Civil Liberties
San Francisco Facial Recognition Ban Proposed
It's a good idea that libertarians should applaud.
Hate Long TSA Lines? Hate Them Enough to Get Your Eye Scanned Instead?
The possibilities and perils of voluntary, privately operated biometric screening
Second Amendment Right Regained, Despite 20-Year-Old Conviction
Federal law treated the conviction -- for altering a motor vehicles department certificate that allowed the owner to have tinted windows on his car -- as a felony, because the maximum penalty was five years in prison. But state law treated it as a misdemeanor, and the defendant was sentenced only to a year's probation.
Are You a Woman Traveling Alone? Marriott Might Be Watching You.
How big hotel chains became arms of the surveillance state.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Says He Wore Blackface, but Not for Yearbook Photo
State and local Democrats call for his resignation after bizarre non-apology apology.
Another Blow for Fake News About Fake News: Reason Roundup
Plus: Author Zadie Smith talking cultural appropriation, and Budweiser versus Big Corn
Marine Vet Films Traffic Stop From His Porch; California Cop Gives Him a Concussion
Adrian Burrell was well within his rights to record the officer.
Second and Fourth Amendments
"Since openly carrying a handgun is not only not unlawful [in Washington], but is an individual right protected by the federal and state constitutions [as the Washington Supreme Court had earlier held]," it cannot "be the basis, without more, for an investigative stop."
Bombshell Report About Americans Helping UAE Hack Phones Is a Warning Against Compromising Encryption
Hacking tools end up in the hands of some dangerous people. So, apparently, do our government hackers.
Buying a Hammer? The U.K. Worries That Might Make You a Terrorist
Also suspicious: Recording police behavior.
Have Gun, Can't Travel
New York City's arbitrary restrictions on transporting firearms give SCOTUS a chance to curtail rampant disrespect for the Second Amendment.
Attempted Vanishing of Online Posts, All the Way Down
Don Lichterman was convicted of forgery; I wrote about it. Someone using his name tried to get Google to vanish my article; I wrote about that. Now someone is trying to get Google to vanish that later article -- and to vanish online court records that refer to Mr. Lichterman's case.
Man Fined $210 in Switzerland for Saying "Allahu Akbar" to a Friend in Public
A police official said "manner in which the phrase had been spoken was key ... and added police officers would have acted in the same way if someone had run around a local square swearing loudly"; but the man denies he was shouting.
Google Says E.U. Copyright Plans Will Kill Citizens' Online News Access
Big publishers want new sources of revenue. But trying to force license fees for linking will backfire.
4 Cases That Show the Scope of Services, Speech, and Conduct Protected by Section 230
Gun buyers, gay lovers, cannabis customers, and Yelp users are just a few of the groups that benefit from this federal law.
Libel Law and the Covington Boys
Facts vs. opinions; compensatory/presumed/punitive damages; negligence, recklessness, and knowledge; libel per se; timing; choice of law; and more defamation law fun.
Attempt to Get Google to Vanish My Article About a Forged Court Order
The anatomy of two unfounded deindexing requests.
Arizona Legislator Wanted To Tax Online Porn To Pay for Border Wall
Behold HB 2444, which would have required a $20 fee to remove pre-installed porn filters on devices that connect to the internet.
How the Internet Is Now Making Us Less Free: Reason Roundup
Plus: FDA greenlights new 23andMe test, Kamala Harris gets the Onion treatment, and nobody likes Trump's new shutdown salve.
Supreme Court Won't Hear Case of High School Coach Fired for Praying on the Field
The conservative justices listed a key factor preventing them from hearing the case.
Can We Just Light Twitter on Fire After This Past Weekend?: Podcast
Covingtongate, Buzzfeed's bomb, Baby Hitler, Kamalamentum…maybe it's time to pull the plug.
Supreme Court To Consider Whether New York City Can Keep Legal Gun Owners From Taking Guns Outside City
In first Supreme Court Second Amendment case since 2010, Court must decide whether the right applies in any meaningful sense outside the home.
