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By Richard Wolf, USA Today Originally posted, 4.29.13 WASHINGTON — States may have little reason to restrict public records access to their own residents, but the practice is not unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous decision, allowing Virginia to favor its residents under its Freedom of Information Act, goes against media organizations and professional data miners that had sided with the law’s out-of-state challengers. During oral arguments in February, several justices had questioned whether the state’s law served any purpose, since non-residents can hire residents to get information. In his ruling, Justice Samuel Alito noted much of the data [...]

By Caleb Melby, Forbes Staff Originally posted 4.29.13 Earlier this month, I wrote about the vicious court battle taking place in Dallas between billionaire corporate raider T. Boone Pickens and his son Michael, who, through his blog, alleges that his oil billionaire father emotionally abused him, which he claims led him to become a drug user. Boone alleges that Michael is a cyberbully and has sued him for defamation, libel, invasion of privacy, harmful access by computer, and extortion. For more background on the case, you can read my earlier report here. There is much evidence in Boone’s favor, including interviews [...]