An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Trump administration's fight to stop suspected leaks of top-secret military information on LinkedIn can't sweep in "a vast number of confidential sources" of random journalists "who have no conceivable relationship" to the Department of Justice's investigation, an appeals court ruled (PDF) Tuesday. The order came after the DOJ asked LinkedIn to turn over 18 months of communications from targeted journalists who collectively published more than 1,000 articles on many different topics over that time period. The request was not limited to journalists involved in a controversial report from a news outlet that Trump said exposed confidential military information in a foreign country. (The outlet is not being named to protect national security secrets.) Instead, the DOJ cast a wide net, requesting extensive LinkedIn data on journalists who had any possible link to the journalists around the time the report was drafted.
The majority of journalists have LinkedIn accounts and publish their contact information to encourage sources to connect on the platform, LinkedIn argued. So allowing that government overreach went beyond harming targeted journalists and threatened to undermine a critical platform where journalists frequently connect with confidential sources, judges ruled. Even more concerning, the Trump administration secured a secrecy order barring LinkedIn from telling anyone about the sweeping request for a year. That left journalists unaware for far too long that their First Amendment rights had been compromised, judges ruled. "A request by the government to scoop up reporters' records wholesale and ascertain the identity of their sources would tip the balance against informed discourse in a manner inimical to democratic health," Wilkinson wrote. He criticized the lower court for approving the request simply because the records were technically feasible to collect, emphasizing that "serious security and speech claims are in tension in this case. There is space under law for both."
While declining to quash the order entirely, Wilkinson also directed the lower court to reconsider a limited exception to the government's secrecy order that would allow LinkedIn to notify an attorney representing the news outlet under investigation.
Bruce D. Brown, President of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), celebrated the ruling, saying: "This ruling is a big deal and will quickly become one of the leading opinions in the area -- one we will be quoting from it for a long time. The court recognized that confidential sources are the 'lifeblood' of investigative reporting and that dragnet demands from technology companies to reveal those sources violate the law."
The majority of journalists have LinkedIn accounts and publish their contact information to encourage sources to connect on the platform, LinkedIn argued. So allowing that government overreach went beyond harming targeted journalists and threatened to undermine a critical platform where journalists frequently connect with confidential sources, judges ruled. Even more concerning, the Trump administration secured a secrecy order barring LinkedIn from telling anyone about the sweeping request for a year. That left journalists unaware for far too long that their First Amendment rights had been compromised, judges ruled. "A request by the government to scoop up reporters' records wholesale and ascertain the identity of their sources would tip the balance against informed discourse in a manner inimical to democratic health," Wilkinson wrote. He criticized the lower court for approving the request simply because the records were technically feasible to collect, emphasizing that "serious security and speech claims are in tension in this case. There is space under law for both."
While declining to quash the order entirely, Wilkinson also directed the lower court to reconsider a limited exception to the government's secrecy order that would allow LinkedIn to notify an attorney representing the news outlet under investigation.
Bruce D. Brown, President of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), celebrated the ruling, saying: "This ruling is a big deal and will quickly become one of the leading opinions in the area -- one we will be quoting from it for a long time. The court recognized that confidential sources are the 'lifeblood' of investigative reporting and that dragnet demands from technology companies to reveal those sources violate the law."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Under a new "Logi Game Day" initiative, Logitech is giving all 7,000 of its employees an extra paid day off to play GTA 6 when it launches on November 19. Employees and interns can use the day off anytime over the next year. Tom's Hardware reports: As for Logitech, the company believes that it's time for people to move away from the belief that playing games is a waste of time, hence its new initiative. It makes sense for a company that makes gaming accessories to say that, of course, but CEO Hanneke Faber argues that the company sees "how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other." The hope will be that, by allowing employees to play games, a productivity boost will follow.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
TILBURG (ANP) - De binnenstad van Tilburg is helemaal vol met bezoekers van de 11/11-viering, meldt de gemeente. Meerdere straten en pleinen zijn hierdoor volledig afgesloten, waardoor er niemand meer bij mag. "Voor wie nog niet begonnen is met feesten in de stad, raden we aan de carnavalskriebels te bewaren voor volgend jaar."
