Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the May 2006 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Two members of Montgomery County, Maryland’s $3.6 million homeland security team tell startled public library patrons that no porn is allowed on library computers and begin to confront computer users. Librarians call the real police, and the county says the whole thing is a misunderstanding.

Watching, Waiting

Driven by easy federal grant money, police forces and officials from Houston to Chicago embrace 24/7 surveillance. Bellows Falls, Vermont, has 16 surveillance cameras—two for each member of its police force.

Unfair Use

The recording industry tries to convince the U.S. Copyright Office that making digital copies of your own CDs requires prior authorization from copyright holders. Goodbye “fair use,” hello “customary historic use.”

Times Wasted

The New York Times directs newspapers that subscribe to its syndicate to delete columnists’ e-mail addresses from their columns. E-mailing columnists is for paying Times Select customers only.

Bad Company

The United States joins the likes of Iran, Zimbabwe, China, and Sudan in blocking two threatening organizations from joining the U.N. Economic and Social Council: the International Lesbian and Gay Association and the Danish Association of Gays and Lesbians.

Foul Balling

A D.C. Court of Appeals judge dismisses the case of Robert Siegel, who was trying to keep D.C. from forcibly taking his porn shop to make room for a baseball stadium. The judge says the city’s $165 million cap on acquisition costs had nothing to do with the $161 million it offered to buy stadium land in the neighborhood.