White House tech office to co-host open data roundtables; FedScoop, 3/22/16

Wyatt Kash, FedScoop; White House tech office to co-host open data roundtables:

"The White House Office of Science Technology Policy has unveiled plans to co-host four open data roundtables, with the first to get underway Thursday, as part of a continuing push to advance the use of federal data.

The sessions are expected to bring together a limited number of technical, policy and legal experts from federal agencies, academia and the private sector — and collect input from the public — as part of an effort to accelerate the use of government open data sets, according to an OSTP briefing.

The roundtables, which will be co-hosted and conducted by the Center for Open Data Enterprise, which conducted similar roundtables last year, will focus on four challenges confronting the open data community...

As governments open access to data, law lags far behind; ABA Journal, 3/17/16

Lorelai Laird, ABA Journal; As governments open access to data, law lags far behind:

"From municipalities to the White House, governments are launching open data projects—but the judicial branch is falling behind.

Such was the opening, frustrated message of “Public Service Legal Technology in the Data.Gov Era,” a Thursday-morning panel at ABA Techshow.

Adam Ziegler of Harvard Law School’s Library Innovation Lab hammered home the message with a quick tour of government data projects. The federal government has data.gov, a website that offers publicly available data on many topics related to executive branch agencies; 18F: a series of projects from the General Services Administration; and the U.S. Digital Service, a White House project seeking to streamline government services. The White House even has a page on GitHub, a website that allows programmers to post and collaborate on their work.

“We are in an era of amazing progress in access to government data,” said Ziegler, a programmer and former attorney. But “where are we with the law? Almost nowhere, unfortunately.” The nonprofit U.S. Open Data assessed publicly accessible legal information in every state—and found poor accessibility almost everywhere.

Ziegler’s lab is doing its best to change that with its ambitious “Free the Law” project with Ravel Law, which will scan Harvard’s entire 40,000-volume collection of U.S. case law."

A toddler got meningitis. His anti-vac parents gave him an herbal remedy. The toddler died. Now his parents are on trial. Washington Post, 3/18/16

Michael E. Miller, Washington Post; A toddler got meningitis. His anti-vac parents gave him an herbal remedy. The toddler died. Now his parents are on trial. :

"Ezekiel died from bacterial meningitis and empyema, two conditions routinely cured with antibiotics, a medical examiner told the court last week, according to the Lethbridge Herald.

If convicted, the parents could spend up to five years in prison.

The case has stirred outrage across Canada and the United States. It comes at a time when belief in natural and homeopathic remedies is on the rise in North America. More controversially, anti-vaccine sentiment is also surging, leading to a resurgence of once vanquished diseases like measles and whooping cough.

The toddler’s tragic death raises questions of whether and when parents have a duty to take their children to the hospital, despite their personal or religious beliefs.

Ezekiel Stephan wasn’t old enough to speak for himself when he died. Nonetheless, he has become a lightning rod for a raging debate."

Crosswords and copyright; Washington Post, 3/15/16

David Post, Washington Post; Crosswords and copyright:

"What’s interesting, to me, in all this, aside from the light it sheds on puzzle construction, is that it illustrates how “plagiarism,” though it is often conflated with copyright infringement, actually covers very different territory and involves very different interests. A crossword’s “theme” is probably one element of the puzzle-creator’s work that is not protected by copyright; copyright law doesn’t protect “ideas,” only the expression of ideas, and a puzzle’s theme is, in my opinion, just such an unprotectable “idea,” free for the taking (as far as copyright law is concerned). But it’s precisely this kind of taking — theme theft — that gets the angriest response from those in the puzzle-writing business.

This has a direct parallel in academic writing. There, too, the plagiarism norms focus on a kind of borrowing that the law of copyright deems permissible: taking another’s ideas or expression without attribution. Nobody in the academic world will complain if you use their ideas or quote their work — in fact, that’s very much the whole point of the enterprise. But to do so without citation — that will get you into the hottest of hot water. [Just ask Doris Kearns Goodwin, or Stephen Ambrose or Joseph Ellis]. Yet copyright law gives an author no enforceable right to have his/her work properly attributed to him/her — a fact that surprised the hell out of many of my law prof colleagues when they first learned of it (insofar as proper attribution was really the only thing they cared about)."

Asia On The Heels Of US And Europe In Patent Applications At WIPO; Developing Countries Lagging; Intellectual Property Watch, 3/16/16

Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch; Asia On The Heels Of US And Europe In Patent Applications At WIPO; Developing Countries Lagging:

"China, Japan and South Korea are among the top five countries filing international patent applications at the World Intellectual Property Organization, while the United States continues to lead in patent and trademark applications. Far behind, developing countries seem to be having a hard time catching up...

The top 10 countries filing under the PCT in 2015 were the US (57,385), Japan (44,235), and China (29,846), followed by Germany, South Korea, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden.

According to a WIPO press release, the US has filed the largest annual number of international patent applications for 38 years running. Patent-filing activity by China-based innovators accounted for much of the overall growth in applications, according to the release.

Computer technology and digital communication saw the largest numbers of filing in 2015, each exceeding 16,000, according to the release."

Status of gene patents in Canada unresolved, despite successful challenge; The Canadian Press via CTV News, 3/20/16

The Canadian Press via CTV News; Status of gene patents in Canada unresolved, despite successful challenge:

"One of the most contentious issues in genetics is whether researchers should be allowed to patent human genes found to cause disease and to commercialize diagnostic tests based on those mutated snippets of DNA.

Courts in the U.S. and Australia, for example, have banned the practice, but in Canada no law prohibits scientists from taking out patents on bits of the human genome and their associated products for use in patients.

But an out-of-court settlement earlier this month between an Ottawa hospital and a global company that holds patents on genes and a related test for a potentially deadly heart rhythm disorder may have vastly altered the Canadian gene-patenting landscape.

In what could be characterized as a David and Goliath contest, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) launched a court challenge in late 2014 against U.S.-based Transgenomic Inc., which holds patents on five of the flawed genes underpinning long QT syndrome and the diagnostic test for the inherited disorder...

