The referendum was first certified [JURIST report] by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador [official website, in Spanish] in February. In October, the Ecuadorian government announced it would revise a controversial austerity law following unrest [JURIST report] and a suspected coup attempt in September. Police officers fired tear gas at Correa, surrounded the hospital at which he was being treated and trapped him there for 12 hours while protesting the public service law, which they feared would reduce their pay and benefits. In September 2008, Ecuadorian voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution [JURIST report] that consolidated and significantly expanded the powers held by Correa, including the power to dissolve the legislature and pass laws by decree.

[K]ids growing up in this online environment ... need protection from the dangers that can lurk in cyberspace. Unfortunately, 'Where the Wild Things Are' can apply to the 21st century Internet and the beloved children's book. That's why to ensure that kids are protected, I am releasing this discussion draft of the 'Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011' so that kids do not have their online behavior tracked or their personal information collected or used without permission

In March, the Obama administration backed Internet privacy legislation [JURIST report] at a Senate hearing. The hearing followed reports released in December 2010 by the US Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [reports, PDF] petitioning for stronger online privacy protections. In November 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] confirmed that it is investigating [JURIST report] Internet search company Google [corporate website; JURIST news archive] to determine if it violated communications laws when its Street View vehicles inadvertently collected private user data, including passwords and URLs, over WiFi networks.