On Friday, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that Internet subscribers have "no expectation of privacy" after giving their contact information to their ISP. The case in question specifically regarded alleged file-trading of a copyrighted movie, but establishes a long-reaching precedent for Internet users at large, since that would cover all forms of communications to or from any computer connected to an ISP to which its owner subscribes.

After negotiations between a Jonesboro man who was arrested after videotaping police officers conducting a traffic stop near his residence while shouting “Nazi, Nazi, SS” and accusing the officers of violating the rights of the subject of the traffic stop, the Jonesboro City Attorney’s office and the man have both agreed to discontinue any course of action which may have led to either prosecution or civil litigation.

Biometrics R&D firm Global Rainmakers Inc. (GRI) announced today that it is rolling out its iris scanning technology to create what it calls "the most secure city in the world." In a partnership with Leon -- one of the largest cities in Mexico, with a population of more than a million -- GRI will fill the city with eye-scanners. That will help law enforcement revolutionize the way we live -- not to mention marketers.

A Texas state trooper stops a 1990 Mercedes with an expired registration sticker. The driver says he does not have his driver's license or proof of insurance. After arresting him for "failure to identify," the trooper searches him and his car, finding 14 grams (half an ounce) of marijuana and hashish. Indicted for possession with intent to deliver, he could be sent to prison for the rest of his life.

Russia has taken an unfortunate step into its police-state past with a new law that grants the state's security service broad powers to jail people simply on suspicion that they may be about to engage in illegal activity.

The FSB has now regained a power that its feared predecessor agency, the KGB, had under the Soviet Union. This has been a consistent pattern under Vladimir Putin, who, first as president, then as prime minister, has steadily restored the power and prestige of the security agencies, at the expense, many say, of Russia's fragile democracy.