A federal appeals court has ordered Virginia’s attorney general to back away from threats of suing a privacy advocate who publishes Social Security numbers of elected officials on the internet. The decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means Betty Ostergren avoids being sued by the state’s top law enforcement official for breaching a state law that prohibits publication of such information. The Richmond, Virginia, court,... 

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a little-known law making it a crime to falsely claim to have been awarded a military medal. A Colorado man who was never in the military was arrested for falsely claiming to have won the Purple Heart (.pdf) and other medals as a Marine in Iraq. He challenged the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 , which provides penalties up to a year in prison, on grounds it breached the First Amendment. In the first ruling... 

Blogging platform Blogetery.com was cut off by its hosting company last week after the authorities said al-Qaida “terrorist material” was found on one of its servers, said a statement from web host BurstNET Technologies Monday. Blogetery, a platform for some 70,000 blogs, was taken down by BurstNET after the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked BurstNET “ to provide information regarding ownership ” of the server hosting... 

Pennsylvania prosecutors are dropping their grand jury subpoena to Twitter demanding the identity of two account holders who used the microblogging service to criticize Attorney General Tom Corbett, a spokesman said Friday. Corbett, the Republican candidate for governor, was seeking to unmask the account holders ahead of Friday’s sentencing of Brett Cott, whom Corbett targeted in a political corruption investigation. Corbett wanted to... 

A federal appeals court on Thursday lifted a lower court’s order that a well-known financial news aggregator delay publication of prominent financial analysts’ buy and sell recommendations — stock picks that allowed the well-to-do the first crack at capitalizing on that trading research. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the lower court’s March injunction against Theflyonthewall. The 3-year-old litigation,... 

An anonymous blogger critical of Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett plans to challenge a grand jury subpoena ordering Twitter to reveal the blogger’s identity. “It doesn’t really matter why we are criticizing him,” said ”Signor Ferrari,” one of the two Twitter users targeted in the subpoena from Corbett, who won the Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday. ”It’s our First Amendment right... 

A federal judge has struck down a Florida law prohibiting the publication of a police officer’s name, phone number or address, calling the statute an unconstitutional restraint on speech. The decision leaves Arizona, Colorado and Washington state with similar laws on the books. Florida authorities said Wednesday they were mulling whether to appeal. Robert Brayshaw, a 35-year-old apartment manager, brought the challenge to Florida’s... 

Connecticut’s top law enforcement officer is subpoenaing Craigslist records to determine whether the site is complying with a year-old deal with attorneys general to censor the online bulletin board’s erotic ads. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, is seeking evidence to determine whether Craigslist is comporting with a deal with 39 attorneys general to recast its... 

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether the states may ban the rental or sale of violent videogames to minors. Without comment, the justices said they would review California’s videogame law, which passed five years ago. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the law last year as a First Amendment free speech violation, saying among other things that there was no proof for the theory that certain videogames caused... 

With the annual Burning Man celebration of art and self-expression four months away, its organizers are taking a second look at their Draconian photo and video policies. As it is now, the Burning Man Organization requires ticket purchasers to assign to the group the legal rights of photos and video taken at the festival. That grants the festival the legal standing to order the removal of images taken at the Black Rock City when they appear online.... 

A litigant in a civil lawsuit asked an appeals court Wednesday to overturn his 30-day contempt sentence for urging people to send e-mail to a federal judge. Kevin Trudeau was sentenced to 30 days in jail on a contempt charge for urging his followers to e-mail a judge Lots of e-mail. The brouhaha began in February, when TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau urged his radio and web followers to deluge U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman with e-mail so... 

Just in time for the iPad launch, a federal appeals court Friday overturned a 30-year computer ban imposed on a sex offender caught in an online police sting. Mark Wayne Russell, 50, was arrested in 2006 after traveling from his home in Columbia, Maryland to a location in Washington D.C. where he expected to meet a 13-year-old girl he’d sexually solicited in a chat room. The “girl” was actually an undercover cop, and Russell... 

A well-known financial news aggregator is being ordered by a federal judge to delay publication of prominent financial analysts’ buy and sell recommendations to allow the well-to-do the first crack at capitalizing on that trading research. The 3-year-old litigation, brought by Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and others, rests on the so-called “hot news” doctrine the Supreme Court first recognized in a 1918 case... 

Wikileaks presents a “threat to the U.S. Army” and publishes “potentially actionable information” for targeting military personnel, according to a classified intelligence report posted Monday on the whistleblowing site. The 32-page report entitled Wikileaks.org – An Online Reference to Foreign Intelligence Services, Insurgents, or Terrorist Groups? (.pdf) indicates the government’s concern that “current... 

BEIJING (Reuters) – China warned Google against flouting the country’s laws on Friday, as expectations grow for a resolution to a public battle over censorship and cybersecurity. The chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, said this week he hoped to announce soon a result to talks with Chinese authorities on offering an uncensored search engine in China. “Google has made its case, both publicly and privately,” said China’s...