ACLU Sues Arkansas Secretary Of State For Banning Winter Solstice Display From Capitol Grounds: Via American Civil Liberties Union.

Group Illegally Barred From Putting Up Display Despite Meeting State Requirements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

LITTLE ROCK, AR – The ACLU of Arkansas filed a federal lawsuit today charging Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels with violating the free speech rights of The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers by barring them from erecting a temporary Winter Solstice display on the grounds of the state Capitol.  An application by the Freethinkers to erect a display was rejected despite  the fact that the proposed display meets the requirements of the state capitol display policy and despite the presence of another display on the grounds.

The ACLU lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas to order Daniels to grant the Freethinkers permission to put up their display.

In 1993 the Arkansas Secretary of State adopted a policy for "Temporary Displays on State Capitol Grounds." The policy set up a system whereby any person or group could put up a temporary display by meeting certain requirements, including sturdiness and non-interference with pedestrian traffic. The Freethinkers' proposed display met the guidelines of the policy, but was rejected. [ Read more ... ]

UK Alert: Stop the Pirate-Finder General!: Via EFF.org Updates.

In the UK, the Labour administration's impatience to pass its "Digital Economy" agenda risks throwing balanced, deliberate reform of copyright law utterly out of the window. With no warning or consultation, the draft Digital Economy bill now includes a provision granting the Secretary of State — currently Lord Peter Mandelson — the power to make statutory instruments that can re-write Britain's Copyright, Design and Patents Act with almost no Parliamentary debate.

Once the Digital Economy Bill is passed by Parliament, the Secretary of State could use sweeping powers to effect wide-ranging changes to the copyright system to swiftly meet the needs of one set of interest holders: [ Read more ... ]

Election Software Lost in Transit Found -- But More Chips Go Missing - Via Threat Level:

As I reported last month, 174 EPROM chips loaded with software that runs on Diebold optical-scan voting systems were lost in California after they were sent via Federal Express from the secretary of state's office to San Diego County election officials. Two cardboard shipping tubes that were supposed to contain the chips arrived empty in San Diego, with one of the tubes missing its lid.

It turns out that 156 of the chips were found in Santa Barbara, but 18 are still missing. Authorities say that a couple of other CA counties have now discovered that they're missing chips as well. [ Read more ... ]

Colorado Secretary of State Takes Steps to Thwart Identity Thieves - April 2007: "Thursday, Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman took steps to prevent identity thieves from pulling personal identifying information from Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings posted on the Colorado Secretary of State's Business Division Web site.

As the state's chief filing officer, the Secretary of State's office receives thousands of UCC filings a month, both electronically and in paper form. The office electronically scans the paper filings it receives and posts them on the Secretary's Web site. Borrowers and lenders depend upon the ability to search these filings to determine if commercial property is free of encumbrances.

Secretary Coffman learned that an unknown number of these scanned paper images contain Social Security Numbers. [ Read more ... ]