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> Tue., June. 27, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Palestinians Fear Israeli Invasion into Gaza
Senator Spector Wants to Take Bush to Court
Electronic Voting Machines Susceptible to Fraud
List of British Honours Raises Concerns
California Lawmakers Push for Index Minimum Wage Increase
FSRN Headlines
E-VOTING STUDY
A report released today has found that the systems of all
3 of the most common types of electronic voting machines used
in the US are vulnerable to software attacks. The Brennan
Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law
formed a task force of security professionals, voting machine
experts, and scientists from the public and private sectors
to spend more than one year examining e-voting systems throughout
the country. The task force categorized over 120 security
threats and compiled a list of countermeasures for repelling
attacks. Their recommendations include a ban on wireless components
on e-voting machines, the implementation of procedures to
detect a software attack, and routine audits to compare a
voter-verifiable paper trial to the electronic record. Many
machines currently in use do not provide a paper trail and
only 2 states - New York and Minnesota - have banned wireless
devices on all voting machines.
LIBRARIANS CHALLENGE NATIONAL SECURITY LETTER
The FBI has announced that it has dropped its demand for records
from a library consortium in Connecticut. Melinda Tuhus reports
from New Haven.
When four Connecticut librarians were served with a National
Security Letter last year under the Patriot Act, it was accompanied
by a gag order that prevented them from disclosing that the
FBI had sought subscriber data, billing information, and access
logs of their patrons. The librarians are all members of the
Library Connection, a non-profit consortium of 26 library
branches in Connecticut. The American Civil Liberties Union
handled the case. Roger Vann, Executive Director of the ACLU's
Connecticut chapter, says he's not surprised the government
has now dropped the case, because once the Patriot Act was
reauthorized, the government lost interest. During the re-authorization
debate, the government had contended that libraries were not
targets of investigation. The librarians who knew otherwise
could not speak up because of the National Security Letter's
gag order. Vann says the Library Connection's Executive Director,
George Christian, wondered why he was the first to stand up,
since thousands of national security letters have been issued
since 9/11. [Cut 0:17] "And I think that's the message
here in how scary the situation is today under which we live,
if not for the George Christians and the other clients we
can now name, these issues may have never come to light."
National Security Letters act as subpoenas for information
to a 3rd party, without a court order. Although the librarians
have now been able to release the full text of the national
security letter they received, many more documents pertaining
to the case remain under seal. For FSRN, I'm Melinda Tuhus
in New Haven.
GUANTANAMO POLL
A new ABC News-Washington Post poll has found that a majority
of Americans disagree with the policy of indefinite detention
without charge for prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention
facility. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said that
the Guantanamo Bay detainees should either be charged with
a crime or given prisoner-of-war status. The US government
categorizes the detainees as "enemy combatants".
Only a handful of the approximately 500 Guantanamo detainees
have been charged with a crime. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
today defended the US government's policy towards the detainees
as he began a tour of the Middle East today in Tel Aviv. The
Supreme Court is expected to rule this week on the Bush administration's
power to try Guantanamo detainees in war crimes tribunals.
POSSIBLE RELEASE OF PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES IN INDIA
New changes to India's criminal code could free tens of thousands
of pre-trial detainees. Binu Alex reports.
A staggering 50,000 pre-trial detainees are languishing in
Indian jails, many serving terms far exceeding the sentences
they would have been given had they been convicted of crime.
Most of these detainees remain imprisoned due to either lack
of knowledge about their legal rights, poor legal assistance
or long delays in the judicial system. But changes to India's
Criminal Laws that came into effect last Friday could lead
to the release of thousands. The new law dictates that pre-trial
detainees, with the exception of those potentially facing
the death penalty must be released if he or she has been in
jail for longer than half the time that would be prescribed
as a prison sentence. According to the latest figures of the
National Crime Record Bureau, sixty seven percent of the inmates
in Indian prisons are under pre-trial detention. Judicial
activists said the amendments were a step towards the decongestion
of country's overcrowded prisons. From Ahmedabad in India,
I am Binu Alex for Free Speech Radio News.
FIGHTING CONTINUES IN SOMALIA
At least five people are dead after clashes erupted at checkpoints
south of Mogadishu today. The Union of Islamic Courts, which
took control of the Somali capital earlier this month, is
facing accusations that it violated a ceasefire agreement
signed last week in Khartoum. The Somali islamists are calling
on the implementation of Sharia law in all of the country's
secular courts.
[top]
Palestinians Fear Israeli Invasion into Gaza
(4:19)
Palestinian factions have announced that they plan to form
a national unity government within two weeks, with Hamas agreeing
to a document that implicitly recognizes the state of Israel.
The agreement comes as Israeli troops have formed a massive
buildup on the northern and southern borders of the Gaza Strip,
stoking Palestinian fears of a possible Israeli invasion of
Gaza. An Israeli air strike this afternoon in Gaza City killed
one Palestinian and injured another. Saed Bannoura reports
from Beit Sahour.
[top]
Senator Spector Wants to Take Bush to Court
(3:57)
Senator Spector wants to take the President Bush to court
- to the Supreme Court. The senator is concerned with the
excessive use of Presidential singing statements. FSRN's Leigh
Ann Caldwell reports.
[top]
Electronic Voting Machines Susceptible to Fraud
(3:24)
A new study released today indicates that the country’s
top 3 purchased electronic voting machines are susceptible
to fraud through software attacks. The study indicates that
more than 120 security threats jeopardize the integrity of
the machines, most of which were installed after the 2000
presidential election. Larry Norden, is the Chair of the Brennan
Center Task Force on Voting System Security, which conducted
the study.
[top]
List of British Honours Raises Concerns
(4:25)
The British government has been forced to reveal the list
of honours awarded to non-British people, which is not officially
made public. Honours are supposed to be for personal merit
or good works, and they often result in greater access to
government because of the high status those awards grant them.
Naomi Fowler reports from London, where the list of U.S. citizens
who’ve been awarded honours by the British government
has come as a shock to many.
[top]
California Lawmakers Push for Index Minimum Wage
Increase (3:59)
21 states have raised the minimum wage since Congress did
nearly 10 years ago. The federal minimum wage stands at just
$5.15, and the Senate last week rejected a measure to raise
it, in phases, to $7.25. Some states have already passed laws
providing for an index raise, that would guarantee regular
increases on a yearly base to keep up with the state’s
inflation rate - now lawmakers in California want to do the
same. Luis Perez reports from California, where two bills
have caused controversy between community advocates and business
leaders on whether the minimum wage increase will affect the
state’s struggling financial situation more than it
helps low income workers.
[top]
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