News Scan
Updated: 2012-03-30 19:37:35
HOME Main News Scan March 30, 2012 12:37 PM Posted by CJLF Staff 0 Comments A rkansas Considers Barring Sex Offenders From Internet Access : Andy Davis of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the Arkansas Board of Parole is considering whether to adopt a policy which would initially bar all paroled sex offenders from using the internet . Parolees could request permission to access the internet for a specific purpose , such as use in the workplace . The board currently prohibits internet access for certain paroled sex offenders on a case-by-case basis . Kim Knoll , an assistant area manager with the Department of Community Correction , said parole officers have found that offenders are frequently using the Internet to download child pornography and communicate with children . At issue is
Many people see employers requiring employee's Facebook passwords as an unnecessary invasion of privacy, and a few state legislatures are currently considering bills that would outright ban this practice. 
A really great piece of techno from VCMG, from their latest album Ssss, Single Blip:
Via Xavier Molénat, Fabien Hein, sociologist of rock (music, not dang pebbles): So, update your bookmarks, RSS feeds and blogrolls.
And how big it really is (here): Now, really, and it has a pretty large ecological footprint:
From A Dangerous Method: Yeah, about that… A law student of Fourah Bay College (FBC) University of Sierra Leone is in the nets of the police for defrauding Eco Bank of Le7.5 million. Sahr Jimmy, who claimed to be a law student at FBC yesterday found himself in the smelly Central Police Station cells for [...]
Are you interested in the intersection between law and technology? Here’s a message from the sponsors: After the great success we had last year with lawTechCamp,we are back again this year and are looking for people to suggest, present sessions, and volunteers. As a refresher, lawTechCamp is a BarCamp-style communityUnConference for new media and technology [...]
The attorney general of Mississippi decided to challenge these pardons in court, and the Mississippi Supreme Court has just upheld the former governor’s pardons.
The report cataloged thousands upon thousands of criminal sentences and came to a conclusion that many in the legal industry were already aware of: criminal sentences aren’t uniform. 
There’s no question that mental illnesses that have been linked to traumatic brain injury are going to become issues in more and more criminal cases, particularly with relation to the insanity defense.
Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro was himself behind two robocalls on election day, the Calgary Herald revealed today. Del Mastro’s campaign manager, Jeff Westlake, sent recorded messages to constituents reminding them that it was election day and offering rides, but only identified the caller as “Jeff.” The problem is that the Member of Provincial Parliament [...]
…And what they actually mean. Courtesy of Prof. Emir Crowne of University of Windsor. 
Hundreds of DUI convictions in San Francisco may have to be thrown out because some officers of the San Francisco Police Department may have improperly tested and maintained the equipment that’s used to conduct BAC tests.
The court’s ruling essentially states that it’s unconstitutional for Maryland to require people to lay out a specific objective threat and instead should allow anyone with reasonable apprehension of their safety to carry a gun outside of their home for protection. 
It’s always great to keep on finding new socbloggers from all over the place (although, digital divide oblige, they’re mostly from the Global North). Anyhoo, let’s hear it for Simon Lindgren, from Sweden, digital sociologist: So, update your RSS feeds, blogrolls, and Twitter Feeds.