Patents have a place in medical science - for new inventions that advance the state of knowledge.
We should craft our laws to allow images of criminal suspects to be captured in public - but also to make sure that the government does not unduly infringe on the privacy rights of innocent citizens.
The first thing to understand about surveillance video in public places is that there is already a lot of it going on - though it is impossible to know how much.
It makes sense to have cameras in places where terrorism and crime are of particular concern - such as in Times Square or near major bridges and tunnels. It would be more troubling to learn, however, that the government has focused cameras on the front doors of our homes just to keep track of our comings and goings.
When the government takes video of people in public places, the images should only be kept as long as they may reasonably be needed to investigate a crime. After a few days, if there has not been a report of a crime, they should be destroyed.
State assaults on the separation of church and state are nothing new.
With increased awareness should come greater caution about how confessions are used at trial - and a greater willingness to overturn convictions when it becomes clear that a confession was untrue.
A publicly run health care program could compete with private insurance companies, which have a record of overcharging and underperforming.
The whole New Deal was in a sense just a series of public options, some more optional than others, that offered government as an alternative to the often-flawed private market.
Social Security, all public and no option, rescued older Americans from living their final years in poverty.
Age discrimination is illegal. But when compared with discrimination against racial minorities and women, it is a second-class civil rights issue.
Set in the advertising world of the 1960s, 'Mad Men' is stunning to look at - a Camelot-era parade of smartly dressed professionals lounging around on midcentury modern furniture.
To a generation beaten down by skyrocketing unemployment, plunging retirement savings, and mounting home foreclosures, 'Mad Men' offers the schadenfreude-filled message that their predecessors were equally unhappy - and that the bleakness meter in American life has always been set on high.
Escapism makes a lot of intuitive sense - whisk people away from their cares with stories of a better life.
As much as possible, location-specific information should not be collected in the first place, or not in personally identifiable form.
When locational information is collected, people should be given advance notice and a chance to opt out. Data should be erased as soon as its main purpose is met.
After you pay your E-ZPass bill, there is no reason for the government to keep records of your travel.
Corporations have enormous treasuries, and there are a lot of things they want from government, many of which clash with the public interest.
There is something not entirely satisfying about an online memorial.
Conservatives like to insist that their judges are strict constructionists, giving the Constitution and statutes their precise meaning and no more, while judges like Ms. Sotomayor are activists. But there is no magic right way to interpret terms like 'free speech' or 'due process' - or potato chip.