Open Data: Why We Should Care; Huffington Post, 3/17/16

Apolitical, Huffington Post; Open Data: Why We Should Care:

"Excited by the connectivity revolution, governments all over the world are trying to find clever uses for the enormous amounts of digital information they now possess. One of the Big Data movements with the most momentum is Open Data — making this information available to the public. But what good does this actually do? Apolitical spoke to three pioneers in the field in Burkina Faso, Brazil and India, who told us about fighting corruption, ensuring free elections and preventing crime. These real, substantive issues go beyond the inevitably vague buzzwords of transparency and accountability. Here we discover what Open Data can really do about them."

How The Trump Campaign Could Evolve Into Organized Violence, In 6 Steps; Huffington Post, 3/17/16

Daniel Marans and Ryan Grim, Huffington Post; How The Trump Campaign Could Evolve Into Organized Violence, In 6 Steps:

"UPDATE: 3/19 — On March 15, some anonymous Trump supporters started the Lion Guard, which calls itself an “informal civilian group dedicated to the safety and security of #Trump supporters by exposing Far-Left rioters,” in person and on social media.

“The Lion Guard is a call to put the words ‘Make America Great Again’ into action and aid Trump’s security and show our adversaries we are disciplined, perceptive, and watching,” the group’s “Call to Action” states.

PREVIOUSLY:

Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday floated the idea of paying the legal fees of a white supporter who sucker-punched a black man leaving a rally. Later that day, he claimed “no responsibility” for political violence, suggesting instead that protesters are dangerous and that his supporters are right to “hit back.” He even blamed Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for sending protesters to disrupt his rallies, and threatened to sic his supporters on Sanders in retaliation.

Extreme political movements like Trump’s often go hand-in-hand with street violence. But organized militias like Adolf Hitler’s brown shirts and Benito Mussolini’s black shirts don’t spring up overnight. They evolve. Here’s how the process works."

No, Not Trump, Not Ever; New York Times, 3/18/16

David Brooks, New York Times; No, Not Trump, Not Ever:

"Donald Trump is an affront to basic standards of honesty, virtue and citizenship. He pollutes the atmosphere in which our children are raised. He has already shredded the unspoken rules of political civility that make conversation possible. In his savage regime, public life is just a dog-eat-dog war of all against all.

As the founders would have understood, he is a threat to the long and glorious experiment of American self-government. He is precisely the kind of scapegoating, promise-making, fear-driving and deceiving demagogue they feared.

Trump’s supporters deserve respect. They are left out of this economy. But Trump himself? No, not Trump, not ever."

Privacy versus speech in the Hulk Hogan sex tape trial; Los Angeles Times, 3/14/16

Erwin Chemerinsky, Los Angeles Times; Privacy versus speech in the Hulk Hogan sex tape trial:

"Indeed, this case reflects how the changing notions of privacy in society make it much harder to decide what would be offensive to the reasonable person and what isn't of public concern.

But juries, it's said, make decisions based on emotion, on the gut. Accordingly, St. Petersburg jurors may ultimately find it hard to accept that Gawker's speech rights reach into Bollea's bedroom, notwithstanding the plaintiff's lewd persona. There is a difference, after all, between talking about sex and watching it.

If the jury sides with Bollea, 1st Amendment absolutists will worry about the “chilling effect” the verdict may have on speech, and will claim it's impossible to draw a line between permissible and impermissible expression. Speech is speech.

But I can imagine a clear rule: No videos of people having sex should be made public unless all of the participants consent. I think the media will survive the restriction."

What The Hulk Hogan Verdict Means For Freedom Of The Press; Huffington Post, 3/19/16

Chris D'Angelo, Huffington Post; What The Hulk Hogan Verdict Means For Freedom Of The Press:

"Mary-Rose Papandrea, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, agreed it likely won’t have a larger effect, because “most journalists and most publishers are careful, and err on the side of protecting privacy.”

Even so, there is currently an “anything goes“ mentality when it comes to publishing information about celebrities, Eric Goldman, co-director of Santa Clara University’s High Tech Law Institute, told Fusion. Indeed, Gawker had argued in court that by repeatedly discussing his own sex life in public, Hogan made the subject fair game. Their loss, Goldman said, might result in “some rethinking of that mentality.”

Since the verdict, Nick Denton, Gawker’s founder, made clear Gawker plans to appeal.

Until then, one can only assume the $115 million verdict will result in other outlets thinking long and hard before publishing the next sex tape that surfaces."

Jury Awards Hulk Hogan $115 Million In Gawker Sex Tape Lawsuit; Huffington Post, 3/18/16

Chris D'Angelo, Huffington Post; Jury Awards Hulk Hogan $115 Million In Gawker Sex Tape Lawsuit:

"A Florida jury has sided with Hulk Hogan in the lawsuit the former professional wrestler filed against Gawker Media, awarding him $115 million in damages — $15 million more than he sought.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, sued Gawker in 2012 after the online media outlet published an excerpt of a video showing Bollea having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, Bubba The Love Sponge Clem. Hogan and his attorneys alleged publishing the video was an invasion of his privacy. Gawker argued the clip was newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment."

When Dignity Costs Too Much; Inside Higher Ed via Slate, March 2016

Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed via Slate; When Dignity Costs Too Much:

"Even if the adjunct movement for better working conditions succeeds, most adjuncts will lose. That’s one bold claim of a recent paper on the costs associated with a number of the movement’s goals, such as better pay and benefits. While activists and scholars have been quick to criticize what they call the paper’s inherently flawed logic, the study’s authors say it is a first step in a more critical dialogue on the adjunct “dilemma.”"

Making Museums Moral Again; New York Times, 3/17/16

Holland Cotter, New York Times; Making Museums Moral Again:

"“From the first moment of contact with Europe,” she writes, “exploitation of its wealth ushered in foreign intervention on a massive scale that has continued unabated into the present.”

I’ve rarely read a text so forthrightly polemical in an exhibition organized by the Met. I don’t remember ever reading anything like it in any of the permanent galleries. But it is a model for the kind of truth-telling approach that museums could, and should, be taking to art: factual, incisive, politically astute, connecting the past to the present and inviting argument.

