Not unexpected, but distasteful none-the-less. Also from the article:
Furor Over Virginia E-Biz Law: "Signed Tuesday by Virginia governor James Gilmore, the controversial Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act aims to provide some badly needed guidance to judges about which laws apply in disputes between software publishers and users."
"In a statement released this afternoon, the 15-member Committee on Financial Disclosure of the Judicial Conference said it would not release the 12,580 pages of documents to APB because it violates ethics rules. The rules require judges to be notified when someone requests a disclosure report. "
December 14th, 1999: News group fights to put judges' financial disclosures online: "New York-based APBNews.com, which focuses on crime and court stories, wants to post on its Web site financial disclosure statements of all U.S. federal judges. The judges, however, fear the Web's far-reaching readership may present security risks.
Also, "Despite the win, APB is not withdrawing its lawsuit against the judges citing other questionable practices such as forcing news organizations to pay for public documents." Good.
Online news site wins First Amendment victory: "The U.S. federal judiciary today backed off its plans to bar public records from news site APBnews.com, marking a First Amendment victory for online publications." See next item for background information on this case.
US, wake up! Companies are no longer the ones who need protection, people do!
I've never heard a better argument for moving to Canada. Just the simple fact that such actions are being considered on behalf of the people of the country and not the businesses is a giant step ahead.
A Little More Privacy, Eh?: "A Canadian senator who says her country's pending information privacy act does not go far enough is proposing legislation that would enshrine privacy as a fundamental right. . . The senator's proposal, which is now open for public comment before it goes on to Parliament in April, provides far-reaching protections for privacy in all aspects of life."