Judge disarms Patriot Act proviso

September 29, 2004 D. H. McKee

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A key part of the USA Patriot Act that allows the FBI to secretly demand information from Internet providers violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero barred the FBI from invoking that portion of the law in the future, saying it is an “unconstitutional prior restraint of speech in violation of the First Amendment.”
The 2001 law requires Internet service providers and any other type of communications provider to comply with secret “national security letters” from the FBI. Those letters may ask for information about subscribers, including what local and long-distance telephone calls they have made.
In a lawsuit filed in April, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law on behalf of an unnamed Internet company as an undue restriction on free speech and privacy rights. The recipient of a national security letter (NSL) is forever gagged against disclosing its existence “to any person”–a strict requirement that the ACLU argued could not be squared with the U.S. Constitution.
Judge disarms Patriot Act proviso | Tech News on ZDNet

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.