Power dynamics, cyberspace, and civil liberties: Instances & examples

• One of the earliest cases in the field was that of Sundevil, in which the US Secret Service carried out large-scale raids against computer-based credit-card fraud operations. Their unfortunate excessive zeal led to a well-publicized embarrassment when they raided Steve Jackson Games in the mistaken impression that SJG made something other than games. While Sundevil was not originally conceived as an exercise in the limiting of free expression, the SJG debacle certainly because one---which eventually ended with an embarrassing rebuke from a Federal judge after the Secret Service improperly held onto equipment for years and otherwise comported itself very badly.
• Carnegie Mellon University stepped in it in a large way recently, when it tried to censor particular Usenet newsgroups. The controversy is still brewing; yours truly has been involved in an entertaining set of correspondence with their Vice Provost over the incident, as has the American Civil Liberties Union.
• The scientologists have been engaged in both vigorous prosecution (of individuals both posting trade secret information, and of those running the anonymous remailers which make such posting possible for those who wish to escape direct wrath) and vigorous automatic cancellation of Usenet posts they find objectionable.
• Canter & Siegel have been arguing that behavior that everyone else on the net finds antisocial is an expression of their civil liberties; on the other hand, they have been threatening prosecution for most of the people discussing the issue (such as Joel Furr---but then again, consistency has never been their strong suit.
• The Exon bill is a broad attempt to limit expression by holding information providers liable for content they did not originate; it is currently attached to the Omnibus Telecommunications Bill in the Senate and has received considerable public opposition---which says nothing about whether or not it will pass, be eliminated in committee, or whatever.
• Thomas & Thomas vs Tennessee US District Court has shown that entrapment across state lines can pay big, when a Tennessee law enforcement officer downloaded images from the couples' California server, then successfully prosecuted them for pornography in violation of "community standards" the most restrictive community available, Memphis. This case raises an incredible hornet's nest of jurisdictional and entrapment issues, not to mention the question of what the relevant "community" could be in the first place. The couple was extradited and jailed in Tennessee, and are currently appealing with the help of the EFF and others.
• Intelligent Transportation Systems also pose another interesting threat to civil liberties; the threat here is quite literally traffic analysis, where the traffic of interest is actual cars being driven. Most proposed commercial solutions for intelligent traffic management pay not attention to the sensitive nature of the information gathered and technical means to render individualized tracking completely unnecessary. While this particular example is not directly supported by the current Internet, techniques evolved for Internet communication (such as digital cash) are essential in implementing ITS systems that are not major threats to privacy.