Op de elfde van de elfde trappen Limburg en Brabant het carnavalsseizoen af. Op woensdag wordt er op veel plekken gefeest. Eerder op woensdag liet de gemeente van Tilburg al weten dat onder meer het Piusplein en de Stadhuisstraat vol waren.
In Tilburg, dat tijdens carnaval Kruikenstad heet, was er ook onenigheid over de voorwaarden waaronder jongeren aan het feest konden deelnemen. De gemeente, horeca en organisatie verschilden van mening over de regels rond alcohol en veiligheid, maar kwamen uiteindelijk tot een oplossing.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - De Zuid-Hollandse politiek heeft ingestemd met een lichte verhoging van de wegenbelasting. Enkele rechtse partijen probeerden de indexatie van het provinciale deel van de motorrijtuigenbelasting (de opcenten) tegen te houden, maar zij kregen geen meerderheid. Volgens gedeputeerde Robert Tieman (financiën, BBB) loopt Zuid-Holland jaarlijks 11 tot 13 miljoen euro mis als de belasting niet aangepast zou worden aan de inflatie.
Provincies heffen allemaal een eigen percentage bovenop de wegenbelasting die het Rijk int, om hun eigen wegen te onderhouden. Zuid-Holland heeft veruit de hoogste opcenten. "De afgelopen jaren zijn die explosief gestegen, van een stabiele 90 procent naar nu 106,3 procent", aldus Thom van Vugt (JA21). Hij noemt het "een onnodige lastenverzwaring" voor automobilisten en motorrijders.
De provincie verwacht volgend jaar 510 miljoen euro aan wegenbelasting binnen te krijgen, 20 miljoen meer dan dit jaar. Dat komt ook doordat het aantal auto's toeneemt. Voor een compacte stadsauto stijgt het bedrag op jaarbasis met iets meer dan 2 euro, voor een middenklasser met ruim 6 euro. Wie een SUV heeft, betaalt bijna 11 euro meer.
Laatste begroting
Een ruime meerderheid van Provinciale Staten (41-12) stemde in met de laatste begroting van het huidige college. Op 17 maart zijn de provinciale verkiezingen. De coalitiepartijen PRO, VVD en BBB benadrukten in het debat vooral wat ze de afgelopen 3,5 jaar naar eigen zeggen voor elkaar hebben gekregen. Vanuit de oppositie werd dat getemperd. Zo kreeg de BBB kritiek dat er nog altijd geen provinciale landbouwvisie ligt.
De Staten maakten met aanpassingen op de begroting geld vrij voor onder meer het Bevrijdingsfestival in Den Haag, enkele veerdiensten en versterking van de digitale autonomie.
Scientists have identified a new species of penguin, the first in 100 years. “Genetic evidence shows that what scientists once treated as a single, widely distributed gentoo penguin species is actually made up of four separate species.”
Nog iedere dag leeft Elvin Rodrigues (31) met de gevolgen van het toeslagenschandaal. "De rest van mijn leven neem ik deze trauma's mee. Je bent vertrouwen in de mens en de samenleving verloren", vertelt hij. Samen met andere kinderen liep Elvin liep vandaag mee tijdens de 'Mars met de Moeders'.
De medailles van de gewonnen UEFA Cup 2002 en de verloren Super Cup-finale hebben oud-Feyenoorder Leonardo dos Santos Silva geen fortuin opgeleverd. De voormalig aanvaller moet genoegen nemen met 4800 euro, minus de veilingkosten. De verkoop van de spullen van Gerard Cox leverde 3230 euro op.
Once a Dallas school teacher, Hall became a star in later life with roles in Soul Food and Collateral
Actor Irma P Hall, star of Soul Food and the Coen brothers’ The Ladykillers, has died at the age of 91.
Hall died on Tuesday, her family confirmed alongside a statement that described her as “a beloved actress, author, poet, educator and public speaker whose contributions touched countless lives throughout her remarkable career”.
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