My sense is that such a tactic could encourage viewer “engagement,” to invoke a term that buzzes around the fraught subject of audience-building. It could wake people up; compel them to stop, look and read when they might have passed by; and prompt them to see that art isn’t just about objects — it’s about ideas, histories and ethical philosophies that they may have a stake in, and an opinion about. It seems to me that one point of museum programming is to get people to think, as opposed to endlessly snapping selfies.

Of course, the “truth” brings risks. There are truths we don’t want to know, and so-called truths can be applied damagingly to one person or culture, but not another. What about beauty? Will magnificent objects suffer if they are found to have unbeautiful back stories? Many objects in museums fall into this category.

If museum officials begin to sense that visitors are becoming more involved in what the curators are saying and thinking, not just what they’re showing, maybe they will come to feel a more immediate stake in the preoccupations of audiences."

The Man the Founders Feared; New York Times, 3/19/16

Peter Wehner, New York Times; The Man the Founders Feared:

"In 1838, as a 28-year-old state legislator, Abraham Lincoln delivered an address at the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Ill. The speech was given in the aftermath of the lynching of a mixed-race boatman and the burning of a black abolitionist newspaper editor. Lincoln warned that a “mobocratic spirit” and “wild and furious passions” posed a threat to republican institutions. He also alerted people to the danger of individuals — “an Alexander, a Caesar or a Napoleon?” — who, in their search for glory and power, might pose a threat to American self-government.

“Is it unreasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us?” Lincoln asked.

The antidote to this threat, Lincoln argued, was to cultivate a “political religion” that emphasized “reverence for the laws.” Passion was our enemy, he warned; it had to be contained. “Reason — cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason — must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense.”"

Yes, he tried: what will Barack Obama's legacy be?; Guardian, 3/19/16

Gary Younge, Guardian; Yes, he tried: what will Barack Obama's legacy be? :

"When the political tone is set this low, when so little is expected of the candidates and the choices are this poor, the fact that Obama tried – and the way that he tried – starts to eclipse the fact that he so often failed. Like a dutiful doctor, he performed triage on a reluctant patient and didn’t give up even when the prospects looked bleak. He did his job.

As his term comes to an end and the fractured, volatile nature of the country’s electoral politics is once again laid bare, Americans may be coming to realise that, in Obama, it had an adult in the room. As violence erupts at election rallies and spills over into the streets, they may come to appreciate the absence of scandal and drama from the White House. As their wages stagnated, industries collapsed, insecurities grew and hopes faded, he tried to get something done. Not much, not enough – but something. It is possible to have serious, moral criticisms of Obama and his legacy, and still appreciate his value, given the alternatives.

In Obama, Americans are losing someone who took both public service and the public seriously; someone who stood for something bigger and more important than himself. This is the end of the line for a leader who believed that facts mattered; that Americans were not fools; that their democracy meant something and that government had a role: that America could be better than this."

It’s not just Trump University; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/20/16

Jonathan Zimmerman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; It’s not just Trump University:

"So it turns out that some teachers at Trump University pressed students to inflate scores on course evaluations, so the teachers would be rehired. But the same kind of thing has been happening for a long time at real American universities, not just at Donald Trump’s fake one.

That’s the real scandal here. We’ve turned our colleges into consumer-driven businesses, where student “satisfaction” is what matters most. And that makes the rest of us a lot more like Trump University than we’d care to admit.

Consider that over three-quarters of faculty in the United States are now “adjuncts,” meaning they work on short-term contracts (like Trump instructors) instead of on the tenure track. In 2014, a congressional study showed that a majority of adjunct faculty live below the poverty line. They drive from campus to campus, teaching multiple courses and sometimes even sleep in their cars.

And in most cases, they’re evaluated solely on student evaluations. Who can blame them for trying to gin up their scores? After all, their livelihoods are at stake."

Divers Shocked To Find Animals Trapped In Cages Underwater; TheDodo.com, 3/15/16

Stephen Messenger, TheDodo.com; Divers Shocked To Find Animals Trapped In Cages Underwater:

"Not wanting the animals to continue suffering in that sad state, the divers tried to convince their captor to set them free, informing him that dugongs are a protected species vulnerable to extinction.

"When we left the island, the fisherman agreed to release them," Lim said. "But since we were not so convinced he would, I posted the video to social media." The other divers did as well.

And it's a good thing that they did. Within hours, Lim was contacted by wildlife authorities requesting the location of the cages. The next day, officials descended on the spot and found the animals still trapped.

That's when they were finally set free."

The latest news on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' shows how big corporations control copyright law; Los Angeles Times, 3/14/16

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times; The latest news on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' shows how big corporations control copyright law:

"According to a March 4 notice issued by Hachette to booksellers and reported by the New Republic, permission for the mass-market edition has been withdrawn by the novel's publisher, HarperCollins. (HarperCollins also brought out "Go Set a Watchman.") Hachette can sell off its remaining copies, which it's doing at a further discount, but henceforth "Mockingbird" will be available chiefly in a HarperCollins trade paperback edition, which lists for $14.99.

The burden will fall on school districts that traditionally laid in a large volume of mass-market books for their pupils. Hachette says that more than two-thirds of the 30 million copies sold worldwide since publication have been its low-priced edition. Hachette told bookstores, according to the New Republic: "The disappearance of the iconic mass-market edition is very disappointing to us, especially as we understand this could force a difficult situation for schools and teachers with tight budgets who cannot afford the larger, higher priced paperback edition that will remain in the market."

The real problem this development points to is with copyright law, which has been getting consistently rewritten in the United States and other countries to extend the length of authors' rights to the point where their heirs, and heirs of heirs, are the chief beneficiaries of the copyright. But that's only superficially. The real beneficiaries are corporations, which continue to profit from successful works of art for decades after their creators have passed on. Corporations such as HarperCollins...

Yet as we can see from the extinction of the mass-market paperback of "Mockingbird," such extensions stifle the dissemination of creative works rather than encourage it. The squabble over the copyright to Anne Frank's diaries, which we reported on here, also illustrates how the grip of copyright law leaves the control of creative works in the hands of people who may not share the desires of the works' creators. Harper Lee has passed on, Anne Frank is long gone, and Walt Disney is represented in the marketplace by a corporation that is hopelessly far removed from his artistic and even his business creation."

