When you think of First Amendment disputes, your mind probably conjures images of protestors, or investigative journalism, or maybe you think of the never-ending debate over where to draw the line between obscenity and protected forms of expression. You probably don’t immediately connect the dots between the First Amendment and a state law about credit card surcharges — but the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to decide that very issue. [More]
Government Policy
FBI Paid Multiple Best Buy Employees After Finding Illegal Content On Computers
By 1.10.17
As we told you last spring, lawyers for a California doctor accused of possessing child pornography claimed that the FBI had paid a Best Buy employee as an informant. Recently released court documents confirm that multiple Best Buy/Geek Squad staffers received money from the agency after telling the FBI about finding illegal content on customers’ devices. [More]
Restaurants Sorting Out Weird Calorie Issues Before Menu Rules Go Into Effect
By 1.9.17 — Updated: 5.3.17
When your salad comes with dressing and croutons, should a menu board calorie count include those toppings? Does a restaurant have to calculate and post the calories in a seasonal item like an eggnog latte? Restaurants and vending machine operators only have a few months to figure this out before the Food and Drug Administration’s calorie-count requirement becomes mandatory. [More]
IMDb Not Complying With New Law Blocking It From Publishing Actors’ Ages
By 1.9.17
On Jan. 1, a new law went into effect in California that would require the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) remove information about actors’ ages and birthdays. We’re now more than a week into the new year, and the site hasn’t taken this information down — and it has no intention of doing so in the immediate future. [More]
AT&T Thinks It Might Be Able To Avoid FCC Review Of Time Warner Merger
By 1.6.17
A merger of the nation’s largest pay-TV provider (and second-largest wireless service provider) and a major multimedia conglomerate with multiple cable channels might seem like a gimme for review by the Federal Communications Commission, but AT&T now thinks it may be able to avoid or minimize scrutiny from the agency in its efforts to acquire Time Warner. [More]
DC Mayor Says Arresting Pot Smokers At Inauguration Won’t Be A Priority
By 1.6.17
If you’re hoping to grab one of 4,200 free joints that will be passed out by a pro-marijuana legalization group on Inauguration Day, The Man probably won’t be focused on hassling you for smoking up, Washington D.C.’s mayor says. [More]
Staples And USPS End In-Store Shipping Partnership After NLRB Ruling
By 1.5.17
Back in 2013, the U.S. Postal Service and Staples had a great shared idea: mini post offices in Staples stores would give customers flexibility and the postal service some extra cash. Problem is, the folks staffing these in-store post offices were Staples employees, which didn’t sit will with the union representing postal workers. [More]
Senators Question Comcast, Charter About “Broadcast TV” & “Regional Sports” Fees
By 1.5.17
The 115th Congress only just came into town and got properly sworn in and down to business on Tuesday, but returning members aren’t wasting any time picking their favorite projects back up. And so, only a few days into the new year, a pair of senators are turning on Charter and Comcast to ask what, exactly, those two think they’re doing with their pricing schemes. [More]
Feds Accuse D-Link Of Failing To Properly Secure Routers & Webcams
By 1.5.17
Federal regulators have accused D-Link, a manufacturer of popular networking and smart-home products, of leaving its routers and webcam devices vulnerable to hackers. [More]
Got An Idea On How To Make ‘Internet Of Things’ More Secure? You Could Win $25,000
By 1.5.17
Internet-connected (“smart”) devices are becoming ubiquitous, but they have this persistent problem: they’re internet-connected. A huge number are extremely vulnerable to being taken over by bad actors, for a whole host of reasons. And so, before your fridge becomes part of the next record-breaking botnet, the Federal Trade Commission wants to give someone cold, hard, cash money for coming up with a way to prevent it. [More]
Retailers Ask Congress To Please Not Roll Back Dodd-Frank Debit Card Reforms
By 1.4.17
Both the banking industry and conservative lawmakers are hoping that the incoming Trump administration will agree to repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank Financial Reforms, but many in the retail world are calling on Congress to retain at least the portion of the law involving debit card transactions. [More]
People In Philadelphia Aren’t Psyched Over New Soda Tax
By 1.4.17
With the start of the new year comes the start of several new laws, including a tax on sugary drinks in Philadelphia. While shoppers knew the extra cost was coming, that hasn’t stop them from being surprised when they set that bottle of soda on the checkout counter. [More]
Park Service Approves Policy That Allows Corporate Names Inside National Parks
By 1.4.17
While we were all snoozing in between Christmas and the new year, the National Park Service went ahead and approved revisions to its policy that will allow some corporate logos and signage within park boundaries in the country’s public places, despite public backlash against the idea. Some critics think this is a very bad, terrible, no good idea. [More]
Telecom Lobbyists Trying To Overturn New Privacy Rules, Eventually Gut Net Neutrality
By 1.4.17
It’s no secret that the incoming administration is pretty keen on gutting the 2015 Open Internet rule (aka, net neutrality) as soon as it gets a chance. But while there might be new leadership at the FCC in just over two weeks, the rules of process still apply. There’s no magic “remove it” wand for folks opposed to net neutrality to wave; there’s just the long, slow road of petitions, hearings, and evidence, which has formally kicked off this week. [More]
Group Handing Out Free Marijuana At Inauguration In Push For Federal Legalization
By 1.4.17
Will handing out thousands of free joints convince the federal government to legalize marijuana? That may be unlikely, but there will be free weed exchanging hands on Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C. [More]
Congress Decides Maybe It Shouldn’t Gut Independent Ethics Office (At Least Not Until August)
By 1.3.17
Last night, against the reported wishes of party leadership, Republican members of Congress met behind closed doors to adopt an amendment to the House Rules package that would have effectively neutered an independent Congressional watchdog created in 2008. Following a huge backlash from the public and the President-elect, the lawmakers have now walked back this controversial effort, and will reconsider the change this summer. [More]
Video Of Dresser Falling On Toddler A Reminder To Always Secure Furniture
By 1.3.17
Each year, dozens of American children die after an un-secured piece of furniture falls on them. You’d like to think it won’t happen to you, but video captured by one family in Utah shows just how important it is to secure topple-prone dressers and other items to prevent them from creating a potentially deadly situation.
[More]
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Others Call On Treasury To Make It Easier For Marijuana-Related Businesses To Bank
By 1.3.17
With marijuana now legal — at least for medical purposes — in more than half the states, a small but growing number of federally insured banks have allowed pot retailers and other legitimate marijuana-related businesses to open accounts. Still, some 97% of U.S. banks won’t work with these companies over concerns about the regulatory ramifications, which is why a number of U.S. senators are asking the Treasury Department’s financial crimes division to help the marijuana industry — particularly those businesses that service the industry — move away from being purely cash operations. [More]
