US Laws

What citizens are up against, loopholes that will work against us, and the neverending battle against Plausible Deniability and knowing we are “collateral damage” according to the Tallin Manual co authored by Nils Melzer, former United Nations Torture Expert

• Michael Tsai - Blog - Extending Section 702 of FISA

  Wednesday, April 24, 2024 Section 701(b)(4) is amended[…] by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following new subparagraph[…] any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications[…] Buried in the Section 702 reauthorization bill (RISAA) passed by the House on Friday is the biggest expansion of domestic surveillance since the Patriot Act. If the bill becomes law, any company or individual that provides ANY service whatsoever may be forced to assist in NSA surveillance, as long as they have access to equipment on which communications are transmitted or stored—such as routers, servers, cell towers, etc.

• Federal Rules of Evidence | Federal Rules of Evidence | LII / Legal Information Institute

  These are the Federal Rules of Evidence, as amended to December 1, 2015. Click on any rule to read it.

• US Patent Office: AI is all well and good, but only humans can patent things | TechCrunch

  The question of where AI sits in the legal personhood stack isn't as simple as it may seem (i.e. "nowhere") — but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

• Data broker allegedly selling de-anonymized info to face FTC lawsuit after all

  Kochava tried to argue that selling sensitive info doesn’t directly cause harms.

• US rolls out visa restriction policy on people who abuse spyware to target journalists, activists | AP News

  The Biden administration is rolling out a new policy that will allow it to impose visa restrictions on foreign individuals involved in the misuse of commercial spyware. The new policy announced Monday will apply to individuals who’ve been involved in the misuse of commercial spyware to target people including journalists, activists, perceived dissidents, members of marginalized communities, or the family members of those who are targeted. Officials said the visa restrictions could also apply to individuals who facilitate or get financial benefit from the misuse of commercial spyware. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the administration is concerned about the growing misuse of commercial spyware to facilitate repression.

• Ex-CIA software engineer sentenced to 40 years for giving secrets to WikiLeaks

  Joshua Schulte, who prosecutors said was responsible for agency’s largest data breach, also guilty of possessing child abuse images

• Man Jailed, Raped, and Beaten After False Facial Recognition Match, $10M Lawsuit Alleges

  A 61-year-old man alleges that a facial recognition algorithm used a mugshot from the 1980s to ID him in a crime he didn't commit.

• Will ChatGPT’s hallucinations be allowed to ruin your life?

  Earliest lawsuits reveal how AI giants likely plan to dodge defamation claims.

• 19696.pdf

• One of the most controversial US spy programs just got quietly renewed

  Congress blew a rare bipartisan chance to protect Americans' calls and texts.

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• Suspects can refuse to provide phone passcodes to police, court rules

  Phone-unlocking case law is "total mess," may be ripe for Supreme Court review.

• Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act - Wikipedia

  The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), also known as the "Digital Telephony Act," is a United States wiretapping law passed in 1994, during the presidency of Bill Clinton (Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279, codified at 47 USC 1001-1010). CALEA's purpose is to enhance the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct lawful interception of communication by requiring that telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have built-in capabilities for targeted surveillance, allowing federal agencies to selectively wiretap any telephone traffic; it has since been extended to cover broadband Internet and VoIP traffic. Some government agencies argue that it covers mass surveillance of communications rather than just tapping specific lines and that not all CALEA-based access requires a warrant.

• After Caleb Slay’s death, his family is fighting to hold the DEA accountable.

  Families who lose loved ones in shootings involving federal officers have little recourse in the nation’s courts. Caleb Slay’s family is trying anyway.

• Torture in the United States

  There are cases, both documented and alleged, that involve the usage of torture by members of the United States government, military, law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies, health care services, and other public organizations both in and out of the country.

• FBI Director Admits Agency Rarely Has Probable Cause When It Performs Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections

  After years of continuous, unrepentant abuse of surveillance powers, the FBI is facing the real possibility of seeing Section 702 curtailed, if not scuttled entirely. Section 702 allows the NSA to …

• Loophole Shows That, Yes, NSA Has 'Authority' To Spy On Americans — Directly In Contrast With Public Statements

  Right, so remember that claim yesterday from Barack Obama about how there is no domestic surveillance program? And remember in our post we noted that such a statement might come back to bite him, s…

• FBI, CIA Use Backdoor Searches To Warrentlessly Spy On Americans' Communications

  i5mugyLw (PDF) i5mugyLw (Text)

• Secretive White House Surveillance Program Gives Cops Access to Trillions of US Phone Records

  A WIRED analysis of leaked police documents verifies that a secretive government program is allowing federal, state, and local law enforcement to access phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.

• FBI's warrantless searches of Americans' data plummeted following reforms, report finds

  The report comes amid an intensifying debate in Congress about the reauthorization of legal authorities permitted under Section 702 of FISA.

• Hughes–Ryan Amendment

  The Hughes–Ryan Amendment (Public Law 93–559 (1974)) was an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, passed as section 32 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974.[1] The amendment was named for its co-authors, Senator Harold E. Hughes (D–IA) and Representative Leo Ryan (D–CA). The amendment required the President of the United States to report all covert actions of the Central Intelligence Agency to one or more Congressional committees.[2]

• Basics About Clinical Trials

  Basics About Clinical Trials

• The US and 30 Other Nations Agree to Set Guardrails for Military AI

  The tech-centric war in Ukraine and the success of ChatGPT have prompted new interest in figuring out how to prevent military AI from going awry.