Photo Copyright: Oscar Wilde, Richard Prince, and Your Instagram Content; Huffington Post, 3/15/16

Kim Farbota, Huffington Post; Photo Copyright: Oscar Wilde, Richard Prince, and Your Instagram Content:

"Richard Prince, an "appropriation artist" well-known in creative spheres, is showing blown-up screen shots from his Instagram feed in renowned Manhattan galleries. The contemporary counterparts of Wilde's Gilded Age fan base buy the inkjet-on-canvas prints for upwards of $100,000. The original snappers hear through the proverbial grapevine that their filtered selfies are featured in high-end art shows.

Copyright law has evolved markedly in the century separating Richard Prince from Napoleon Sarony. On the shoulders of Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, Prince has made a decades-long career selling slightly altered versions of other people's images. He evades copyright infringement liability through legal principles that allow certain "transformative works" to make use of copyright-protected materials without the owner's consent. Broadly, a transformative "fair use" alters or recontextualizes the original work for the purpose of commentary, criticism, or parody. All of the pieces in the Instagram-based New Portraits series include Prince's own original "comment" within the captured frame, submitted via his Instagram handle, "richardprince1234". He also enlarges the images and moves them from digital to print media. The original photos, which cover most of the space on the printed canvases, remain otherwise untouched.

Donald Graham, a career photographer whose portrait of a Rastafarian man was involuntarily featured in New Portraits, is not impressed. In a complaint filed in federal court this January, Graham calls Prince's work a "blatant disregard of copyright law". Graham's suit challenges whether Prince's transformations are sufficient to trigger "fair use" protection...

At the intersection of copyright and social media, balancing the benefits of exposure with the risks of theft and appropriation is an evolving challenge."

Donald Trump's 500 businesses would pose 'unprecedented ethical dilemma'; CNNMoney.com, 3/16/16

David Goldman, CNNMoney.com; Donald Trump's 500 businesses would pose 'unprecedented ethical dilemma' :

"CNNMoney interviewed ethics lawyers who worked for President George W. Bush, presidential candidates Bob Dole, John Kerry, John McCain and Mitt Romney, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They all said that Trump would have more potential business conflicts than any former president.

Trump has not committed to selling his businesses, and instead he has said many times that his children and executives would manage them.

"This is certainly going to present an unprecedented ethical dilemma if Trump wins," said Kenneth Gross, a partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, who provided legal assistance to several presidential candidates during their campaigns. "He can't just get amnesia. He's stuck with the knowledge of what he owns."

As president, Trump would not be required to sell any of his investments or businesses. The U.S. Financial Conflict of Interest Statute prohibits unelected officials of the executive branch from holding stakes in assets that would conflict with their ability to properly do their jobs...

But Congress decided not to apply those restrictions to the president or vice president. They have to disclose their holdings, but they don't have to disown them.

So Donald Trump could be president without selling his businesses."

State Trooper Comes To The Rescue Of Stranded Superheroes; Huffington Post, 3/15/16

Lee Moran, Huffington Post; State Trooper Comes To The Rescue Of Stranded Superheroes:

"A New Hampshire state trooper came to the rescue of "Wonder Woman" and "Captain America" after their car became disabled on Interstate 93 on Sunday morning.

The costumed duo were on their way to a child’s birthday party in Hooksett when the vehicle broke down. Unfortunately, their abilities didn't extend to fixing the problem...

Sgt. Tom Lencki told the New Hampshire Union Leader that state police were "always happy to assist any other members of the Avengers or Justice League should they find themselves in need of a super colleague.""

The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World; Harvard Business Review, 3/15/16

Sunnie Giles, Harvard Business Review; The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World:

"What makes an effective leader? This question is a focus of my research as an organizational scientist, executive coach, and leadership development consultant. Looking for answers, I recently completed the first round of a study of 195 leaders in 15 countries over 30 global organizations. Participants were asked to choose the 15 most important leadership competencies from a list of 74. I’ve grouped the top ones into five major themes that suggest a set of priorities for leaders and leadership development programs. While some may not surprise you, they’re all difficult to master, in part because improving them requires acting against our nature."

Handful of Biologists Went Rogue and Published Directly to Internet; New York Times, 3/15/16

Amy Harmon, New York Times; Handful of Biologists Went Rogue and Published Directly to Internet:

"On Feb. 29, Carol Greider of Johns Hopkins University became the third Nobel Prize laureate biologist in a month to do something long considered taboo among biomedical researchers: She posted a report of her recent discoveries to a publicly accessible website, bioRxiv, before submitting it to a scholarly journal to review for “official’’ publication.

It was a small act of information age defiance, and perhaps also a bit of a throwback, somewhat analogous to Stephen King’s 2000 self-publishing an e-book or Radiohead’s 2007 release of a download-only record without a label. To commemorate it, she tweeted the website’s confirmation under the hashtag #ASAPbio, a newly coined rallying cry of a cadre of biologists who say they want to speed science by making a key change in the way it is published...

The delays prevent scientists from showing off their most recent work to prospective employers or benefactors. They have also, some researchers say, begun to look faintly absurd against the general expectations for speed and openness in the not-so-new digital age. With the rapid spread of the Zika virus, for instance, several journals signed a statement promising that scientists would not be penalized for immediately releasing their findings, given the potential benefit for public health, in turn prompting some scientists to ask, why draw the line at Zika?"

He told me he’d “cut out my kids’ tongues”: The experience with online harassment I can’t forget; Salon.com, 3/13/16

Darlena Cunha, Salon.com; He told me he’d “cut out my kids’ tongues”: The experience with online harassment I can’t forget:

"According to the Pew Research Center, 26 percent of young women on the Internet have been stalked, and 23 percent have been physically threatened. Of all people who have experienced online harassment (40 percent of all Internet users), 26 percent did not know the real identity of the perpetrator. While there are currently cyberstalking laws, they are hard to enforce, and victims must know their harasser’s identity to take him to court. And in 2010, those laws didn’t yet exist at all. The police told me there was nothing they could do. With no other recourse, I started checking on my children two or three times a night, waiting for an attack that never happened."

