Since the previous post is long and a little technical, I want to pull out one point more succinctly. When Congress amended FISA in the years after 9/11 to allow for “roving” wiretaps, they made some other balancing changes in the law. In particular, since FISA orders can be granted based on a description of […]

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Some things are clear about the FISA Amendments Act that President Bush signed into law today: Despite occasional attempts to persuade us otherwise, it licenses surveillance of Americans’ communications with overseas parties. But is that all it permits? Join me, if you will, on a short trip through the weeds of the foreign intelligence surveillance […]

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I’ve got a writeup at Ars Technica of an important ruling in yesterday in a suit against the government stemming from extralegal NSA wiretapping. Short version: Yes, FISA really is the “exclusive means” by which the government can do foreign intelligence wiretaps in the U.S., assertions of magical “inherent authority” notwithstanding. And no, you can’t […]

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Ramesh Ponnuru writes: [Barack Obama] says he opposes [gay marriage]. But he also thinks that a constitutional amendment in California to block it is “divisive and discriminatory.” I think the only way to square these positions would be for Obama to say that he opposes same-sex marriage as a religious or moral matter, but supports […]

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I can see why Mike Masnick is worried about the implications of the Heller decision for copyright jurisprudence, but in the unlikely event the Supreme Court did show some inclination to reign in transparent rent-seeking by content producers, I think they’d have ample grounds for distinguishing. Here’s the text of the Copyright Clause: The Congress […]

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From ABC News: Asked by Tapper how Obama could be so sure that certain controversial domestic anti-terrorism policies instituted by the Bush administration were not instrumental to the protection of U.S. citizens, Obama said that he did not necessarily oppose all the efforts, but “it is my firm belief that we can track terrorists, we […]

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This may be the most insane thing I’ve heard this week. Apparently, U.S. courts sentenced a man to eight years in prison for importing undersized lobsters, in violation of Honduran law. The kicker: The attorney general of Honduras wrote the courts in the wake of the convictions to make clear that the supposed law in […]

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One of the most interesting panels at CFP this week concerned reputation and privacy on social networking sites,  and two of the panelists drew special attention to the often repugnant—and sometimes criminal—abuse and harrassment directed at female bloggers. What I found particularly fascinating at the time was the problem (potentially, if not in the specific […]

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Some libertarians out there think Larry Lessig, whatever his faults, might have a few ideas deserving of serious consideration. And that seems to have sent at least one supporter of strong IP hurtling over the edge. Over at Ars Technica, I take up the question: Is the creative commons really a Soviet gulag? Addendum: I […]

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Gene Healy was a founding don of what, lo those many years ago, we jokingly called the Cato Blog Mafia.  Long out of the game, Gene has just announced his triumphant return to the blogosphere, where he’ll presumably be focusing on the issues at the heart of his excellent new book The Cult of the […]

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