Privacy

The Clinton White House has once again plunged into a crisis of confidence and competence that recalls the worst days of disarray of its rookie year in 1993. Beset by internal turmoil, virulent political opposition and dangerous legal exposure, this perilous presidency appears yet again in danger of derailment.

It's a nightmare scenario: Foreign terrorists plan to blow up a passenger terminal at a major U.S. airport. Our spies know that much. But no one knows where or when the attack will occur because the criminals communicate using a super code--an encryption method exported from the United States, no less.

A Superior Court judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by a former convict challenging a state Department of Corrections policy of identifying calls from inmates as coming from a prison. Colleen Abbas, who filed the class-action lawsuit in August, was dropped because she took no further action after the suit was filed, according to court records. Abbas, who was acting as her own lawyer, has since moved from Garden Grove to another state and could not be reached for comment.

To the great privacy wars of the information age, California is about to add a deceptively simple, hotly controversial piece of telephone technology known as Caller ID. Its function could hardly be more straightforward: Phone lines equipped with Caller ID make it possible to see the originating phone number of an incoming call. It's not exactly an untested technology.

Juveniles are pushing drugs, burglarizing residences, robbing, assaulting, maiming, killing, covering properties with painted filth, destroying our every effort to maintain a civilized society. --Assemblyman George House (R-Hughson) on need for his bill to disclose names of juvenile offenders * In theory at least, kids deserve a second chance. In practice, fewer and fewer children may be getting one.

Juveniles are pushing drugs, burglarizing residences, robbing, assaulting, maiming, killing, covering properties with painted filth, destroying our every effort to maintain a civilized society. --Assemblyman George House (R-Hughson) on need for his bill to disclose names of juvenile offenders * In theory at least, kids deserve a second chance. In practice, fewer and fewer children may be getting one.

Shakespeare wrote, in Othello: "Who steals my purse steals trash. . . . But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed." In cyberspace, it's getting harder to hang onto one's good name. Phil Agre, a professor of communications at UC San Diego, manages an Internet listserv, or subscription e-mail service, called Red Rock Eaters.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday rebuffed a request by the Justice Department to allow U.S. banks to collect data about borrowers as part of an effort to discourage racial discrimination in lending. The unanimous decision put the central bank's board in the unusual position of being at the center of a national debate about how best to discourage discrimination.

A new state law aimed at making it more difficult for unauthorized drivers to use disabled parking permits raises serious questions about privacy issues and medical records, civil rights advocates say. The law, set to go into effect Jan. 1, sets stricter conditions for issuing permits, including a requirement that a doctor certify "a full description of the illness or disability" in writing.