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According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero has struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act. The specific sections allowed investigators to use a National Security Letter (NSL) to request customer records from Internet service providers (ISPs), telephone companies and public librariues. The USA Patriot Act allowed these requests to placed without a court order.

The ACLU filed a challenge to this law, and Marrero ruled that NSLs must go through a meaningful judicial review process to preserve the checks and balances established in the US Constitution.

Marrero, whose courtroom is a few blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City, had overturned the same provision in the original Patriot Act in 2004, but an appeals court returned the case to him for further review. Ars Technica has a brief discussion here.

The ruling affects the privacy of every Internet, telephone and public library user in the United States. ISPs can keep track of their user’s downloads and web activity. It’s easy, as the ISP also needs this information to maintain their networks and service levels.

Companies routinely monitor any Internet activity in their company. Again, this is necessary to provide a stable and secure corporate network. Any employee who doesn’t want their supervisor or IT staff “looking over their shoulder” as they surf the web should think twice about their Internet habits at work.

Frankly, some of this episode reads like an article from Project Censored, a group that compiles annual lists of “news that didn’t make the news”. It’s always fascinating reading, no matter which side of the political spectrum you occupy.

The Honolulu Weekly published the top 10 items in yesterday’s edition. A very long page with all 25 items is available here.

Last year I wrote an article on the Patriot Act for the Encyclopedia of Business Ethics, which is in press. I wrote several other articles for the same encyclopedia, and my honorarium for the project will buy me a brand new copy of the encyclopedia and, if I’m lucky, I’ll have a few coins left over for spam musubi.

As I gear up for the fall semester, this morning’s news bucket brought me two stories about databases.

Local legislator Wll Espero wants to create a registry for violent criminals. It’s similar to registries that track pedophiles and rapists. In dribs and drabs, other Hawaii lawmakers have announced their support. Norman Sakamoto made a statement yesterday, and Clayton Hee spoke up a few days ago.

Databases are not force fields!

The ACLU has pointed out that these registries cannot keep a convicted criminal out of a neighborhood. Privacy concerns take a back seat when momentum builds for “feel-good measures that do not increase public safety”, according to Hawaii ACLU legal director Lois Perrin.

Local supporters of these registries believe these databases will only help them. But what happens when a local government compiles a database that invades the privacy of “upstanding citizens”?

Every couple of months, some local group or politician suggests building toll roads in Honolulu, in place of a train. These efforts are laughable. There’s little space to put new expressways in Honolulu, unless the new lanes are stacked on top of existing highways. That’s a poor idea on a volcanic island. Tunnels won’t work well on an island, either.

New highways only add more cars to our roads

Mass transit makes much more sense. It’s difficult to get across town or find a parking space in Honolulu. Oahu’s economy already suffers from the thousands of cars that flit back and forth to work, home and school with only one or two passengers in each vehicle.

Many mainland toll roads offer electronic tags or E-ZPasses that let drivers travel through an express lane at tool booths. These systems let drivers prepay their tolls and avoid long lines that seem to stretch forever as other drivers fumble for paper money and change. Monthly and online statements let E-ZPass users review their journeys. That’s an excellent aid when filing for corporate reimbursements or income tax deductions. It’s also a great way to monitor fleet drivers.

Chris Newmarker of the Associated Press reported today on a growing trend in divorce cases – subpoena a spouse’s E-ZPass records to see where and when they were driving. When a spouse says they were in Pennsylvania on business but their E-ZPass account shows a tool transaction in New Jersey, credibility flies out the window.

Cheating spouses think no one will notice if they are somewhere else

Some states will not release E-ZPass transaction data to a civil investigation. These logs make excellent evidence in some criminal cases. Melanie McGuire was recently convicted of murdering her husband, cutting up his body, loading the pieces into three suitcases and dumping his remains in the Chesapeake Bay. Prosecutors used her E-ZPass records in court to describe her travels. She could have left her E-ZPass at home and paid cash, of course.

UPDATED 13 August 2007 11:05 HT: Dave Shapiro seems to agree with me.

From USA Today and news.com: According to a Federal study, approximately 1% of files listed on Google and Microsoft search engines are pornographic.The study was commission by Federal lawyers to support the 1998 Child Online Protection Act. COPA required web sites to collect a credit card number before allowing a user to view adult materials. The law was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1998. A 2000 law that required libraries and schools to install and use Web filters was upheld by the Court in 2003. An earlier 1996 law that banned online pornography was overturned by the court in 1997, in part because the law employed a broad definition of porn.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) supports filters, claiming that highly restrictive filters can block a majority of adult web sites. However, many porn sites are operated outside the United States, and porn sites tend to use popular non-pornographic keywords in attempts to direct new users to the sites.

USA: The ACLU has a great Flash movie about a pizza order gone bad, thanks to multiple databases and weak privacy laws. Enjoy that double meat pizza while you can.