San Jose library amnesty weighed as unpaid fines near $7 million; San Jose Mercury News, 3/7/16

Ramona Giwargis, San Jose Mercury News; San Jose library amnesty weighed as unpaid fines near $7 million:

"Library cards in San Jose are blocked after patrons amass $10 or more in fines. Nearly half of all youth and teen accounts have some unpaid fines, Bourne wrote in a recent report to city leaders.

Oliverio says it's critical to "welcome back" cardholders who've been shut out because of fines, especially children who rely on the resources. He proposes a library amnesty program to forgive penalties for two weeks -- but only if people return the outstanding materials...

Other solutions proposed by Bourne include reducing or waiving fines for youths or allowing people to bring in a brand-new book to replace a lost item. People can also volunteer their time or read to pay off fines, she suggested.

But one longtime library patron thinks it's unfair to forgive other people's fines and fees.

"People have to learn the hard way," said Eddie Acevedo, 60, while browsing Spanish books at Joyce Ellington Branch Library on Thursday."

Should All Research Papers Be Free?; New York Times, 3/12/16

Kate Murphy, New York Times; Should All Research Papers Be Free? :

"Possibly the biggest barrier to open access is that scientists are judged by where they have published when they compete for jobs, promotions, tenure and grant money. And the most prestigious journals, such as Cell, Nature and The Lancet, also tend to be the most protective of their content.

“The real people to blame are the leaders of the scientific community — Nobel scientists, heads of institutions, the presidents of universities — who are in a position to change things but have never faced up to this problem in part because they are beneficiaries of the system,” said Dr. Eisen. “University presidents love to tout how important their scientists are because they publish in these journals.”

Until the system changes, Ms. Elbakyan said she would continue to distribute journal articles to whoever wants them. Paraphrasing part of the United Nations Charter, she said, “Everyone has the right to freely share in scientific advancement and its benefits.”"

The Trump Campaign Gives License to Violence; New York Times, 3/14/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; The Trump Campaign Gives License to Violence:

"Here’s a medley of Mr. Trump’s comments condoning violence over the past few weeks:

“I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”

“In the good old days this doesn’t happen, because they used to treat them very, very rough.”

“I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”

“If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would ya? Seriously. Just knock the hell out of them...”

Protesting in front of the Boca Raton rally on Sunday, Kate Newton and Elizabeth Versalie, both in their 50s, said they had to speak out. They turned up at the amphitheater two hours before the rally and were denied entry when security guards saw their signs, which said “Stop the Hate.”

“It’s all about standing up for freedom of speech for us,” Ms. Versalie said. “Nobody should be running a campaign on fear and bigotry.”"

Trump’s History of Encouraging Violence; New York Times, 3/14/16

[Video] Ainara Tiefenthaler, New York Times; Trump’s History of Encouraging Violence:

"Donald J. Trump has appealed to the raw anger of voters and encouraged crowds at rallies to use force against protesters who are disruptive."

MSF Challenges Pfizer Patent Application For Pneumonia Vaccine In India; Intellectual Property Watch, 3/11/16

Intellectual Property Watch; MSF Challenges Pfizer Patent Application For Pneumonia Vaccine In India:

"Today, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) filed a patent opposition against Pfizer’s vaccine for pneumonia in India.

According to an MSF press release, the humanitarian association hopes to prevent United States company Pfizer from getting a patent on the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PVC13) so competition can bring cheaper versions to the market...

Pneumonia kills almost one million children each year, according to MSF. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are the only two companies manufacturing the vaccine.

According to the release, “it is now 68 times more expensive to vaccinate a child than in 2001. It refers to a 2015 MSF report, The Right Shot: Bringing down Barriers to Affordable and Adapted Vaccines."

Putting Lincoln Online Is No Easy Political Task; New York Times, 3/12/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; Putting Lincoln Online Is No Easy Political Task:

"One of the most ambitious research projects on Abraham Lincoln ever attempted — giving scholars, history buffs and students online access to every document Lincoln ever wrote or read — is being threatened by an absurd and intractable political and budget morass in the Illinois statehouse.

Someone — Gov. Bruce Rauner, perhaps — had better cut through the mess soon to guarantee the continued operation of the long-running, nationally respected project before Illinois becomes the Land of Lost Lincolniana. Managers of the project, the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, warn that it is being starved of money, with five of its 12 staff scholars already cut and its future in considerable doubt.

The digitization project, eagerly supported by Lincoln specialists and private donors, has so far found, annotated and published scores of thousands of freshly uncovered documents, adding to the universe of Lincoln materials. It began in the 1980s researching Lincoln’s legal career, then grew far bigger in scope as the Internet arrived. It will be “the Grand Central of all things Lincoln,” says Harold Holzer, a Lincoln scholar and writer concerned about its future."

Ellen Page at SXSW: 'Being in the closet hurt my career more than coming out'; Guardian, 3/12/16

Nigel M. Smith, Guardian; Ellen Page at SXSW: 'Being in the closet hurt my career more than coming out' :

"The Oscar-nominated actor, who came out in 2014 during a speech at a Las Vegas conference for counselors of young LGBT people, was on hand to discuss her new TV show Gaycation, alongside co-creator Ian Daniel. In the series, the pair travel the world to shed a light on the struggles of LGBT communities face abroad...

“We can’t just be telling stories about one group of people,” Page added. “People need to have opportunity, and that’s what’s going to make the whole industry grow and blossom... “There can be such loneliness and isolation when you’re living in a society that has this view of you’re different, or something’s wrong, or you’re sinful.”...

She added that she thinks often of “those who are much more vulnerable than me all around the world and in the United States.

“And here’s an opportunity to go make something that allows voices to be heard that you sometimes never hear, and hopefully reflect struggles that a lot of people go through and I think a lot of people simply don’t know about.”

Gaycation airs Wednesdays at 10pm ET on Viceland."

