From FindLaw: "Memorandum of Understanding (September 20, 2004). Thirty-Two Page Agreement Between Bush And Kerry Campaigns Covering Every Aspect Of The Three Presidential Debates And One Vice-Presidential Debate" [HTML]

From Thomas R. Bruce, Director, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School:

Press release: Vivísimo Launches Clusty.com - Unique New Search Site Brings the Power of Clustering to Web Search, Shopping, People Finding, Wikipedia and More [Link]

Children's Private Records Posted Online In Florida

From the September 30 New York Times: Panel Considers Copyright Bill

Global Concerns: An In-Depth Examination of Travel Web Sites Selling International Airline Tickets

In his September 27 posting on the Yahoo! Search Blog, Scott Gatz from the My Yahoo! Team details the new RSS features incorporated in the redesigned My Yahoo! beta release.

In a 120 page decision today, Doe and ACLU v. Ashcroft et al., No. 04-CIV-2614, Judge Victor Marreo, Southern District of New York, "struck down an entire Patriot Act provision that gives the government unchecked authority to issue "National Security Letters" to obtain sensitive customer records from Internet Service Providers and other businesses without judicial oversight. The court also found a broad gag provision in the law to be an "unconstitutional prior restraint" on free speech." [Link]

A Starting Point: Legal Implications of Internet Filtering (PDF 16 pages)

The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004, Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. See also H. Rept. 108-700.

From Orin Kerr, news of the publication of a draft of his new essay, Digital Evidence and the New Criminal Procedure.

Social Security Numbers: Use Is Widespread and Protections Vary in Private and Public Sectors GAO-04-1099T, September 28, 2004, Highlights-PDF

Thanks to Paige, who alerted me to this article with details about Microsoft's FlexWiki, a free, "experimental collaboration tool, based on WikiWiki.

Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade Commission on Identity Theft and Social Security Numbers, Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, September 28, 2004.

From WebProNews, via Search Engine Guide, this update that RocketInfo, a terrific news portal, has added a feature allowing users to create RSS feeds for specific searches.

From Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), "a data gathering, data research and data distribution organization associated with Syracuse University, this new bulletin:

The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act (PDF, 335 pages), introduced by House Speaker Hastert on September 24, 2004.

Department of Homeland Security: Formidable Information and Technology Management Challenge Requires Institutional Approach, GAO-04-702, August 27, 2004. Highlights (PDF).

This article today from Government Computer News, lists, along with some descriptive information, five data mining applications currently used by federal government agencies. The article also includes an interesting narrative of how homeland security is using data mining for threat assessment analysis.

September 26, 2004, Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail: Insights into the expanding profile of bloggers whose views are changing the reading habits of many readers by allowing them highly interconnected online channels through which they can satisfy their interest in political campaign facts, rumors, and commentary.

September 21, 2004 survey from the National Annenberg Election Survey 2004:

The State of Information Security, 2004, A Worldwide Study Conducted by CIO Magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers (Executive Summary).

FTC press release, FTC Continues Education, Enforcement Efforts to Promote Information Security, and Commissioner Swindle's prepared statement (PDF, 17 pages) before the House Committee on Government Reform hearing, Identity Theft: The Cause, Costs, Consequences, and Potential Solutions?, September 22, 2004.

Information Management: Planning for the Electronic Records Archives Has Improved GAO-04-927, September 23, 2004. Highlights (both PDF):

Balancing Act: How News Portals Serve Up Political Stories

From the University of Houston Libraries, this selective, annotated guide includes links to sites sponsored by state and federal government, academic, association, news sources, campaigns and polling organizations. [thanks D.C]

As posted on the online military personnel records request system from the National Archives:

House Votes to Bar IRS From Outsourcing Tax Collection [thanks D.C]

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing today, "A Review of Counter-Terrorism Legislation and Proposals, including the USA PATRIOT Act and the SAFE Act."

White Papers by Marcus P. Zillman, "is a comprehensive listing of online research tools that offer various downloadable as well as web applications..."

From the EFF: Electronic Voting Machine Quick Reference Guides:

From today's Federal Register, Changes To Support Implementation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 21st Century Strategic Plan; Final Rule [Link]

Press release from the Davies Project at Princeton University, Research into the History of University Libraries in the United States and the History of their Collections

Hearing today held by the Senate Commerce Committee on S. 1963, the Wireless 411 Privacy Act.

From their press release today: "The new products include the MyJeeves personal search system, robust local search, and the next generation of its proprietary Teoma search technology...Through a partnership with Citysearch announced in August, Ask Jeeves users now have access to comprehensive local business listings and data, including over 2 million editorial and user reviews and ratings."

The New York Post indicates maybe so, as detailed in this article.

From the press release today:

9/11 Panel Members Form Group to Press Recommendations

Barbarians at the Digital Gate

Ready or Not (and Maybe Not), Electronic Voting Goes National

Reps. Thornberry and Lofgren introduce the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2004 [Link]

From the egov.com press release: "FirstGov.gov, Uncle Sam's most successful federal Web site, provided a sneak preview of an online toolkit that will enable all federal agencies to replicate the success of this award- winning site... The kit will guide federal Web managers as they design U.S. government Web sites to be the most citizen-focused and visitor-friendly in the world."

