Political Action Network » law

Facebook Restored In Pakistan

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:00:41 +0000

Pakistan issued a ban on the social networking website, Facebook, due to the posting of a contest that solicited images of the Prophet Muhammad. According to most Muslims, images of the Prophet Muhammad are blasphemous.

Since, Facebook has blocked access to that particular content for Pakistan only and issued an apology. A Pakistani court in Islamabad has stated that access to the site should be restored.

A centralized censorship system has been an object of consideration within the Pakistani Government recently. The system would resemble that of which is already in use by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Senator Joseph Lieberman Fights Against Healthcare Reform And Defends Insurance Companies

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:48:08 +0000

Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman has taken sides. He will oppose health care reform and the Democratic Party in a dramatic and historical way. Some have criticized Lieberman for being a strong asset to the Republican Party. One thing is clear, Lieberman is standing up for health insurance companies. It appears that his goal is to find a way to water down significant health care reform and the public option.

One of Lieberman’s top campaign contributors is the lobbyist group for Triwest Healthcare Alliance, which contributed $50,000 in 2008 (Source: Senate Office of Public Records LD-203 disclosure database; data from 2008).

Lieberman announced today that “if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage.”

“I told Senator Reid that I’m strongly inclined–i haven’t totally decided, but I’m strongly inclined–to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don’t support the bill that he’s bringing together because it’s important that we start the debate on health care reform because I want to vote for health care reform this year. But I also told him that if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill.”

Oct 15th Americans Must Declare All Overseas Accounts

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:52:56 +0000

On October 15th, Americans are required to declare all off-shore bank accounts. Some estimates suggest that there may be as much as tens of billions of dollars hidden in the off-shore accounts of private citizens.

Many wealthy citizens have already announced their hidden accounts. Approximately 4,000 clients of UBS and other private banks have come forward. Many others may be weighing the risks of each option. If they declare their accounts, they could be hit with penalties. If they get caught, they may risk going to jail.

United States authorities challenged the long-standing tradition of banking secrecy in Switzerland. The IRS is going to be gentle with those who come forward by Oct 15th, it says. Fines will be 5% to 20% of their tax bills rather than the typical 50%.

FBI Predictive Data System Revealed In Unclassified Documents

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:50:53 +0000

The FBI is using a data-mining system that closely resembles DARPA’s Total Information Awareness program. The purpose of the data-mining system is to uncover terror sleeper cells in the US. The data collected by the system includes travel records, including hotel and airline records.

The FBI has plans to expand the program to help solve cyber-crime investigations.

Ultimately the program is predictive. It can help solve crimes before they help by piecing together data from a vast host of sources and contains more than 1.5 billion government and private-sector records.

Street View By Google May Contain Privacy Issues In Switzerland

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:42:22 +0000

A government official in Switzerland is demanding that Google turn off its street view map service citing privacy issues. One cause of concern was that numerous vehicle license plates and human faces were not blurred in the street view maps. The official is asking that Google shut down the service until it conforms to Swiss law.

Google’s street-view map displays detailed street-level images of cities worldwide. Currently over 100 cities have been mapped using the street view service worldwide.

Greece’s Data Protection Authority already barred Google from photographing its streets to be included in the service.

Ahmadinejad Sworn Into Second Term As Iran’s President Within An Environment Of Protest

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:46:28 +0000

Two months after the massive protests in Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn into a second term as president. There were scattered protests in the streets, where Basij militia and armed police patrolled to hush opposition. However, the “million strong” protest, organized by the opposition, failed to materialize. Even within the government there was open protest, with most of the Parliament’s reform faction boycotting the Ahmadinejad’s speech.

Iowa School System Considering Buying Cell Phone Jammers

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:12:01 +0000

If deemed legal, an Iowa school system may purchase cell phone jamming equipment. Earlier this month, the school system passed a motion to allocate 5000 dollars to purchase technology to block cell phone signals at school.

The school would require that the cell phone jamming equipment would need to be capable of turning off easily and instantly should there be an emergency.

In 2005, a Federal Communications Commission law banned sale and use of transmitters that block cellular or personal communications signals.

New Antitrust Policy For Federal Government

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:09:48 +0000

Top antitrust officials and senior democratic law makers are seeking to focus on industries that may be plagued with antitrust concerns. This is a major reversal on the previous administration’s policy of not prosecuting large, dominant companies who have engaged in antitrust practices.

Some of the cases being reviewed by the antitrust chief at the Justice Department:

Small agricultural operations may have been improperly obstructed by larger food processors. This is most notably true with the milk industry.
Compliants are being examined whether the Federal Trade Commission and consumer groups are within or unreasonably preventing pharmaceutical drug companies from marketing generic drugs.
Another case is between book publishers and Google regarding Google’s book scanning operation.
Verizon and ATT filed a compliant against Cablevision and Cox Communications, saying that they are unable to purchase sports shows and other programs produced by the cable operators.