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Daily Archives: July 6, 2014

“For Official Use Only” is Used Too Much at DHS, House Says – FAS

Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News: “There is too much information that is marked “For Official Use Only” at the Department of Homeland Security, the House Appropriations Committee said in its report on DHS Appropriations for 2015….Here is the Committee language from its June 19 DHS Appropriations report:

Over-Classification of Information – The Committee is concerned with the number of reports, briefings, and responses to requests for information that are designated by the Department as “For Official Use Only” (FOUO), often without a consistent and appropriate review as to why information requires such a classification. As a consequence, both the Committee and the Department have wasted substantial staff resources deliberating over what information can and could be publicly disclosed. The Committee directs that all reports, briefings, or responses to requests for information provided to the Committee that are classified as FOUO include the name(s) and title(s) of the personnel that made the designation and the specific reasons for the classification based on requirements detailed in DHS Management Directive 11042.1, which provides guidance for safeguarding sensitive but unclassified FOUO information.”

Flexible working extended to all employees in UK

Press Association: “Millions of employees will have the right to request flexible working from Monday under new measures the government believes will particularly benefit older people. The right has only been available for carers, or people who look after children, but is being extended to all employees. Ministers said flexible working helps people balance their job with… Continue Reading

Governments and Cloud Computing: Roles, Approaches, and Policy Considerations

Gasser, Urs and O’Brien, David, Governments and Cloud Computing: Roles, Approaches, and Policy Considerations (March 17, 2014). Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2014-6. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2410270 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2410270 “Governments from Bogota to Beijing are engaging with emerging cloud computing technologies and its industry in a variety of overlapping contexts. Based on a review of a… Continue Reading

The State of Data Centric Security

News release: ‘Informatica Corporation, the world’s number one independent provider of data integration software, today announced the availability  of a new research report by the Ponemon Institute LLC, entitled, The State of Data Centric Security. Based on a global survey of more than 1,500 IT and IT security professionals, the study reveals how organizations understand and respond to… Continue Reading

Whales as marine ecosystem engineers

Joe Roman, James A Estes, Lyne Morissette, Craig Smith, Daniel Costa, James McCarthy, JB Nation, Stephen Nicol, Andrew Pershing, and Victor Smetacek 2014. Whales as marine ecosystem engineers. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (e-View) http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/130220 “Baleen and sperm whales, known collectively as the great whales, include the largest animals in the history of life on Earth. With… Continue Reading

The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection

The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science 30 May 2014: 344 (6187), 1246752 [DOI:10.1126/science.1246752] “A principal function of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is to “perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity.” In December 2013, its second plenary session approved a program to begin a global assessment in… Continue Reading

The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz – Film now free online

The Internet Archive has posted for free viewing the movie – The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, “an investigative documentary from director Brian Knappenberger about the life of the internet pioneer and activist Aaron Swartz.” See also related postings on Aaron Swartz.   Continue Reading

Files provided by Snowden show extent to which ordinary Web users are caught in the net – WaPo

In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the foreigners who are, by Barton Gellman, Julie Tate and Ashkan Soltani “Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post. Nine of 10 account holders found… Continue Reading

New Forms of Discovery and Purchasing in Libraries: Demand Driven Acquisitions

Michael Levine-Clark – Professor/Associate Dean for Scholarly Communication and Collections Services, University of Denver Libraries, 2014 NISO/BISG Annual Forum, June 27, 2014, Las Vegas, NV.  Link to SlideShare presentation.  “Goals • Develop a flexible model for DDA that works for publishers, vendors, aggregators, and libraries. • Model should allow for DDA programs that – Meet local budget… Continue Reading