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Ars Technica has an article about the IRS wanting eBay to turn over information on its users' earnings. This pretty much sums up the issue:

With so many people making part or all of their living through eBay, the government wants its cut. This isn't an issue of any new taxes, but an attempt to collect the income tax that is already required. Because eBay does not report information about its sellers to the government, income reporting is left up to individuals, and the temptation not to list eBay revenue as income can be a strong one—and in some cases, it's not always clear when one has to do so.

eBay isn't the only Internet business that has been feeling the heat in recent months. The government is also considering how to apply tax laws to virtual worlds and goods, and it faces some of the same problems that it does with eBay. While some sellers can make a good living out of hawking such items, few report the profits as taxable income, and Uncle Sam wants its cut.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

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Have you been targetted by a "takedown" letter threatening you if you didn't take down your posted video? The EFF is looking for you.

Were you or someone you know unfairly caught in Viacom's dragnet? If your video was hit with a bogus takedown, contact information@eff.org -- we may be able to help you directly or help find another lawyer who can. In this situation, as in so many others, EFF will work to make sure that copyright claims don't squelch free speech.

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According to the newsletter from TrueVoteMD, a consumer rights group in maryland that opposes the auditless e-voting, there are two bills in the state senate that will require paper trails and adequate records of votes for Maryland.

Better late than never...">

Many

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Not a bad start at all. Granted, I think we should be able to block data brokers from having our information, but we have to begin somewhere.

(article found at Slashdot.)

A depressing post on Slashdot recently indicated that forced DNA collection will become standard in criminal investigations.

The goal is to make DNA collection as routine a part of detainment as fingerprinting and photography.

Peter Neufeld, a lawyer who is a co-director of the Innocence Project, which has exonerated dozens of prison inmates using DNA evidence, said the government was overreaching by seeking to apply DNA sampling as universally as fingerprinting. "Whereas fingerprints merely identify the person who left them, " Mr. Neufeld said, "DNA profiles have the potential to reveal our physical diseases and mental disorders. It becomes intrusive when the government begins to mine our most intimate matters."

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Here's a heartwarming tale. Forida decides that the e-voting was a mistake and goes back to optical votes:

Rumor has it that Florida governor Charlie Crist will announce tomorrow that his state plans to scrap tens of millions of dollars worth of touchscreen voting equipment and move to a system based completely on optical scan ballots. The Miami Herald claims that the total tab for overhauling the state's electoral system could be as high as $35 million.

They made a mistake and now they're paying for it. Hopefully, the cost will make them think twice before adopting a voting system that was proven again and again to be worthless.

George W. Bush

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Another neat nugget from Public Citizen: A consumer's translation of the Bush's Speech.

After seven years of State of the Union addresses from the Bush administration, the American public has learned that President Bush’s policy recommendations are often based on misinformation. As such, Public Citizen has prepared the following guide to the 2007 speech so consumers can get complete and accurate information about the issues.

The No-fly list needs to work or be gone

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Public Citizen reports one of their recent victories against American Airlines on behalf of John Cerqueira, who was denied the right to fly after airline authorities thought he might be "Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent".

$400,000 dollars is a small price to pay for taking away an American's freedoms. I hope they eat lawsuit after lawsuit until they fix this issue.

Will Congress act on a predatory credit card industry?

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Consumeraffairs writes that congress may take a look at the credit card industry and how it's been hurting consumers for years. They talk about the practice of assessing fees for anything and everything, but don't forget about those difficult to understand agreements:

"Anyone who has ever tried to read a credit card agreement knows that the terms are simply incomprehensible," Warren said. "The inserts sent along with monthly bills to amend the card agreements are filled with language even a lawyer would have difficulty parsing."

It's as this point that some would say "well, if you don't understand it, then don't sign it". That's great in theory, but how many things in life actually work that way? Do you completely understand all the terms and conditions when you bought your car? Bought your house? Signed up for your last web service? People have a right to simple to understand terms and conditions for everything they do. Not everyone is a lawyer and even they don't want to read pages and pages of crap just to open an account with a retailer.

Most of all, the expert witnesses emphasized the willingness of banks to lend to just about anyone as a prime reason for the explosion in consumer credit card debt.

"To make the assumption of debt more attractive to these households -- and to entice them into carrying debt for longer periods -- creditors lowered minimum payment balances from around five percent of principal to just over two percent," Manning said.

Maybe someday a national id will make sense. Until then, it's best to opt out.

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As reported by Privacy.org:

The Maine House and Senate registered nearly unanimous opposition Thursday to the federal Real ID Act, which requires states to change their drivers' licenses into national IDs linked to a central database. The resolution is not binding on Congress, but says the Legislature refuses to implement the Real ID Act. It asks Congress to repeal the law.