Autonomedia writes: "Thanks to the efforts made on behalf of a coalition of
historians and archivists, the records of the House
Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) are now open
to the public.



http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~ncc>



In response to a letter sent to the Honorable F. James
Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman of the House Committee on
the Judiciary, some 1, 245 feet of HUAC records
containing correspondence, unpublished executive session
transcripts, special investigative files relating to
individuals and organizations dating from 1945-1975
(some 444 feet of records) will now be open to public
scrutiny. Also unsealed is a unique and large
collection (75 feet) of pamphlets and other periodicals
gathered over a period of thirty years that were deemed
"subversive" by the Committee. Collectively, the records
are preserved and stored by the National Archives and
Records Administration's (NARA) Center for Legislative
Archives in Washington D.C."

RatBoy writes: "The State Department has finally obtained unfettered access to the transcripts of former secretary of state Henry Kissinger's telephone conversations with presidents, heads of state, bureaucrats and reporters. They could be made public within a few months."

Louis Lingg writes: "Declan McCullagh's politechbot.com has posted an e-mail from the cryptography mailing list announcing that Danish police, possibly with the assistance of Scotland Yard, have broken the encryption on five out of sixteen computers that were seized last April.

"The computers were seized from the humanitarian (leftwing) foundation Tvind (Humana) in connection with a case about tax evasion...All 16 computers were protected with Safeguard Easy from the German encryption provider Utimaco...It is not known
how the encryption was broken, whether it was brute forced or flaws in the program was exploited.""

Anonymous Comrade writes: "cryptome.org has posted material on IRS investigations, surveillance and monitoring, and undercover operations:

IRS Undercover Operations

IRS Surveillance and Covert Monitoring

IRS Criminal Investigation Handbook"

The website of the Special Forces Association has posted a study manual oriented to those persons involved in the control and execution of counterintelligence operations.

Another manual, on the handling of sources by counterintelligence personnel, has been posted on the School of the Americas Watch site.

An Indiana appeals court upheld a lower court order dismissing attempted child molestation charges against a suspected pedophile because the man's alleged online advances were made to a police officer posing as a child.

The court said current law requires the crime to be committed against a real child and urged lawmakers to consider legislation that could expand the state law.

mobiustrip44 writes: "Once again, the dinkuses on Capitol Hill have wasted precious time and tax dollars to debate the issue of flag desecration, and once again, for the fourth time in six years, the House has voted "yes" in favor of a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. H.J.RES.36 passed with flying colors with 298 votes in favor to 125 against. The amendment, sponsored by Reps. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., and John Murtha, D-Pa., states simply: "Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." Some call this an act of Congressional masturbation, citing the fact that, the last two times this amendment made it to the Senate they came short (no pun intended) of passing it. However, last time it missed by only 4 votes. Get your Zippos ready folks--looks like we're nearing a day of protest."

who_me writes: I just was this on slashdot, the boston post is reporting: "The state's highest court on Friday upheld the
conviction of a man who secretly recorded police after they
pulled him over.

The Supreme Judicial Court in a split decision ruled that
Michael Hyde violated the state's electronic surveillance law,
which prohibits secret recordings.

Hyde recorded officers using an obscenity, asking him if he
had any cocaine in his car, and threatening to send him to jail.

Several days later, he brought the tape to police headquarters
to try to prove he was harassed. Instead, police charged Hyde
with unlawful wiretapping.

A jury took less than an hour to convict Hyde of breaking the
electronic surveillance law. He was sentenced to six months
of probation.

Read the Boston Globe story here

ladybug writes: "(from the bbc ) 'The Bush administration has signalled that it intends to press ahead with its missile defence plan as quickly as possible, despite international opposition to the project.

At a congressional briefing, US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the administration expected to "bump up" against the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) "in months rather than years".

He added that Washington was aiming to reach an agreement with Russia to avoid breaching the 1972 treaty, allowing both countries to "move beyond it'.

Read the whole BBC report here."

Louis Lingg writes "The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that a man who wrote extensively about his pedophile fantasies in a daily personal journal received a ten year sentence after the material was discovered and confiscated by his probation officer.

The journal was never published. However, "even without passing it on to anyone else, he committed a felony," according to Assistant Prosecutor Christian Domis.

Because the accused pleaded guilty he cannot appeal the conviction or the ten year sentence."