David Kravets writes on Threat Level:

The Obama administration refused to budge late Friday and agree to reveal state secrets in a lawsuit weighing whether a sitting president may lawfully bypass Congress and spy on Americans without warrants as President George W. Bush did following the 2001 terror attacks.

In court briefs filed at nearly midnight White House time, the Justice Department was responding to a federal judge’s week-old inquiry on whether the administration should be sanctioned for “failing to obey the court’s orders” in a key National Security Administration lawsuit. The government, as it has repeatedly, urged U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to allow the government to appeal his January 5 order requiring the government to develop a plan – a so-called “protective order” – that would pave the way to the release of state secrets to plaintiffs’ attorneys.

“The United States again respectfully urges the court to consider that the best way out of the present dispute, in which the position of all sides is preserved, would be to permit appellate review over the fundamental and significant separation of powers questions presented before any disclosure or risk of disclosure in further proceedings,” Anthony Coppolino, special litigation counsel for the justice department, wrote (.pdf) Walker.

Coppolino said sanctions were unwarranted because only the government can decide whether to disclose documents it believes are state secrets.

More here.

Most news released on "late Friday" seems to always designed to be "lost" in the weekend news slack -- hoping that fewer people will actually notice.

It will be interesting to see how this whole mess sorts out.

- ferg

Labels: Events

Here's the official press release about the 2009 EFF-Austin party at SXSW Interactive, produced by Plutopia. See http://plutopia.org for more information... and come to the party! SXSW badgeholders get in free; if you're not attending SXSW Interactive, click here to buy tickets.

Revised 3/4/2009.

March 1, 2009 (Austin, TX) – As SXSWi has grown in popularity, attendance has swelled and corporate-sponsored parties have popped up like mushrooms in cow shit. The typical party affords participants the opportunity to stand in very long lines for warm beer, chips and salsa and an opportunity to schmooze with fellow attendees. Plutopia offers a refreshing alternative to this formula with an evening of cutting-edge technology, art, music, and performance on Monday, March 16, 2009 from 6 p.m. to midnight at Palmer Events Center in Austin.

Founded by Derek Woodgate of The Futures Lab and Jon Lebkowsky of Social Web Strategies and, formerly, FringeWare, “Plutopia is a futurist think tank that produces events,” says event producer Maggie Duval. "The word ‘plutopia’ came out last year as we were thinking about pluralist utopias - bright green alternatives to apocalyptic and dystopian visions. We didn’t want just one idea; we realized there are an infinite number of possible futures and outcomes, and they might all be realized, depending who and where you are. This event is designed to explore those potential scenarios on a local to global scale.” And for those who are just looking for a great party, she adds, "this all comes with lots of truly glorious music and many opportunities for social engagement."

The theme of this year’s event is Living Systems. Participating artists were invited to explore what constitutes a living system, resulting in a convergence of local, national and international creative pioneers from the fields of futurism, technology, sustainability, media and art.

“Our events are about putting things together in new and different ways that, combinations and associations you wouldn't normally f ind,” said Duval. “There will be tons of things to play with and interact with.”

Musical headliner will be Ian MacLagan and the Bump Band. Ian MacLagan is a living system unto himself. “Mac’s 40-year-career is a node on huge spiderweb network where if you tug on any thread, or musician in the network, it goes back to Mac,” said Duval. “He has played with everybody.” The event will also feature 15 other bands, including Hipnautica, Black Pig Liberation Front, Exstus, Tolera Storm, DJ John Gomi and Beatimprint.

Representing the sustainability community will be Urban Roots, an Austin group that teaches urban youth how to grow their own food and learn entrepreneurial skills, Austin Green Art, which will have a mobile farm, and Edible Austin, which will have farmers on hand to answer questions.

Plutopia will be showcasing a diverse group of performers and speakers. The Heather Gold Show will be returning to Plutopia for the second time with Something From Nothing,exploring "how we discover the value hidden within ourselves and around us and turn 'nothing' into something." Futurist author Bruce Sterling will talk about his new project, The User’s Guide to Imaginary Gadgets. Transhumanist philosopher Natasha Vita-More will be doing a presentation on The Media Arts of Human Enhancement.

Scattered throughout Palmer Event Center’s main exhibition hall and atrium will be 70 art installations and exhibitions with artists from Austin, San Francisco, New York, Britain and Thailand. Notable artists include Stanza, Max More, Allucquere Rosanne Stone and Christian Kerrigan.

Plutopia is free to SXSW badge holders, and is open to the general public. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at plutopia.eventbrite.com. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will benefit EFF-Austin and Urban Roots.

Plutopia’s 2009 Sponsors include The Futures Lab, SXSW, Laughing Squid, FG Squared, Door64, Social Web Strategies and Texas Rollergirls.

For more information, see www.plutopia .org. For media inquiries and artist interviews, please contact Jon Lebkowsky, jonl at plutopia.org.

Cloud computing promises significant computing power with high efficiency at low cost, but there are potential hazards in moving to the cloud. You're depending on remote third parties for potentially mission-critical operations, data storage, and data security, and you're facing a diminished expectation of privacy. No business should take "moving to the cloud" lightly.

Join local Austin experts in a discussion of potential cloud computing risks and issues. Admission is free.

Presented by EFF-Austin, http://effaustin.org
When: 7pm, March 3, 2009
Where: Ventana del Soul Cafe and Cultural Center, Texas Espresso Ballroom, 1834 E. Oltorf St., Austin. http://www.ventanadelsoul.org/map-and-directions/
Speakers:
W. Scott McCollough, Telecommunications and ISP Law Specialist, McCollough|Henry, PC
Chris Boyd, Midas Networks
whurley, BMC Software, Inc.
Andrew Donoho, Strategist
Don Jarrell, Digital Thinking, Inc.

Moderator: Jon Lebkowsky, EFF-Austin, Social Web Strategies

If you're not familiar with the subject, here's more:

Cloud computing is a kind of computing that through which functional real-time resources and tools are provided over the Internet. Users of these services don't have to manage the technology infrastructure that supports them - it's server based, generally provided through a web browser acting as a "thin client." Google Apps and Google Docs are well-known examples. Google offers word processing, spreadsheets, presentation development, and email over the web. The software runs on Google's servers, and the data is stored there. Users only need Internet connectivity and a browser to access Google's applications.

Another example is Amazon, which found real efficiency in cloud architectures, and started providing access to their systems via web services in 2002.

The "cloud" is the Internet - that's how it's shown in network diagrams. This suggests that the complex infrastructure is not visible to users, it's "in a cloud." Some believe that many business IT services will move to the cloud because per-use services offer greater efficiency.