evw writes: The NYTimes reports that the Turner Broadcasting System and the ad agency responsible have reached a $2M settlement with the city of Boston and state and federal agencies that treated the light boards placed around the city as an act of terrorism (as covered earlier on/.) Half of the money is to cover direct costs associated with the response. The other $1M goes to "goodwill funds" that will be used for response training and public outreach.
Anonymous Coward writes: "Looks like the FBI can now legally pull your credit report to keep tabs on you, from the article: "The Defense Department of the United States has been checking the credit of Americans and foreigners alike due to suspected terrorism and espionage. However, when bank records and credit activity is checked, judge's approvals are bypassed, and subpoenas are not presented.
Three or four decades ago (1960's to 1970's) this authority was brought to surface and the Pentagon, CIA and FBI had full use of this procedure. Since then, it has not been used. The Patriot Act re-affirmed that this measure could once again be taken up and used at will.
Dick Cheney says, "It's perfectly legitimate activity. There's nothing wrong or illegal with it. It doesn't violate people's civil rights." Cheney also states, "The Defense Department gets involved because we've got hundreds of bases inside the United States that are potential terrorist targets."
smooth wombat writes "In the final conclusion to John Gilmore's fight to be able to fly on an airplane without providing identification, the United States Supreme Court, without comment, let stand an appeals court ruling which said that Gilmore's rights are not violated by being required to show proof of identity. Gilmore had argued that without being able to see the law which says one must provide identification before being allowed to board a plane, there is no way to know if the regulations call for impermissible searches."