On the Fight Against HIV and AIDS -- and on the People Who Really Started the Conversation; Huffington Post, 3/13/16

Hillary Clinton, Huffington Post; On the Fight Against HIV and AIDS -- and on the People Who Really Started the Conversation:

"This week, at Nancy Reagan's funeral, I said something inaccurate when speaking about the Reagans' record on HIV and AIDS. Since then, I've heard from countless people who were devastated by the loss of friends and loved ones, and hurt and disappointed by what I said. As someone who has also lost friends and loved ones to AIDS, I understand why. I made a mistake, plain and simple.

I want to use this opportunity to talk not only about where we've come from, but where we must go in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

To be clear, the Reagans did not start a national conversation about HIV and AIDS. That distinction belongs to generations of brave lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, along with straight allies, who started not just a conversation but a movement that continues to this day...

I believe there's even more we can -- and must -- do together. For starters, let's continue to increase HIV and AIDS research and invest in the promising innovations that research is producing. Medications like PrEP are proving effective in preventing HIV infection; we should expand access to that drug for everyone, including at-risk populations. We should call on Republican governors to put people's health and well-being ahead of politics and extend Medicaid, which would provide health care to those with HIV and AIDS.

We should call on states to reform outdated and stigmatizing HIV criminalization laws. We should increase global funding for HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. And we should cap out-of-pocket expenses and drug costs -- and hold companies like Turing and Valeant accountable when they attempt to gouge patients by jacking up the price of lifesaving medications.

We're still surrounded by memories of loved ones lost and lives cut short. But we're also surrounded by survivors who are fighting harder than ever. We owe it to them and to future generations to continue that fight together. For the first time, an AIDS-free generation is in sight. As president, I promise you that I will not let up until we reach that goal. We will not leave anyone behind."

Girls Keep Out: Female Video Gamers Face Vile Abuse, Threats; Associated Press via New York Times, 3/12/16

Associated Press via New York Times; Girls Keep Out: Female Video Gamers Face Vile Abuse, Threats:

"IGDA's Edwards acknowledges that dealing with harassment is a difficult challenge. "You're dealing with minors versus adults," she says. "You're dealing with free speech issues. It's a struggle for companies to figure out exactly how to approach it."

And while Riot-style moderation might limit harassment, it's unlikely to solve the problem on its own. "This is a social and cultural problem, not a technological one," says Dmitri Williams, CEO of game analytics firm Ninja Metrics."

Protecting the Privacy of Internet Users; New York Times, 3/11/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; Protecting the Privacy of Internet Users:

"The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission proposed common-sense privacy rules this week that would limit what broadband companies are allowed to do with the Internet browsing history and other personal information of consumers...

Under the proposal by the chairman, Tom Wheeler, cable and phone companies would be allowed to use personal data for things like billing and pitching more expensive versions of services that customers are already using. Customers could opt out of marketing for other services provided by their broadband companies. And the companies would have to get permission from their customers before they could do more with the data, like selling it to advertisers. Another rule would require companies to protect the data and notify customers, the commission and law enforcement agencies if the information was stolen."

Sneak peek: Captain America goes rogue in 'Civil War'; USA Today, 3/8/16

Brian Truitt, USA Today; Sneak peek: Captain America goes rogue in 'Civil War' :

"Over the course of several Marvel movies, Cap and the Avengers have saved the world multiple times, from thwarting an alien invasion of New York City (in The Avengers) to staving off an evil organization’s destructive plans in the skies of Washington (Winter Soldier) to keeping a killer robot from destroying the planet after taking over the fictitious Eastern European nation of Sokovia (Avengers: Age of Ultron).

“It’s boring when a good guy knows how to be a good guy,” Evans says, during a filming break at the Porsche building outside downtown Atlanta that serves as Avengers headquarters. “It’s much more dynamic when a good guy isn’t sure what the good guy move is and has to debate another point of view from someone who may be very close to him.”

Avengers are forced to choose which way to go, and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who befriended Cap as the flying Falcon in Winter Soldier, stands by his man, Mackie says."

When Gene Tests for Breast Cancer Reveal Grim Data but No Guidance; New York Times, 3/11/16

Gina Kolata, New York Times; When Gene Tests for Breast Cancer Reveal Grim Data but No Guidance:

"Ms. Watts’s experience highlights an unsettling side to the growing use of genetics in medicine, particularly breast cancer care. Doctors have long been tantalized by a future in which powerful methods of genetic testing would allow treatments to be tailored to a patient’s genetic makeup. Today, in breast cancer treatment, testing of tumors and healthy cells to look for mutations has become standard.

But as Ms. Watts found out, “our ability to sequence genes has gotten ahead of our ability to know what it means,” said Eric P. Winer, the director of the breast oncology program at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The ambiguities and disappointments play out in two areas: There is genetic testing of patients to see if they inherited mutations that predisposed them to cancer, and there is genetic testing of cells from the cancer to look for mutations that drive the tumor’s growth — but if found often cannot be targeted by any drug on the market.

The ability to understand and interpret genetic tests will surely improve. But for now, what sounds like a simple test can leave patients with frightening information but no clear options or guidance for treatment decisions.

“The stakes are very high,” said Dr. Evans, the geneticist who counseled Ms. Watts. “You have inherently nuanced and confusing tests and widespread ordering and interpretation by doctors who aren’t really equipped to do so,” he said. “The situation is ripe for overinterpretation and misinterpretation.”"

Clinton's comments on the Reagans and Aids demand more than apology; Guardian, 3/11/16

Steven W. Thrasher, Guardian; Clinton's comments on the Reagans and Aids demand more than apology:

"Aids historians, LGBT activists and anyone who cares about little things like the truth were immediately enraged at Clinton’s false claims. Ronald and Nancy Reagan were no more leaders discussing Aids in the 1980s than Republicans are at championing abortion access today.

“It may be hard for your viewers to remember,” Clinton said, “how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/Aids back in the 1980s.”

She didn’t lie there. Indeed, it was difficult to talk about Aids throughout the 1980s – largely because of the silence from the White House. In April 1987, activists unveiled a poster that said “Silence = Death” – a month before Reagan would finally devote a speech to the years-long epidemic. That slogan would become the motto of the group Aids Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT-UP), and according to their website, the slogan was asking “Why is Reagan silent about Aids? What is really going on at the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Vatican?”...

