kids online, COPPA has dodged First Amendment challenge because Congress was careful to avoid burdening sites that serve adults, but now the FTC proposes blurring that line in ways that invite litigation on both constitutional and textual grounds,” warned Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom."

It appears that other than one court (a lower district court), every other court has come to the conclusion that it is unconstitutional.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-high-court-says-not-allowing-same-sex-marriage-is-unconstitutional-media-2024-03-14/
"A high court in Japan on Thursday said the country's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional"

"polls show 70% public support for same-sex unions"

"The plaintiffs are considering appealing to the Supreme Court to clarify the unconstitutionality of existing law, lawyer Fumiyasu Tsunamori told a news briefing."

https://reason.com/2024/03/13/expanding-the-drug-war-to-include-tobacco-would-be-a-big-mistake/
""Policies that amount to prohibition for adults will have serious racial justice implications," the organization warned in a 2021 letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. "Such a ban will trigger criminal penalties, which will disproportionately impact people of color, as well as prioritize criminalization over public health and harm reduction. A ban will also lead to unconstitutional policing and other negative interactions with local law enforcement."

Progressives commonly recognize such problems in the context of the war on drugs. Expanding that war to include tobacco is bound to magnify them."

https://reason.com/2024/03/13/ending-fees-and-fines-for-juvenile-offenders-is-best-for-rehabilitation/
"I was a judge and chief judge of Delaware's Family Court for over 17 years. In those roles, I held trials and oversaw plea agreements where I was required to order youths under 18 to pay fines and fees that ended up pushing them deeper into the criminal justice system when they inevitably did not pay. I have thus seen firsthand the problems that court-imposed financial obligations create for young people and their families who are often already struggling financially."

"financial penalties in general and the sheer amount of financial penalties in particular significantly increase the likelihood of recidivism, even after controlling for relevant demographics and case characteristics"
#HumanRights

https://reason.com/2024/03/13/louisiana-law-lets-wildlife-agents-trespass-on-private-property/
"A Louisiana law allows state wildlife agents to come onto private property without a warrant or the owner's permission. One property owner is suing, seeking to get the practice declared unconstitutional."
#FourthAmendment #privacy

https://reclaimthenet.org/jpmorgan-to-roll-out-controversial-biometric-payments
"America’s largest bank and one of the largest in the world, J.P. Morgan, is preparing to launch biometric payments next year and is currently carrying out pilot projects.

J.P. Morgan has chosen PopID – which verifies a person’s identity via facial recognition, among other methods – as the backbone for the project."

"The ultimate goal is to expand authentication based on individuals’ fingerprints, palms, and faces to anyone interested, but with a focus on stores, restaurants, and various event venues.

J.P. Morgan says this will be a faster and safer, as well as “personalized” way for customers to pay, while those with things to sell are promised higher turnover and improved customer loyalty, but also a centralized place to access transactions and marketing data, say reports."

#privacy #FaceRecognition

https://tuta.com/blog/post-quantum-cryptography
"Just in time for 10 years of Tuta/Tutanota, we are launching the most significant security upgrade of Tuta Mail with TutaCrypt. This groundbreaking post-quantum encryption protocol will secure emails with a hybrid protocol combining state-of-the-art quantum-safe algorithms with traditional algorithms (AES/RSA) making Tuta Mail the world's first email provider that can protect emails from quantum computer attacks."

"We are excited to announce that with this release we are enabling quantum-safe encryption by default for all new Tuta Mail accounts. We are now replacing the classic asymmetric cryptography (RSA-2048) with our quantum-safe hybrid encryption protocol called TutaCrypt: It combines a post-quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism (CRYSTALS-Kyber) and an Elliptic-Curve-Diffie-Hellmann key exchange (x25519)."
#privacy

https://reclaimthenet.org/tuta-mail-creator-tuta-launches-post-quantum-cryptography-for-email
"In a major leap towards securing email communication, Tuta has unveiled a novel quantum-resistant encryption protocol – TutaCrypt, devised to shield the current exchange of information from potent decryption assaults foreseen in the future."
#privacy

https://reason.com/2024/03/12/without-more-accountability-sunshine-laws-are-toothless/
"An Associated Press survey of all 50 U.S. states, released yesterday for Sunshine Week, found that fewer than a third of states have offices to handle Freedom of Information appeals and force agencies to comply with the law."

"If you want a transparent, responsive government, one place to start is by demanding the creation of independent offices to resolve public records disputes outside of costly courtroom battles. Without them, the statutes are, just like government press releases, a lot of empty promises."
#FOIA

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/eff-urges-new-york-court-protect-online-speakers-anonymity
"In the case on appeal, GSB Gold Standard v. Google, a German company that sells cryptocurrency investments is seeking to unmask an anonymous blogger who criticized the company. Based upon a German court order, the company sought a subpoena that would identify the blogger. The blogger fought back, without success, and they are now appealing.

Like speech itself, the First Amendment right to anonymity fosters and advances public debate and self-realization. Anonymity allows speakers to communicate their ideas without being defined by their identity. Anonymity protects speakers who express critical or unpopular views from harassment, intimidation, or being silenced. And, because powerful individuals or entities’ efforts to punish one speaker through unmasking may well lead others to remain silent, protecting anonymity for one speaker can promote free expression for many others."
#FirstAmendment #privacy

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/congress-must-stop-pushing-bills-will-benefit-patent-trolls
"The U.S. Senate is moving forward with two bills that would enrich patent trolls, patent system insiders, and a few large companies that rely on flimsy patents, at the expense of everyone else.

One bill, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) would bring back some of the worst software patents we’ve seen, and even re-introduce types of patents on human genes that were banned years ago. Meanwhile, a similar group of senators is trying to push forward the PREVAIL Act (S. 2220), which would shut out most of the public from even petitioning the government to reconsider wrongly granted patents."

"Patent trolls are companies that don’t focus on making products or selling services. Instead, they collect patents, then use them to threaten or sue other companies and individuals. They’re not a niche problem; patent trolls filed the majority of patent lawsuits last year and for all the years in which we have good data. In the tech sector, they file more than 80% of the lawsuits. These do-nothing companies continue to be vigorous users of the patent system, and they’ll be the big winners under the two bills the U.S. Senate is considering pushing forward."
#copyright

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/reject-nevadas-attack-encrypted-messaging-eff-tells-court
"The brief by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Nevada, the EFF, Stanford Internet Observatory Research Scholar Riana Pfefferkorn, and six other organizations asks the court to reject a request by Nevada’s attorney general to stop Meta from offering end-to-end encryption by default to Facebook Messenger users under 18 in the state. The brief was also signed by Access Now, Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), Fight for the Future, Internet Society, Mozilla, and Signal Messenger LLC."
#privacy