Saturday,  March 22, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 249 • 34 of 38

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• The decision by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman was historic, following a two-week trial that explored attitudes and research about homosexual marriage and households led by same-sex couples. The judge rejected the conclusions of experts hired by the state to defend the rationale behind a constitutional amendment that recognizes marriage only as between a man and a woman.
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Police stay mum about their use of tech tool aimed at intercepting phone call and texts

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police across the country may be intercepting phone calls or text messages to find suspects using a technology tool known as Stingray. But they're refusing to turn over details about its use or heavily censoring files when they do.
• Police say Stingray, a suitcase-size device that pretends it's a cell tower, is useful for catching criminals, but that's about all they'll say.
• For example, they won't disclose details about contracts with the device's manufacturer, Harris Corp., insisting they are protecting both police tactics and commercial secrets. The secrecy -- at times imposed by nondisclosure agreements signed by police -- is pitting obligations under private contracts against government transparency laws.
• Even in states with strong open records laws, including Florida and Arizona, little is known about police use of Stingray and any rules governing it.
• A Stingray device tricks all cellphones in an area into electronically identifying themselves and transmitting data to police rather than the nearest phone company's tower. Because documents about Stingrays are regularly censored, it's not immediately clear what information the devices could capture, such as the contents of phone conversations and text messages, what they routinely do capture based on how they're configured or how often they might be used.
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UN document promotes equality for women and reaffirms their sexual and reproductive rights

• UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- After two weeks of heated debate, liberal and conservative countries early Saturday approved a U.N. document to promote equality for women that reaffirms the sexual and reproductive rights of all women and endorses sex education for adolescents.

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