Kevin Bollaert, who was charged after allegedly posting pornographic photos of women and girls submitted by ex-boyfriends as revenge, then asking complaining women and girls for money in order to remove the photos, will go to trial on 31 felony counts. After Bollaert’s five-day preliminary hearing, the judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with the trial. Bollaert is reported to have posted over 10,000 revenge porn images on his websites, including YouGotPosted.com. Bollaert also created a second site called changemyreputation.com for revenge-porn victims. Bollaert is charged with conspiracy, identity theft and extortion. There had also been allegations of child pornography,
Privacy
Revenge Porn Case Will Go to Trial, Bollaert Faces Max. 22 Years
Nation’s Largest Sex Offender Registry Finds Sex Offender Registry Does Not Work
California, which has the largest sex offender registry in the United States, has received the news from the California Sex Offender Management Board that their registry is not working. The board reported that the fast-growing registry included too many unnecessary people and that it did not help law enforcement or the public differentiate potentially risky offenders from those who would likely not reoffend. The board reported that about 95 percent of solved sex crimes are committed by people who are not on the registry, and said that the registry was created, in part, on assumptions that have since been proved
Arizona Senate Bill 1062 “Discrimination Bill” – What Is It?
Arizona Senator Steve Yarbrough sponsored the bill that has now passed the Arizona state Senate as SB1062 in response to several trials in which people who had denied particular services requested for gay weddings had been sued under Arizona’s human rights laws, essentially forcing people in any business (other than private clubs and churches) to serve gay weddings even if their religious beliefs are contrary. One such case was Elane Photography v. Willock (2013) (case and trial summary), in which a Christian photographer was sued for discrimination because she declined to photograph a gay wedding due to her religious convictions. The
Elane Photography Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Constitutional Case
After Elane Photography, LLC, was ruled against unanimously by the New Mexico Supreme Court in August, 2013, Elane petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue of whether a religious person who works as a photographer must be forced to photograph a gay marriage, in accordance with the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA), if that person is asked by a homosexual to so do (case and trial summary). The question asked of the Supreme Court in the petition, written by the Alliance Defending Freedom (headed by Jordan Lorence) is this: “Whether applying a state public-accommodations statute to
New Mexico Forces Christian Photographers to Serve Gay Weddings – Elane Photography v. Willock (2013)
In the 2013 trial, Elane Photography, LLC, v. Vanessa Willock, Willock sued Elane Photography for refusing to photograph Willock’s “commitment ceremony” i.e. wedding. The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously found that Elane–despite religious convictions against gay marriage and despite her willingness to serve gays in services Elane already provided–violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA) that provides for protected groups to be specially shielded from discrimination. The court found that Elane had discriminated based on sexual orientation and was not protected by Constitutional guarantees of free speech or the free exercise of religion. Elane was forced to pay damages
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Reconsiders U.S.-Wide Licence Plate Data Collection Program
Criticism by privacy advocates has caused the U.S. Homeland Security Department (DHS) to review its proposal for private companies to provide the government with a U.S.-wide database of licence plate tracking information. The concerns raised by privacy advocates include the gratuitous nature of the privacy intrusion, the lack of regulations and safeguards regarding the data collection, and the lack of measures that would provide for audits of the system. The data collection proposal by the DHS was made public Feb. 12 on the government website, Federal Business Opportunities. The website, also known as Fed Biz Ops, is a public
Constitutional Interpretations Can Be Found to or Found Not to Give Rights to Homosexuals – Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
In the 80s and 90s, laws against homosexual activity were first upheld as not in violation of Constitutional rights and later reversed as being in violation–Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Lawrence v. Texas (2003). In Bowers v. Hardwick, two Georgia men were arrested for sodomy when a police officer tasked with serving a warrant for public drinking found the men engaged in sex at Hardwick’s home. After the local district attorney decided not to proceed with the case, Hardwick brought suit against the Attorney General of Georgia, Michael Bowers, seeking a declaration that the state’s laws against homosexual sex were invalid. The ACLU
Privacy Penumbras Found in U.S. Constitution Protect Contraception and Abortion Decisions – Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe v. Wade (1973)
The employment of the U.S. Constitution to protect rights not explicit in its writing took shape in the 60s around birth control and abortion laws in Connecticut, Texas and elsewhere. Two such cases were Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe v. Wade (1973). In Griswold v. Connecticut, an 1879 statute against contraceptives–which had almost never been enforced and had evaded judicial review until this trial–was put in question when a pair contraceptives activists opened a clinic. The statutes read: “Any person who uses any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception shall be fined not less than fifty dollars or