Twitter Suspends User Who First Spread Covington Catholic Video: Reason Roundup
Plus: Kamala Harris officially enters the 2020 race and Google News may leave the E.U.
Appellate Court Rejects Cartoonist Ted Rall's Libel and Employment Claims Against L.A. Times
The claim stemmed from the Times' published statements "questioning the accuracy of a blog post plaintiff wrote for The Times," and the Times' decision not to publish more work from Rall.
The FBI Won't Say if It Spies on Your Social Media Posts. Cue the Lawsuit!
"We shouldn't have to think about self-censoring what we say online."
Oregon Considers Toughest Gun Restrictions in the Country
Five-round magazines and background checks for ammo purchases
Roku Bans Alex Jones, InfoWars from Streaming Platform
Yes, the paranoid lunatic is a mega-troll, but the beauty of new media means never having to engage stuff you find awful or offensive.
Washington Lt. Gov. Skips Governor's Speech Because People with Concealed Carry Permits Could Attend
Shouldn't he be avoiding most of the whole state of Washington?
The Shutdown and the First Amendment
What happens if a commercial speech licensing scheme is on hold -- and thus the speakers can't speak -- because of the federal government shutdown?
Thoughts on the Second Oral Argument in Knick v. Township of Scott
The much-anticipated reargument of this important property rights case did not make clear what the Court will do, but overall did not go as well for the property rights side as the first argument did. It is still unclear, however, which way potentially crucial swing voter Justice Kavanaugh will lean.
Judge Rules Police Cannot Require People to Unlock Their Own iPhones With Thumb or Iris
Compelled use of facial and finger recognition features runs afoul of the Fifth Amendment.
The Whimsical Illogic of 'Assault Weapon' Bans
The category is defined by politicians, who focus on looks rather than function.
Alabama Judge Strikes Down State Law Protecting Confederate Monuments
But the decision seems wrong as a matter of federal constitutional law, because the law regulates only local governments -- and local governments lack any federal constitutional rights against their states.
N.Y. Bill Would Violate Gun Rights, Free Speech Rights, and Privacy
Among other things, it would call for investigators to review three years' worth of a would-be gun buyer's social media postings for "excessive discriminatory content."
REAL ID Puts Personal and National Security At Risk
Your new national ID is hacker-bait that complicates journeys but won't make you any safer.
Many Foreign Tourists -- and Most Foreign Students -- Are Barred from Going to Shooting Ranges
Come from England or Japan for a short visit? Feel free to shoot at a range! Return on a student visa? Federal felony for you (and friends who take you) if you go shooting. Unless, of course, you've gotten a hunting license -- even if the range visit is completely unrelated to the hunting.
Orlando-Area Lawyer Interested in Pro Bono Unsealing Case?
I'm trying to get access to the papers in an Orange County (Florida) case in which someone got a a restraining order that he is using to try to get online criticism deindexed by Google.
For Once, the TSA Is Right
Blame normal TSA incompetence, not the government shutdown, for allowing a passenger to smuggle a firearm through security.
Jeff Sessions Deals One More Blow to Criminal Justice Reform on His Way Out the Door
The former Attorney General has made it much for difficult for the DOJ to crack down on police departments accused of civil rights violations.
More on Guns and Strict Liability
An interesting opinion from an Illinois appellate judge, arguing against the Illinois rule under which it's a crime to possess a gun with a defaced serial number even if one has no reason to know that it's defaced.
Illegal Aliens, Guns, and Strict Liability
Federal law bans felons, illegal aliens, and others from knowingly possessing guns (or ammunition); does the government also have to show that the defendant knew he was a felon, illegal alien, or within some other prohibited category? [UPDATE: Last paragraph corrected.]
Assault Weapon Bans Are All About Appearance
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's latest bill classifies firearms not by what they do but based on how they look.
The Democrats' Alternative to Trump's Wall Isn't Good for Privacy or Property Rights Either
Congressional Democrats want to put more cameras and sensors on private property.