Job Tracker - Working America: "To find out which jobs in your community have been exported or lost due to trade: Enter your ZIP code or Enter the industry and ZIP code or Select a company."

From the press release: "The NLM Catalog provides access to NLM bibliographic data for over 1.2 million journals, books, audiovisuals, computer software, electronic resources, and other materials via the NCBI Entrez retrieval system." [thanks d.c.]

Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public's Right to Know, 5th edition, Prepared by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP).

"Federal agencies that collect personal and other information on American citizens would be required to report on those activities to Congress as part of a proposal coauthored by Senators Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that has passed the U.S. Senate." [Link]

"The FTC today issued a assessing whether and how a system that rewards members of the public for tracking down spammers would or could help improve enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act. That Act, which became effective on January 1, 2004, required the FTC to conduct a study and provide a report to Congress on a CAN-SPAM bounty system." [Link]

Google Search Reveals Credit-Card Numbers:

Council of Europe Cybercrime Conference:

Lawmakers question policy on transportation security information

Intelligence Reform: Human Capital Considerations Critical to 9/11 Commission's Proposed Reforms GAO-04-1084T, September 14, 2004. Highlights-PDF.

Non-profit advocacy group OMB Watch today issued a report documenting the administration's record on regulatory issues that include health, safety and the environment. [thanks to DC]

News about this order, Schade v. State Board of Elections, from Federal Computer Week and the Washington Post, with my previous postings, Effort in Maryland to Prevent E-Voting Fails and Maryland Case Challenging Lack of E-Voting Paper Trail To Be Heard this Week

Amazon's search engine, A9, released as a beta in October 2003, received its offical launch last night. See this FAQ for more information about features.

Internet Points of Control, by Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law School, Public Law Working Paper No. 54 , Boston College Law Review, Forthcoming [Link to abstract]

"Geodata.gov is part of the Geospatial One-Stop E-Gov initiative providing access to geospatial data and information." Use this link to learn about the site's features.

A new report prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman "analyzes how the Administration has implemented each of our nation's major open government laws (the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Presidential Records Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee Act)."

From the EFF press release:

See Google Local, "Find local businesses and services on the web," and Yahoo! Local - "Find businesses and services near you."

CAPPS II has been revamped and now has the moniker, Secure Flight.

Global E-Government, 2004, by Darrell M. West, Center for Public Policy, Brown University.

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security hearing today, "A Review of the Tools to Fight Terrorism Act."

This EFF press release and related testimony document and provide support for the proposed creation of free, online open-source access to the entire archive of the BBC's radio and television programming.

U.S. Government Manual: Main Page, 2004-2005 Edition

The Center for Digital Government announced the Top Five State Government Web Sites for 2004. Factors that comprise the evaluation process include the scope and value of online services offered to the community, and the functionality and flexibility of the respective portal features.

From today's Washington Post: Hill Wary of Intelligence Oversight Changes - Lawmakers From Both Parties Resist Recommendations of 9/11 Commission

"The British Library is putting online 93 high-resolution digitised copies of 21 of Shakespeare's plays." [Link]

"The Library of Congress, in partnership with the Internet Archive, WebArchivist.org and the Pew Internet & American Life Project, has created a collection of digital materials known as the September 11 Web Archive. The September 11 Web Archive preserves the web expressions of individuals, groups, the press and institutions in the United States and from around the world in the aftermath of the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001."

"The September Project is a collection of people, groups, and organizations working to create a day of engagement, a day of conversation, a day of democracy."

From the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Fact Sheet No. 24e: Is Your Financial Information Safe? September 2004:

2003-2004 Congressional Directory (August 2004 Online Revision).

"Plenty of music available online is not just free but also easily available, legal and — most important — worth hearing." [Link]

From the Center for Democracy and Technology: "A Pennsylvania federal court today struck down a state Internet censorship law as a violation of the First Amendment. CDT had challenged the law because it had resulted in the blocking of more than a million innocent web sites."

The System of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Law:

Research Libraries' Costs of Doing Business (and Strategies for Avoiding Them)

Mayor Daley Announces Plans For Unified Camera Network: "Mayor Richard M. Daley and City department heads today announced plans to expand the City's camera network and surveillance capacity with 250 additional specialized cameras....By saturating critical infrastructure and high-risk areas with surveillance technology, the City can deter criminal activity and immediately identify and respond to emergencies."

In a 19 page report released to Congress this week, the 9/11 Commission staff, whose work concluded on August 21, made recommendations to increase transportation security beyond the air passenger "no fly list" by creating a "no-transport" list to address other forms of travel, including trains, buses and cruise ships. See this LA Times article (reg. req'd) for more details.

From the New York Review of Books, this article by Elizabeth Drew, Pinning the Blame:

Federal Courts Propose Rules for E-Discovery. Related document: Summary of Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules (PDF) - Aug. 2004.

