Winners, Nominees, Honourable Mentions 2005 (9 pages, PDF)
America's Most Literate Cities, 2005: Seattle, WA ranked as the number one city for Internet literacy, defined in terms of "Internet resources available to the population." These resources include library Internet connections, commercial and public WiFi access, Internet book orders, and reading newspapers on the Internet.
According to Roll Call (subscription req'd): "House Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), are calling for a bipartisan Congressional investigation into former Rep. Duke Cunningham's (R-Calif.) handling of classified information while serving on the Appropriations and Intelligence committees." Mr. Cunningham is still under investigation following his guilty plea for having accepted in excess of $2.4 in bribes.
"Internet Archive and many individual contributors created a comprehensive list of websites documenting the historic devastation and massive relief effort due to Hurricane Katrina. The sites were crawled between the dates of September 4 - October 17th. This collection, containing more than 25 million searchable documents, will be preserved by Internet Archive with access to historians, researchers, scholars and the general public."
Press release, November 29, 2005: "The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose for public comment rules that would allow companies and other persons to use the Internet to satisfy proxy material delivery requirements...The company would post its proxy materials on an Internet Web site (other than EDGAR) and would send a 'Notice of Electronic Proxy Materials' (the Notice) at least 30 days before the date of meeting."
Windows OneCare Team Blog: "WOC is devoted to helping users' get their machines in a secure and healthy state."
Following up with a link to resources referenced in my posting yesterday, Additional Gov Docs. Released From Alito's DOJ Tenure, see today's press release: "The National Archives at College Park will release 31 documents totaling 336 pages from Record Group 60, Records of the Department of Justice, Files of Charles Cooper and Files of the Attorney General, Edwin Meese III. These records, consisting of memoranda and other documents, were located in various folders in the files of Mr. Cooper and Mr. Meese during the processing of FOIA requests by the National Archives."
November 30, 2005: President Outlines Strategy for Victory in Iraq, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
Online Research Tools White Paper Link Compilation, by Marcus P. Zillman, updated December 1, 2005.
Signaling Vulnerabilities in Wiretapping Systems, Micah Sherr, Eric Cronin, Sandy Clark and Matt Blaze, University of Pennsylvania, November/December 2005 issue of IEEE Security and Privacy (21 pages, PDF).
The Memory Hole posts database of Federal Criminal Proceedings Against Mining Companies, 1979-2005, 148 pages, PDF.
From The Nutritional and Dietary Supplement Law Blog: "In a complaint filed last week in federal court in California, Salu, Inc., the owner of the popular cosmeceutical site SkinStore.com has sued the owners of competitor NewSkinSpa.com for trademark and copyright infringement accusing them of copying the SkinStore.com html code and using it to create the site at NewSkinSpa.com. In so doing, SkinStore.com claims that NewSkinSpa.com has been able to obtain a higher Google ranking for search terms like 'Hylexin,' a popular cosmeceutical product for under-eye dark circles."
Terrorist Financing: Better Strategic Planning Needed to Coordinate U.S. Efforts to Deliver Counter-Terrorism Financing Training and Technical Assistance Abroad, GAO-06-19, October 24, 2005. Highlights.
The Blogosphere Beckons: Should Your Company Jump In? Harvard Management Communication Letter, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 2005.
From the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research, The Economic Report of the President, 1960-1980 archives, now available in PDF.
FTC press release: "According to a new study released today by the Federal Trade Commission, spammers continue to harvest email addresses from public areas of the Internet, but Internet Service Providers' anti-spam technologies can block the vast majority of spam sent to these email addresses. The FTC staff report also found that consumers who must post their e-mail addresses on the Internet can prevent them from being harvested by using a technique known as masking."
Combating Terrorism: The Challenge of Measuring Effectiveness, November 23, 2005 (via FAS, 15 pages, PDF).
"The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division is celebrating a new landmark: one million images from its collections are now available in digital form online. Digital images from the Prints & Photographs Division are available through the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)." Laura Gottesman, Reference Librarian, Digital Reference Team, The Library of Congress.
Press release: "17% of internet users – about 25 million people -- have sold something online...Data from comScore Media Metrix show that the number of Americans using online classifieds has shot up 80% in the past year, led by the rapid growth of the sites organized by Craigslist.org."
"A new study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government...shows the use of FOIA exemptions to withhold information increased 22 percent between 2000 and 2004, despite the fact that federal agencies responded to 13 percent fewer requests for information. The exemptions most frequently used to say "no" to requesters were those recommended by Attorney General John Ashcroft in his 2001 memorandum and by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card in a directive six months later." [Link]
AP reports today that TIME magazine Washington correspondent Viveca Novak has been called to testify before the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative.
