Legal marijuana grower readies for two-year federal prison sentenceAFP Photo / Justin Sullivan A California man plans to turn himself into law enforcement on Monday afternoon and begin serving a two year prison sentence that he says was handed down “for working at a pot shop that was legal in my state.”

Florida Cops’ Secret Weapon: Warrantless Cellphone TrackingPolice in Florida have offered a startling excuse for having used a controversial “stingray” cellphone tracking gadget 200 times without ever telling a judge: the device’s manufacturer made them sign a non-disclosure agreement that they say prevented them from telling the courts.

EFF Fights National Security Letter Demands on Behalf of Telecom, Internet CompanySan Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed two briefs on Friday challenging secret government demands for information known as National Security Letters (NSLs) with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The briefs-one filed on behalf of a telecom company and another for an Internet company-remain under seal because the government continues to insist that even identifying the companies involved might endanger national security.

Engineers Allege Hiring Collusion in Silicon ValleySAN FRANCISCO – Tech companies love new ideas, unless they belong to someone else. Then any breakthroughs must be neutralized or bought. Silicon Valley executives know all too well that a competitor’s unchecked innovation can quickly topple the mightiest tech titan.

Indianapolis cops must allow citizens to film police activity after $200k settlementPhoto by Steve Baker / flickr.com The terms of a recently settled lawsuit in Indianapolis, Indiana will require the city’s police force to remind officers that it’s legal for civilians to videotape on-duty cops, but it will also cost the department more than just that.

​Supreme Court hands police more power to conduct warrantless house searchesReuters/Jonathan Ernst The US Supreme Court has ruled that police may search a home without obtaining a warrant despite the objection of one occupant if that occupant has been removed from the premises. With its 6 to 3 decision in Fernandez v.

Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQBritain’s surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal.

Lawrence Lessig Settles Fair Use Lawsuit Over Phoenix Music SnippetsSan Francisco – Prof. Lawrence Lessig has settled his lawsuit against an Australian record label over the use of clips of a popular song by the band Phoenix in a lecture that was later posted online. Liberation Music, which represents Phoenix in New Zealand, claimed the clips infringed copyright, demanded YouTube take down the lecture, and then threatened to sue Lessig.

Judge Tosses Muslim Spying Suit Against NYPD, Says Any Damage Was Caused by Reporters Who Exposed It – The InterceptVoices Judge Tosses Muslim Spying Suit Against NYPD, Says Any Damage Was Caused by Reporters Who Exposed It A federal judge in Newark has thrown out a lawsuit against the New York Police Department for spying on New Jersey Muslims, saying if anyone was at fault, it was the Associated Press for telling people about it.

Traffic-stop recording led to woman’s wrongful arrest, suit claimsReuters / Jason Arnold A Florida woman has announced that she plans to file suit against the police department that left her locked up for a night after she recorded her conversation with an officer who pulled her over for a routine traffic stop. Lt.

Eavesdropping Ensnared Law Firm With Foreign Client – The Boston GlobeNEW YORK – The list of those caught up in the global surveillance net cast by the National Security Agency and its overseas partners, from social media users to foreign heads of state, now includes another entry: US lawyers. A top-secret document, obtained by former NSA contractor Edward J.

Sen Rand Paul sues President Obama over NSA call surveillanceUS Senator Rand Paul has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Obama administration and the National Security Agency seeking to halt the NSA’s vast data-surveillance program. Paul, a Kentucky Republican and toast of the tea party movement, promised a ” historic ” fight against the NSA when he announced the suit had been filed Wednesday at a press conference.

Maryland lawmakers eye cutting off water, power to NSA headquartersA group of lawmakers in Maryland has introduced a bill that would deny state support to the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md., which might see electricity and water supplies cut to the intelligence nerve center.

Appeals court says Gitmo detainees can challenge force-feedingAttorneys for three foreign nationals being held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba are claiming a partial victory following a federal appeals court ruling announced Tuesday morning in Washington, DC.

The Justice Department used this law to pursue Aaron Swartz. Now it’s open to reforming it.Ever since federal prosecutors used a controversial anti-hacking law to go after Internet activist Aaron Swartz, civil liberties advocates have been pressing for Congress to narrow the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Now, the Justice Department has signaled its openness to such a move.

Judge sides with US servicemen used as guinea pigs in terrifying Cold War experimentA federal judge has ruled the United States Army must quickly inform veterans of any potentially harmful health effects stemming from the secret medical and drug experiments conducted on them during the Cold War. According to a report by Courthouse News wire service, the ruling comes in favor of 7,800 soldiers claiming to have been involved in the experiments.

No due process for people on no-fly list, judge saysRahinah Ibrahim New details made public this week in the case of a Muslim scholar banned from traveling to the United States reveal that a federal agent in the US single-handedly made a “monumental error” that sparked a nearly decade-long legal fight.

Arizona first US state to attempt legal resistance to NSA surveillanceArizona’s state senate panel approved a bill withdrawing state support for intelligence agencies’ collection of metadata and banning the use of warrantless data in courts. The panel becomes the first legislative body in US to try and thwart NSA spying.

Dept of Justice official admits NSA ‘probably’ spying on members of CongressThe US National Security Agency likely collects intelligence on congressional lawmakers and members of their staff, a Justice Department official admitted at a committee hearing on Tuesday. Deputy Attorney General James Cole of the US Department of Justice testified during a House Judiciary Committee hearing which was examining proposals to reform the NSA surveillance policies that have been revealed in an ongoing series of disclosures since June.

Kids For Cash: Inside One of the Nation’s Most Shocking Juvenile Justice ScandalsToday a special on “kids for cash,” the shocking story of how thousands of children in Pennsylvania were jailed by two corrupt judges who received $2.6 million in kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities.