legislation

Non-'casual' bloggers win legal shield in House

Update 3:10 p.m. PDT: Despite veto threats from the Bush administration, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would shield journalists--and some bloggers--from being forced to reveal confidential sources in federal cases.

By a 398-21 vote, the politicians backed an amended version of the Free Flow of Information Act. Sponsored by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the proposal offers a "qualified" privilege to anyone engaged in journalism, which it defines as "gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting or publishing of news or information that concerns local, … Read more

Journalists need a shield law, but not this bill

33 States plus the District of Columbia have some form of shield law to protect the forced disclosure of information obtained by journalists, but there are no such protections when it comes to federal court. That may be change soon, but will the law be strong enough to actually protect journalists or will its broad exceptions do more to hurt press freedoms than help them?

Senator: Net neutrality push ain't over yet

WASHINGTON--One of the leading U.S. Senate proponents of Net neutrality laws said Monday that he's not giving up on enacting the divisive antidiscrimination rules.

To a standing ovation, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) urged attendees at the Future of Music Policy Summit here to "fight back and say this is something that's important for our country's interests."

Led primarily by Democrats, the push to enact a law prohibiting broadband providers from charging content providers extra fees for priority placement or faster delivery failed last year in both chambers of a Republican-controlled Congress. Since then, … Read more

New Web site proposes creating congressional legislation online

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate leadership, has opened the virtual doors of law writing to Internet citizens. This is a compelling idea as the Internet continues to find ways to democratize information and support the flattening of the political process in our country.

The senator writes in OpenLeft.com, the new project hosting this:

"Today I'm writing to invite you to participate in an experiment--an interactive approach to drafting legislation on one of the most significant public policy questions today: What should be America's national broadband strategy?"… Read more

Wanted: ethically challenged workers for executive positions

Ever wonder where your career is heading? Well, let me ask you this:

Are you capable of moral flexibility? Good at covering things up without getting caught? Know what plausible deniability is? Then you just might be a candidate for executive management.

Or, are you in a complete state of denial about your future, a goody two shoes content to let management use you for toilet paper for the next 10 or 20 years?

Want to know what the future holds for you? Then get out your pen and paper and take this quiz, if you dare. Scoring is at the end. Hey, no cheating!

1. Corporate fraud happens: a) rarely b) more often than you think c) sooner or later d) whenever the greedy SOBs can get away with it

2. Executives who defraud shareholders should be: a) slapped on the wrist b) fined c) fined and imprisoned d) forced to watch reruns of The Anna Nicole Show

3. Greed is: a) what I live for b) for lack of a better term, good c) fine in moderation d) the sin of capitalist dogs; long live Karl Marx and the revolution

4. Most board directors: a) have shareholders' interests at heart b) do a reasonably competent job of oversight c) are bought and paid for by the CEO d) are tired old farts that are desperate to be relevant

5. Executive compensation in corporate America: a) is reasonable, CEOs deserve what they get b) is a little hard to swallow, sometimes c) is excessive and out of control d) inflames my hemorrhoids every time I read a proxy statement

Senators renew quest for Net neutrality rules

The Net neutrality skirmish that swallowed up so much of Congress' technopolitical agenda last year may be gearing up for a comeback. A pair of senators who led the divisive push for the new regulations want everyone to know they haven't forgotten the cause.

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) aired their views in a joint letter (PDF) filed with the Federal Communications Commission just before the Monday deadline for remarks on an open inquiry into "broadband industry practices."

The senators said they were pleased that the FCC was showing interest in the issue … Read more

House proposal would imprison SSN fraudsters

A sweeping attempt at curbing use of Social Security numbers by the government and the private sector has just emerged in the U.S. Congress.

Reversing a frequent trend of new bills sitting around for a while, this one is already scheduled to go up for a preliminary vote in the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. The idea, framed as necessary to reduce instances of identity theft, is nothing new.

In May, the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee speedily endorsed a similar bill chiefly sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) that would instruct federal … Read more

MapLight.org shines light on intersection of donations and votes

It's not exactly news that interest group lobbying affects lawmaking, but MapLight.org is showing us how by doing the math down to dollar figures. The non-profit MapLight.org had one of the least ostentatious booths in the Web 2.0 Expo hall, but brought an incredibly informative, practical service regarding the influence of money on California politics.

It's a mashup of voting records pulled from the Official California Legislative Information Web site (up to the 2003-2004 session right now, with 2005-2006 on the way), and campaign contributions kept by the Institute on Money in State Politics.

The … Read more