Washington Post: Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity, Fears of Post-9/11 Terrorism Spur Proposals for New Powers
Related references:
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) press release: "The new internet search portal establishes links to IFPMA member company websites as well as other commercial and government-sponsored websites containing information on clinical trials provided by pharmaceutical companies."
UK Times: Google turns its search power to the hunt for genetic drugs: "David Vise's book reveals how it is sifting information to help scientists advance medicine...Google's data-mining techniques appear well suited to the formidable challenges posed by analysing the genetic sequence."
Universities Say New Rules Could Hurt U.S. Research
Related resources:
As We May Search - Comparison of Major Features of the Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar Citation-based and Citation-enhanced Databases. Current Science 89(9), 2005, p. 1537-1547, by Peter Jasco.
White House press release, November 15, 2005, Setting the Record Straight: The New York Times Editorial on Pre-War Intelligence.
Press release: "In the aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes, 13 million Americans made donations to relief efforts online and 7 million set up their own hurricane relief efforts using the internet. In addition to using the internet to respond directly to the crisis, 50% of online users sought out news and information online, with most (73%) of their newsgathering happening at Web sites of the mainstream media. Sources such as blogs and international news sites served as important news supplements, with one quarter of those who got Katrina news online turning to one of these sources."
The Personal Data Privacy And Security Act of 2005 was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and moves forward to Senate hearings.
Ohio's Diebold Debacle: New machines call election results into question, by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman.
Press release: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Center for Democracy and Technology, and representatives of industry, academia, librarians and others today filed a joint request for a stay with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), arguing that the Commission has been "unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious" in demanding that broadband Internet access providers and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers include backdoors for wiretaps in their services. The stay requested that the Commission should either postpone its Spring 2007 "full compliance" deadline for implementing these taps, or halt the requirement entirely."
According to a log [Word document: Listing of media requests] detailing FOI requests made by media organizations to the Pentagon for the period covering 2000 through February 2005, the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute, far outpaced the number of requests made by news agencies, including AP, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. Blogger Michael Petrelis filed the FOI request to obtain the data from the Pentagon. This news was posted by Raw Story.
Related references:
"DHS Today will highlight FY05 Accomplishments in this column over the next several weeks. This week’s focus is on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The top FY05 FEMA accomplishments included:
Hurricane Katrina: The response to Hurricane Katrina was FEMA’s largest response in its history. The aid given within six weeks of landfall included almost $3.8 billion for more than 1.24 million households. More than half a million people visited 100 Disaster Recovery Centers that had been quickly created across the Gulf Coast. Working through the American Red Cross, FEMA supported the nation’s largest-ever sheltering operation, with more than 273,000 evacuees at the peak. In addition, again working with the Red Cross, FEMA paid to house more than 600,000 people in emergency hotel housing. Almost 70,000 temporary roofs had been put on damaged homes through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, more than 16,000 manufactured homes or travel trailers had been placed on site, and 20 million cubic yards of debris had been picked up."
Nº 98/2005: 22 November 2005, Opinion of the Advocate General in cases C-317/04, C-318/04, Parliament/Council, Principles of Community law - press release - Advocate General Léger Proposed Annulment of the Commission and Council Decisions on Transfer to the American Authorities of Personal Information Concerning Air Passengers.
Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone, by Kevin Kelleher. "It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce."
Press release: The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) [November 2, 2005] launched a redesign of its external agency Web site. The refreshed site will make it easier for federal customer agencies, businesses, and citizens to get the information they need on GSA’s products and services.
Improvement include:
November 18, DOJ/OIG Top Management and Performance Challenges in the Department of Justice - 2005: Counterterrorism; Sharing of Law Enforcement and Intelligence Information; Department and FBI Intelligence-Related Reorganizations; Information Technology Systems Planning and Implementation; Information Technology Security; Financial Management and Systems; Grant Management; Detention and Incarceration; Judicial Security; and Supply and Demand for Drugs.
Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel, by Murray Waas, special to National Journal.
Nielson/NetRatings press release: Online newspapers enjoy double-digit year growth, reaching one out of four internet users
Library of Congress press release: "Google Is First Private-Sector Partner with Funding of $3 Million. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin announced today that Google is the first private-sector company to contribute to the Library's initiative to develop a plan to begin building a World Digital Library (WDL) for use by other libraries around the globe. The effort would be supported by funds from nonexclusive, public and private partnerships, of which Google is the first. The concept for the WDL came from a speech that Billington delivered to the newly established U.S. National Commission for UNESCO on June 6, 2005, at Georgetown University."
