Cultivated Compendium

The United Nations has called on countries, including the United States, which use drone strikes for counterterrorism purposes to comply with international law, The Dawn, a newspaper in Pakistan, reports. The resolution was sponsored by Pakistan.

It is the first time the United Nations has spoken on the issuse of remote-controlled drones, The Dawn reprots.

The United Nations adopted a resolution, sponsored by Brazil and Germany in the wake of the revelation that the United States was eavesdropping on leaders in those countries, supporting the protection of Internet privacy, the BBC reports. The non-binding resolution affirms that '"the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online,'" the BBC further reports.

The hope of such non-binding international measures is that they will influence international norms.

Republican-red Indiana is seeking to ban same-sex marriage in its constitution; lawmakers must approve the proposed constitutional amendment a second time before sending it to voters, the Associated Press reports. But "polls have shown increasing numbers of Indiana voters oppose a constitutional ban even though most still oppose gay marriage," the AP reports. Moreover, at least two lawmakers who voted for the amendment in 2011 now say they won't vote for it again.

 Opponents cite the amendment for a proposed ban on civil unions and employee benefits for same-sex couples.

The Associated Press reports that Wisconsin has enacted a law to make it harder for public schools to be forced to drop American Indian mascots and nicknames. A 2010 law required " Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction to hold a hearing on a school's race-based nickname if it received even one complaint," according to the AP. Now complainants must submit a petition with signatures equal to 10 percent of the school district's student body in order to trigger a departmental review.

Republican Governor Scott Walker said in a statement that he supported moving away from offensive nicknames and mascots, but that he signed the law because "I am very concerned about the principle of free speech enshrined in our U.S. Constitution. If the state bans speech that is offensive to some, where does it stop?" 

Ho Chunk Nation heritage preservation executive director Robert Mann, however, asked in an interview with the AP: "It'd be freedom of speech for who? I guess that's what you'd want to ask."

In a ruling today, the New Mexico Supreme Court has made that state the 17th in the state to allow same-sax marriage.  “'All rights, protections, and responsibilities that result from the marital relationship shall apply equally to both same-gender and opposite-gender married couples,"' the court said, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

The Washington Post reports on the recommendations of the panel, appointed by President Obama, to curb surveillance by the National Security Agency. Instead of the NSA collecting virtually all of Americans' phone records, the panel "urged that phone companies or a private third party maintain the data instead, with access granted only by a court order," The Post reports. The panel also suggested a ban on warrantless NSA searches for Americans’ phone calls and e-mails legally collected in a program at foreigners overseas, The Post further reports. The Obama administration says it will reveal proposed changes to surveillance, including taking into account the panel recommendations, next month.

Judge Timothy Black, a federal district judge in Ohio, questioned the authority of state officials to refuse to recognize same-sex unions entered in other states, the Associated Press reports. Black heard arguments this week on a narrower question than other same-sex marriage lawsuits: not on whether Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage ban can stand, but on whether same-sex marriages from other states must be recognized on Ohio death certificates.

A Texas judge blocked the city of Houston from providing benefits to the same-sex spouses of Houston city employees---but it's pending another court hearing next month, LGBTQ Nation reports. The lawsuit was filed by Harris County Republican chair Jared Woodfill. Houston Mayor Annise Parker decided to extend benefits to the same-sex spouses of city employees. The plaintiffs claims that Parker violated the Houston city-charter ban on domestic partner benefits, the state Defense of Marriage Act and the Texas Constitution, LGBTQ Nation further reports.

Science 2.0 has a blog about a study done at the University of Utah on attitudes toward sharing personal health information. The researchers found that when study subjects were educated about "the intricacies involved in collecting and using this information in population-based research—particularly the safeguards and confidentiality measures in place to maintain anonymity—that they support it," Science 2.0 reports. This finding comes despite the lack of privacy some feel because of "the Obama administration ... using surveillance cameras, tracking website visits and monitoring citizens using GPS," the blog says.

Reuters reports on the concerns raised as the U.S. Senate consider legislation to curb patent trolls. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said he is "wary of unintended consequences," while bill sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy said the legislation balances the rights of patent holders against patent trolls who buy up patents just to pursue litigation. Among other measures, the legislation would require losers in patent litigation to pay the winner's fees if a judge decides the litigation never should have been brought.