But for those of us who care about Aids and LGBT people, it is much harder and important to criticize the frontrunner of the Democratic party, who takes the support of gay voters for granted. Why, in 2016, did the Democratic frontrunner engage so blithely in the erasure of the people who actually did start the “national conversation” about Aids? Was it because they were gay men of the in-your-face variety of activism – many of whom died of the virus?

When Clinton said the Reagans led the way on Aids when “nobody wanted to do anything about it”, she is erasing these people from history in an ugly and dismissive fashion. People initially got HIV in this country through IV drug use, blood transfusions and sex. But while the Reagans looked the other way – even when a friend asked for help – it was was queer activists who were loud as hell in New York and San Francisco who forced the nation to face the plague...

I have been frightened for some time that the crisis of AIDS is not over, especially for black America, and yet it has again largely been erased from our national political consciousness. Aids, which is projected to infect one in two black gay American men, is almost invisible from the presidential race. And now even the Democratic frontrunner has diminished Aids history herself."

Hillary Clinton Praises Reagans for Starting “A National Conversation” About AIDS. That’s Insane.; Slate.com, 3/11/16

Michele Goldberg, Slate.com; Hillary Clinton Praises Reagans for Starting “A National Conversation” About AIDS. That’s Insane. :

"On MSBNC, [Hillary Clinton] offered the following baffling encomium for the late Nancy Reagan: “It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980s. And because of both President and Mrs. Reagan—in particular Mrs. Reagan—we started a national conversation.” Clinton credited Nancy with “very effective low-key advocacy” that “penetrated the public conscience.”

It’s hard to imagine where Clinton got this ludicrous idea. One of the most shameful things about Reagan’s presidency was his determined refusal to acknowledge an epidemic that was killing Americans by the tens of thousands. The first reports of AIDS surfaced in 1981, but Reagan didn’t speak about it until 1987, at which point more than 20,000 people were dead. When his press secretary Larry Speakes was asked about it, he made sniggering jokes. In 1987, when Reagan finally gave a speech about AIDS, he called for mandatory testing of immigrants. “Mr. Reagan issued no call for legislation or state action to protect AIDS victims against discrimination,” the New York Times reported."

Analytics key to agencies in big data explosion; FedScoop, 3/10/16

Billy Mitchell, FedScoop; Analytics key to agencies in big data explosion:

Lots of leading edge info and thought-provoking commentary from an impressive array of speakers at FedScoop and Hitachi's 3/10/16 Social Innovation Summit I attended at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Good overview of Summit by FedScoop's Billy Mitchell:

"The federal government has seen an explosion of data at its disposal and has needed powerful analytics tools to put it to use, federal IT officials and industry executives said.

A single statistic drove the bulk of the conversation at Thursday’s Hitachi Data Systems Social Innovation Summit, produced by FedScoop: By 2020, analysts predict there will be more than 30 billion network-connected digital devices globally, all producing unprecedented volumes of data in a concept called the Internet of Things.

“Those devices, whether it be the phones we use, the cars we drive in, the medical devices used to keep us healthy, the buildings we work in, the ships and airplanes that protect our country, they’re all generating data, and it’s a question of how do we take that data and really put it to use?” said Mike Tanner, president and CEO of federal for Hitachi Data Systems...

While that data brings with it endless opportunities, it also complicates things, particularly because humans alone are unable to do much with such massive data sets."

The case of the missing Whole Foods yogurt; Philly.com, 3/5/16

William Bender, Philly.com; The case of the missing Whole Foods yogurt:

"The lawsuit, which was consolidated in Austin, hit a snag last month when the judge ruled against the plaintiffs because they had not conducted FDA-compliant testing, which requires samples from 12 cases of yogurt. Whole Foods could face legal ramifications if it destroyed all of the yogurt, making the stringent FDA test impossible.

"We can't do the test because they destroyed the stuff we needed to do the test," Osefchen. "My hope is, they can't get away with that."

Friday's motion accuses Whole Foods of "intentional destruction" of evidence and "knowingly concealing" it for 16 months.

"They knew they had a big mountain of yogurt," the attorney said. "It took hundreds of people to pull it off the shelves. They had to send it somewhere.""

China bans depictions of gay people on television; Guardian, 3/4/16

Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Guardian; China bans depictions of gay people on television:

"The Chinese government has banned all depictions of gay people on television, as part of a cultural crackdown on “vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content”.

Chinese censors have released new regulations for content that “exaggerates the dark side of society” and now deem homosexuality, extramarital affairs, one night stands and underage relationships as illegal on screen...

The government said the show contravened the new guidelines, which state that “No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.”

The ban also extends to smoking, drinking, adultery, sexually suggestive clothing, even reincarnation. China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television told television producers it would constantly monitor TV channels to ensure the new rules were strictly adhered to.

The clampdown follows an increase in cultural censorship in China since Xi Jinping came to power in November 2012."

The Beast Is Us; New York Times, 3/4/16

Timothy Egan, New York Times; The Beast Is Us:

"With media complicity, Trump has unleashed the beast that has long resided not far from the American hearth, from those who started a Civil War to preserve the right to enslave a fellow human to the Know-Nothing mobs who burned Irish-Catholic churches out of fear of immigrants...

Granted, a huge portion of the population is woefully ignorant; nearly a third of Americans didn’t know who Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was in a Gallup poll last year. But ignorance is not the problem with Trump’s people. They’re sick and tired of tolerance...

The German magazine Der Spiegel called Trump “the world’s most dangerous man.” The Germans know a thing or two about the topic.

I would like to think our better angels always prevail. But there are also dark episodes, when the beast is loose, and what stares back at us from the mirror is something ugly and frightful. Now is one of those times."

A Science Journal Invokes ‘the Creator,’ and Science Pushes Back; Wired.com, 3/3/16

Madison Kotack, Wired.com; A Science Journal Invokes ‘the Creator,’ and Science Pushes Back:

"After a couple days of getting batted around in social media and comments sections, the journal retracted the whole paper. No editors from PLoS ONE responded to requests for comment.

Since PLoS ONE is open-source, it’s tempting to wonder if this kind of mistake calls into question the quality of all open-access scientific journals? PLoS ONE‘s website describes its editorial and peer-review practices, but also says that it can publish faster than old-school journals because it leaves out “subjective assessments of significance or scope to focus on technical, ethical and scientific rigor.”