From Reuters, news that two bills have been ordered reported by the House Judiciary Committee:

Tara Calishain writes: "On Thursday, September 9, ResearchBuzz celebrates its 300th issue. Since October 1998 ResearchBuzz has been providing weekly pointers and commentary to online research resources." Readers may choose from several features available to read her terrific content, including through categories or by date. Also not to be missed, Tara's new book, Web Search Garage.

"The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is pleased to announce a new browse feature on the GPO Access Congressional Documents Web pages. In our continuing effort to increase the accessibility of the resources available on GPO Access, users can now browse the catalog of House, Senate and Treaty documents, by Congress, beginning with the 104th Congress (1995-1996). The Browse Documents page is available here."

Notice: Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information, September 3, 2004:

Press release today from Sen. Joe Lieberman: "In an effort to fortify the nation’s homeland and national security, a bipartisan group of Senators Tuesday introduced legislation to implement recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission in July. The 280-page omnibus legislation covers subjects ranging from intelligence reform, border and transportation security, information sharing and outreach to the Muslim world."

From the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., "the following chart provides information on the number and type of Open Source (OS) software policies and legislation considered by national, regional or local governments around the world. It looks at whether the policy or legislation mandated the use of OS, expressed a preference for OS software, encouraged its use or commissioned research into OS software."

Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright - A Template for the Promotion of Awareness Among CENDI Agency Staff, CENDI/2004-8, Updated August 06, 2004 (CENDI is an interagency working group of senior Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Managers from 12 U.S. federal agencies)

From the press release issued today by Sen. Frank Lautenberg: "In a report requested by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), the Government Accountability Office issued a ruling today (PDF, 13 pages) finding that former CMS Administrator Tom Scully illegally ordered his staff to withhold information from Congress. The Department of Health and Human Services has been ordered by the GAO to recover Scully's salary."

Government wants ID arguments secret. Related posting on the case is here.

According to Federal Computer Week, a PR firm has received a contract to revamp 10 e-gov websites, beginning with the underutilized sites Recreation One-Stop, e-Authentication and International Trade Process Streamlining. Related references as follows:

In Internet Calling, Skype Is Living Up to the Hype

"Google and Overture can be sued for selling trademark-linked advertisements, a US judge has ruled." [Link]

"September is National Preparedness Month. Throughout the month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, American Red Cross, the America Prepared Campaign, the National Association of Broadcasters, the U.S. Department of
Education and other partners, will host a series of events to highlight the importance of citizen emergency preparedness." [Link]

"This repository contains metadata for works by and about OCLC Research and, whenever possible, links to full text. The repository is under construction; it contains current publications back to 2001, all "born digital" publications, and at least 40% of OCLC Research's corpus of work. A complete bibliography is available at http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2000-2009.htm. In addition to online searching, records may be harvested as an OAI file. An RSS feed is also available."

From today's WSJ, via Yahoo ($), this article, The Doctor Is Online: Secure Messaging Boosts the Use of Web Consultations, merits review. It addresses the issues of privacy, consultation fees and insurance coverage associated with secure messaging systems options now available for doctor-patient communications.

"EPIC, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, has submitted an amicus brief in Kehoe v. Fidelity Bank, a case under the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act where a bank purchased over 500,000 motor vehicle records from Florida for junk mail solicitations. The brief argues that individuals are entitled to damages under the law when businesses or data brokers intentionally access motor vehicle information." [Link]

From the Internet search gurus at Surfwax, take a look at their latest offering, Nextaris.

Joseph P. Manck, County Administrative Judge, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, ruled on September 1 that the state may use e-voting machines from Diebold in the upcoming election, despite security issues documented by the Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland. See this Washington Post (reg. re'd) article for more details, and related beSpacific postings here.

From the Chief Information Officers Council's Interagency Committee on Government Information (ICGI):

"September 1, 2004, marks the introduction of the new ERIC Web site. The new site provides users with increased search capabilities utilizing simple, streamlined retrieval methods to access the existing ERIC bibliographic database (1966-2004). For example, users are now able to quickly refine search results through the use of keywords, publication date, publication type, or the ERIC thesaurus. In addition, the Web site provides users with the capability to save and rerun searches using the My ERIC personalization feature." [Link]

"2004 Pew Internet & American Life surveys reveal that more than four in ten online Americans instant message (IM). That reflects about 53 million American adults who use instant messaging programs. About 11 million of them IM at work and they are becoming fond of its capacity to encourage productivity and interoffice cooperation." [Link]

A DoD video produced as a teaching tool for citizens to learn about access to government documents was edited due to concerns that footage included was subject to copyright restrictions. This report from AP also states that a FOIA request to obtain a copy of the video (clips of which are available at this url: http://wid.ap.org/video/video/040831foia.rm) was made a year and a half ago by AP.

Via Metafilter, this website provides a startling array of continually updated statistics on topics including population, government and economics, education, the environment, food, energy and health. Check this out!