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Public Citizen reports:

A new law enacted last fall denies a fair hearing or hardly any hope of release to those confined at Guantanamo naval base, and to other non-citizens labeled "enemy

Public Citizen has a web petition going here.

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In Short

A defiant President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down

The Response

Democrats' response to his proposal was swift and firm: They said they would start authorizing subpoenas as soon as Wednesday for the White House aides.

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.)

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.

From the Ars Technica article:

Under the new law, anyone attempting to "knowingly and intentionally" acquire the phone records of a third party by making false representations to a phone company or selling such illegally obtained records will face up to ten years in prison and fines.

Is it just me or does this seem really wrong? Why did we have to make a law about this? Wasn't it obviously a bad thing already?

Wireless credit cards aren't ready. Avoid them.

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From the CASPAIN newsletter:

A member of the Senate Banking Committee denounced RFID "no-swipe" credit cards at a press conference Sunday. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said contracts for the cards should have warning boxes disclosing "the known weaknesses of the technology." He cautioned cardholders about their vulnerability to identity thieves, commenting you "may as well put your credit card information on a big sign on your back."

RFID is an extremely dangerous technology if left unregulated and businesses are rushing to get it to the market before people know what's happening. That's why situations like this happen:

CASPIAN demanded a recall of RFID credit cards last month after the New York Times reported that a team of security researchers found that virtually every one of the "no-swipe" credit cards it tested was vulnerable to unauthorized charges and put consumers at risk for identity theft.

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The Center For Democracy and Technology recently said in their newsletter:

The "lame duck" 109th Congress will return to Washington November 13 to take care of unfinished business before it finally ends. Among the bills President Bush has said he'd like to see passed is the NSA Domestic Spying bill. In addition, there is an effort afoot to slip into some other bill (probably a spending bill) a provision that would give the telecom companies immunity from liability for any unlawful assistance they have given to the government since 9/11.

What they're talking about is the bill that was introduced to congress backed by Bush that would not only NOT challenge the spying, but would in some forms legalize and expand the power to spy on Americans without a warrant. Fortunately, many major news outlets think that's not likely including the Baltimore Sun:

Republicans for months have known that no bill accomplishing Bush's goal could get filibuster-proof support from 60 senators. Sealing off any hope was what Democratic leader Harry Reid put on his lame-duck to-do list. The warrantless domestic surveillance bill was conspicuous in its absence.