Olives @olives@qoto.org

https://reason.com/2024/03/06/your-local-dmv-may-have-no-sense-of-humor/
"Pennsylvania is far from the only state that has banned acronyms from vanity plates. New York doesn't allow NOTPOLCE or, for whatever reason, AY000000. Tennessee banned ILVTOFU back in 2014 for a vegan application. In 2017, Georgia banned Donald Trump's infamous COVFEFE gaffe. Kentucky said no to KARMA."
#FirstAmendment

Frankly, freaking out about minors possibly seeing porn is also fairly stupid.

https://www.heise.de/news/EU-Kommission-untersucht-AliExpress-wegen-moeglicher-Verkaeufe-illegaler-Waren-9655579.html
Come on, there are easier ways for minors to acquire "pornography" than ordering it off some site like Amazon. This is ridiculous.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/03/ftc-doj-file-comment-us-copyright-office-supporting-renewal-expansion-exemptions-facilitating
"The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) have submitted a comment to the U.S. Copyright Office to advocate for regulations that would facilitate consumers’ and businesses’ right to repair their own products.

The FTC-DOJ submitted the comment as the Copyright Office considers whether to recommend that the Librarian of Congress renew and expand temporary exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) prohibition against the circumvention of technology protection measures that control access to copyrighted content."
#copyright #dmca #RightToRepair

https://nichegamer.com/japan-courts-rule-same-sex-marriage-ban-unconstitutional/
"Several Japanese high courts have rules the country’s ban on same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional.

Courts in both Tokyo and Sapporo have ruled that Japan’s current rules regarding same-sex marriage."

"Public opinion has warmed to same-sex relationships in Japan with approximately 64% of Japanese citizens supporting same-sex marriage according to a Kyodo News survey. Only 25% of respondents said that they were not in favor."

I don't think that laws should be hidden behind a paywall where no one / few can see it. That is even worse than academic paywalls, which can also be problematic for their own reasons.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/making-law-accessible-europe-and-usa
"Earlier this month, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that harmonized standards are a part of EU law, and thus must be accessible to EU citizens and residents free of charge.

While it might seem like common sense that the laws that govern us should be freely accessible, this question has been in dispute in the EU for the past five years, and in the U.S. for over a decade. At the center of this debate are technical standards, developed by private organizations and later incorporated into law. Before they were challenged in court, standards-development organizations were able to limit access to these incorporated standards through assertions of copyright. Regulated parties or concerned citizens checking compliance with technical or safety standards had to do so by purchasing these standards, often at significant expense, from private organizations."
#copyright

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