Multiple countries have launched investigations into Google's privacy breach over inadvertent data collection from Street View vehicles, including Canada, Australia and the US [JURIST reports] and the UK conducted investigations to determine if the breach and Google's practices violated privacy laws]. Earlier this month, Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart announced that Google was in violation [JURIST report] of the country's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act [text, PDF] (PIPEDA). In July, the Australian Privacy Commissioner announced [JURIST report] that its investigation revealed Google's actions violated the Australia Privacy Act [government backgrounder]. In response to these findings, Google issued an apology on its official Australian blog [text], and agreed to conduct a privacy impact assessment on any new Street View data collection activities in Australia and regularly consult with the privacy commissioner about personal data collection activities arising from significant product launches. Spain announced in August that it was launching an investigation [JURIST report] into potential privacy law violations. Also in August, the South Korean National Police Agency (SKNPA) [official website, in Korean] raided the Google South Korean headquarters [JURIST report] in connection with accusations that the company had been illegally acquiring user data.

The Secretary's failure to include and inform the public in NEPA's decisionmaking process violates NEPA's requirement that agencies make the relevant information available to the public so that it may also play a role in both the decision-making process and the implementation of the proposed activity. In the aftermath of the worst environmental disaster in American history it is arbitrary and capricious and in violation of NEPA for the Secretary to withhold from public notice, comment, and review the Environmental Assessment prior to making his decision.

In lifting the drilling ban, Salazar said that new drilling regulations enacted earlier this month [JURIST report] and industry safety strategies developed in the wake of the spill have reduced the likelihood of future incidents such that the ban is no longer needed. Salazar said that, while he is satisfied with recent progress, efforts to tighten safety regulations on deepwater drilling operations would continue. Last month, a federal judge denied [JURIST report] the government's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by several drilling companies challenging the latest offshore drilling moratorium. The ruling held that there were "no substantial changes" between the July 12 directive and its predecessor, issued on May 28, that the new moratorium did nothing to amend or prevent the wrongs found in the first and that the wrongful behavior alleged in the original order could reasonably be expected to occur as a result of the more recent iteration. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana [official website] rejected a request to reinstate [JURIST report] the May 28 ban in July, weeks after the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] similarly declined [JURIST report].

In August, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] called for Iraq's political leaders to work together [JURIST report] "with a higher sense of urgency" to form a new government, warning that further delays could create more instability. Ban expressed the concern that the delay could lead to a "growing sense of uncertainty in the country" and prevent the parliament from addressing pressing domestic issues, including Arab-Kurdish disputed areas revenue-sharing, the adoption of legislation related to hydrocarbons, relations among the federal and regional governments, the constitutional review process and the strengthening of institutions of governance and the rule of law. In June, the Supreme Court ratified the final results [JURIST report] of the elections, officially confirming the narrow victory for the secular Iraqiya alliance. Allawi hopes Iraqiya's victory will be a turning point for bipartisan participation among the religious sects, but his goal of unification may be thwarted, as Maliki's bloc has already announced an alliance with the Shia Iraqi National Alliance, which polled third, to form the largest grouping in parliament.