Yet somehow Creationism got past peer review.

On the other hand, the old big-dog journals have their problems, too—plagiarism, errors, and so on. “I don’t think this will mean anything for open access journals, and it shouldn’t, because it happens at top journals, too,” says Jonathan Eisen, chair of PLoS Biology‘s advisory board and a big-time advocate for open-access (though unaffiliated with PLoS ONE)."

Apple Is Rolling Up Supporters in Privacy Fight Against F.B.I.; New York Times, 3/3/16

Nick Wingfield and Katie Benner, New York Times; Apple Is Rolling Up Supporters in Privacy Fight Against F.B.I. :

"Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and a parade of other technology companies filed a barrage of court briefs on Thursday, aiming to puncture the United States government’s legal arguments against Apple in a case that will test the limits of the authorities’ access to personal data.

The extraordinary show of support for Apple from the tech companies, including many rivals, underscores how high the stakes are for the industry with the case, in which the authorities are demanding Apple’s help to break into an iPhone used by a gunman in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., last year.

In all, around 40 companies and organizations, along with several dozen individuals, submitted more than a dozen briefs this week to the Federal District Court for the District of Central California, challenging every legal facet of the government’s case, like its free speech implications, the importance of encryption and concerns about government overreach."

Document Claims Drug Makers Deceived a Top Medical Journal; New York Times, 3/1/16

Katie Thomas, New York Time; Document Claims Drug Makers Deceived a Top Medical Journal:

"It is a startling accusation, buried in a footnote in a legal briefing filed recently in federal court: Did two major pharmaceutical companies, in an effort to protect their blockbuster drug, mislead editors at one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals?

Lawyers for patients suing Johnson & Johnson and Bayer over the safety of the anticlotting drug Xarelto say the answer is yes, claiming that a letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine and written primarily by researchers at Duke University left out critical laboratory data. They claim the companies were complicit by staying silent, helping deceive the editors while the companies were in the midst of providing the very same data to regulators in the United States and Europe.

Duke and Johnson & Johnson contend that they worked independently of each other. Bayer declined to comment. And top editors at The New England Journal of Medicine said they did not know that separate laboratory data existed until a reporter contacted them last week, but they dismissed its relevance and said they stood by the article’s analysis.

But the claim — that industry influence led to the concealing of data — carries echoes, some experts said, of an earlier era of drug marketing, when crucial clinical data went missing from journal articles, leading to high-profile corrections and a wave of ethics policies to limit the influence of drug companies on medical literature."

Beware: Exploding Politics; New York Times, 3/2/16

Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times; Beware: Exploding Politics:

"We have major issues that Congress needs to resolve via politics, and the failure to do so will really hurt us: How do we balance privacy and security? How do we expand free trade and cushion our workers hurt from the effects? How do we make the fixes in Obamacare to make it more sustainable? These will all require hybrid compromises, not dogmatism.

The guy who actually understands this is President Obama. He’s never been as strong on entrepreneurship as I would like, but he’s also never been the radical lefty the G.O.P. invented. His instinct has become hybrid — to combine support for free trade and immigration, to implement a Common Core to upgrade education, to provide health care so workers can be more mobile, to fund more Pell grants so more students can afford college, to make investments in clean tech, to make changes in the tax code to narrow income gaps — all to make the country more resilient. We could have done so much more with his presidency.

What is fascinating about Donald Trump is that he is blowing up the Republican Party by offering a totally new hybrid politics."

VW CEO was told about emissions crisis a year before admitting to cheat scandal; Guardian, 3/2/16

Rupert Neate, Guardian; VW CEO was told about emissions crisis a year before admitting to cheat scandal:

"Volkswagen’s chief executive was told about the company’s illegal emissions crisis more than a year before it admitted it was systematically cheating on US regulators tests.

The German company admitted on Wednesday that its former CEO Martin Winterkorn was, in May 2014, sent a memo detailing how some VW cars were producing up to 35 times more nitrogen oxide emissions than allowed.

In the memo Winterkorn was told about an independent study that found VW cars were producing very high emissions in real life, but very low emissions under strict test conditions.

Up until now the company has said Winterkorn – who resigned after the scandal broke in September 2015 – was unaware of the issue, which was caused by an illegal “defeat device” software VW installed in US cars specifically to trick US regulators."

Three missing Hong Kong booksellers to be freed on bail, say police; Associated Press via Guardian, 3/3/16

Associated Press via Guardian; Three missing Hong Kong booksellers to be freed on bail, say police:

"Three of five missing Hong Kong booksellers will be freed on bail soon while mainland Chinese authorities continue their investigation, police have said.

Lui Por, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee will be “released on bail pending investigation in the coming few days”, said Hong Kong police in a brief notice late on Wednesday, based on information from the public security department in neighbouring Guangdong province.

The disappearances of the three, along with two other men, Swedish citizen Gui Minhai and British citizen Lee Bo, have drawn international attention over fears Beijing is eroding the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s rule of law and civil liberties, such as freedom of the press.

The publishing company that the five are associated with specialised in books on sensitive Chinese political topics that proved popular with visitors from the mainland, where they were prohibited from sale."

From ‘Je Suis Charlie’ to Attacks on Free Speech; New York Times, 2/29/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; From ‘Je Suis Charlie’ to Attacks on Free Speech:

"Yet laws hastily adopted in the aftermath of a terror attack have a tendency to come back in forms not intended or foreseen. More dangerously, it seems an inevitable extension of Murphy’s law that if a government is given unintended powers, those powers will be misused. The National Security Agency’s misuse of its surveillance powers, as revealed by Edward Snowden, are a notorious example, and what future leaders might do is chillingly demonstrated by Donald Trump’s suggestion that the United States should close parts of the Internet to combat terrorism — and his postscript: “Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people.”

On the contrary, what is foolish is the rush to exploit fear and crisis to suppress the freedoms that define democracy — the very freedoms Charlie Hebdo stood for and its attackers sought to undermine. There is no question that terrorism requires a robust response, but it cannot be used as justification for arbitrary and unfair laws."