• Your car can keep collecting your data after a judge dismissed a privacy lawsuit

  Vehicle data privacy has been a concern for years.

• Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence | The White House

  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. Artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril. Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges…

• CA's New Delete Act Is One of the World’s Most Powerful Privacy Laws

  A new law in California gives consumers real power to hit back at the companies buying and selling their data for the very first time. The Delete Act lets Californians force every data broker to delete the fruits of their data harvest with one, single click.

• AARO Home

  The official website for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)

• History of the United States Space Force - Wikipedia

  While the United States Space Force gained its independence on 20 December 2019, the history of the United States Space Force can be traced back to the beginnings of the military space program following the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. Early military space development was begun within the United States Army Air Forces by General Henry H. Arnold, who identified space as a crucial military arena decades before the first spaceflight. Gaining its independence from the Army on 18 September 1947, the United States Air Force began development of military space and ballistic missile programs, while also competing with the United States Army and United States Navy for the space mission.

• 3 States Just Banned Nonconsensual Pelvic Exams

  New laws in Missouri, Montana, and Colorado ban medical staff from performing pelvic exams on unconscious or sedated patients without prior consent.

• gov.uscourts.cand.417016.1.0

• Hacking a Crime

• washingtonpost.com

• What are ‘black sites’? 6 key things to know about the CIA’s secret prisons overseas.

  The secret prisons were used by the CIA to detain and interrogate suspects.

• Fixing FISA: How a Law Designed to Protect Americans Has Been Weaponized Against Them

• Deja Vu: The FBI Proves Again it Can’t be Trusted with Section 702

  The FBI doesn’t believe that either our rights or the limitations that Congress has placed upon them matter when it comes to the vast amount of information about us collected under FISA Section 702. The latest exhibit in this is in yet another newly declassified opinion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). This opinion further reiterates what we already know, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation simply cannot be trusted with conducting foreign intelligence queries on American persons.

• 'The last supper': How a 1993 Pentagon dinner reshaped the defense industry

  Thirty years ago, a secret dinner at the Pentagon led to a flurry of consolidation in the defense industry. We hear the story of that so-called "last supper" and what it means for the Pentagon's $800 billion budget today.

• Search FCC Databases

  Explore granular search interfaces into more than 40 specialized FCC databases such as radio call signs and equipment authorization.

• Jammer Enforcement

  ***ALERT*** Federal law prohibits the operation, marketing, or sale of any type of jamming equipment, including devices that interfere with cellular and Personal Communication Services (PCS), police radar, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and wireless networking services (Wi-Fi). "Jamming devices create serious safety risks. In the coming weeks and months, we'll be intensifying our efforts through partnerships with law enforcement agencies to crack down on those who continue to violate the law. Through education, outreach, and aggressive enforcement, we're tackling this problem head on." -- P. Michele Ellison, Chief, Enforcement Bureau

• 2005 Declassification Report

  September 21, 2005 In the March 25, 2003, amendment to Executive Order 12958, "Classified National Security Information" (the Order), you called for a renewed commitment by the Executive branch to the concept of declassification tied to specific deadlines, referred to in the Order as automatic declassification.

• Next Steps

  In his book, SECRECY, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan quoted George Kennan conceding the existence of "areas...in which there is a real need" for secrecy and even for deception, but cautioning, even in these areas, against "the erection of false pretenses and elaborate efforts to deceive." Otherwise, Kennan warned, "We easily become ourselves, the sufferers from these methods of deception.

• National Archives |

  More News… Upcoming Events… Contact Us · Accessibility · Privacy Policy · Freedom of Information Act · No FEAR Act · USA.gov The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272

• Act of Congress - Wikipedia

  An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by Congress. Acts can affect only individual entities (called private laws), or the general public (public laws). For a bill to become an act, the text must pass through both houses with a majority, then be either signed into law by the president of the United States or receive congressional override against a presidential veto. In the United States, Acts of Congress are designated as either public laws, relating to the general public, or private laws, relating to specific institutions or individuals. Since 1957, all Acts of Congress have been designated as "Public Law X–Y" or "Private Law X–Y", where X is the number of the Congress and Y refers to the sequential order of the bill (when it was enacted).[1] For example, P. L. 111–5 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) was the fifth enacted public law of the 111th United States Congress. Public laws are also often abbreviated as Pub. L. No. X–Y.

• National Archives and Records Administration - Wikipedia

  The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an "independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch",[4] charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also tasked with increasing public access to those documents which make up the National Archives.[5] NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential directives, and federal regulations. NARA also transmits votes of the Electoral College to Congress.[6] It also examines Electoral College and constitutional amendment ratification documents for prima facie legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.[7]

• United States Congress - Wikipedia

  The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives. The U.S. vice president has a vote in the Senate only when senators are evenly divided. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members.[3]

• Freedom of Information Act (United States) - Wikipedia

  The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA /ˈfɔɪjə/ FOY-yə), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is the United States federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased or uncirculated information and documents controlled by the U.S. government, state, or other public authority upon request. The act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures, and includes nine exemptions that define categories of information not subject to disclosure.[1][2] The act was intended to make U.S. government agencies' functions more transparent so that the American public could more easily identify problems in government functioning and put pressure on Congress, agency officials, and the president to address them.[3] The FOIA has been changed repeatedly by both the legislative and executive branches.

• USAJobs - Wikipedia

  USAJobs (styled USAJOBS) is the United States Government's website for listing civil service job opportunities with federal agencies.[2] The site is operated by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM). It was created in 1996.[3]