Related news and links:
From the Democratic Policy Committee:
No Child Left Behind Act: Improved Accessibility to Education's Information Could Help States Further Implement Teacher Qualification Requirements GAO-06-25, November 21, 2005.
This profile of Sidney Verba, Harvard University Library Director, professor of government, and author of numerous books and articles, addresses key aspects related to the university's participation in the Google Book Search project.
Related references:
The documents of American Presidents, beginning with Herbert Hoover, with the exception of Richard Nixon, have been administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, through the Presidential library system. Today AP reported that Congress has approved $4 million to fund the transfer of the Nixon archives from Maryland to California, and thereby from a private to a public facility.
Draft Advisory Opinion 2005-16, Fired Up! LLC, by counsel, Marc E. Elias and Brian G. Svoboda, Agenda Document No. 05-55. Circulated November 14, 2005 for Open Meeting on November 17, 2005, at which time it was unanimously adopted.
Press release: "Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today sued Sony BMG Music Entertainment as the first state in the nation to bring legal action against SONY for illegal 'spyware.' The suit is also the first filed under the state's spyware law of 2005. It alleges the company surreptitiously installed the spyware on millions of compact music discs (CDs) that consumers inserted into their computers when they play the CDs, which can compromise the systems."
Related documents and resources:
S. 1418: Wired for Health Care Quality Act, A bill to enhance the adoption of a nationwide inter operable health information technology system and to improve the quality and reduce the costs of health care in the United States. Passed Senate by voice vote, November 18, 2005.
Related documents:
Press release: "Search engine use shoots up in the past year and edges towards email as the primary internet application...from September 2004 to September 2005 the average daily use of search engines jumped from 49.3 million users to 60.7 million users – an increase of 23%.
This means that the use of search engines is edging up on email as a primary internet activity on any given day. The Pew Internet Project data show that on a typical day, email use is still the top internet activity. On any given day, about 52% of American internet users are sending and receiving email."
Biden: Chance of Alito Filibuster Higher
LA Times: "The German intelligence officials responsible for one of the most important informants on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction say that the Bush administration and the CIA repeatedly exaggerated his claims during the run-up to the war in Iraq."
Related reference:
Transcript for November 20, Meet the Press: John Murtha, Anthony Fauci, Julie Gerberding, Michael Leavitt and Michael Ryan.
Washington Post: Corruption Inquiry Threatens to Ensnare Lawmakers
New York Times: Googling Literature: The Debate Goes Public
Related references:
Yesterday: Patriot Act Reauthorization Encounters Strong Opposition; today news on a deadlock which will delay a vote until December. Preventing passage of any meaningful reforms to this legislation may indeed prove to be a bigger obstacle than anticipated. The work of organizations including the American Library Association, EFF, EPIC, CDT and the ACLU is in no small measure responsible for heightened public awareness about, and concern for, a discernable narrowing of civil liberties post 9/11.
Related reference:
Rep. John P. Murtha's statement of November 17, 2005: War in Iraq
The investigation into the Plame leak will, despite the prognostications of a range of commentators, in fact move forward and expand, according to today's news that Special Counsel Fitzgerald has requested a new grand jury. According to the court filing, "...The investigation will involve proceedings before a different grand jury than the grand jury which returned the indictment"...against Mr. Libby. In addition to the information, the filing also references a change in Mr. Fitzgerald's decision to keep documents related to the case from public access.
Sharing navigation and design similarities with the Library of Congress site as well as the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration site, today's launch of the upgraded THOMAS Congressional information site offers citizens, educators and researchers additional browse and search features (including the ability to Search Multiple Congresses, from the 101 to the 109; links to full text treaties; and a Presidential nominations search feature with links to Senate hearings). This year was the twentieth anniversary of the site, which has undergone a series of changes, updates and redesigns.
Following up on reports of civil liberties protections having been stripped from the draft Patriot Act reauthorization and information that the bill contains "poison pill measures," news today that a bipartisan group of Senators (including Feingold and Sununu) is attempting to block passage of bill by the full Senate. Their statement is here.
Job Tracker: "Find out which companies in your area are exporting jobs, endangering workers' health or involved in cases of violations of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The database contains information on more than 60,000 companies nationwide." Users may search by zip code, state, company name or by industry.
From the Official Google Blog, "When we launched Google Print, our goal was to make it easier for users to discover books. Now that we're starting to achieve that, we think a more descriptive name will help clarify what our users can do with it: namely, search the full text of books to find ones that interest them and learn where to buy or borrow them...We want to make all the world's books discoverable and searchable online, and we hope this new name will help keep everyone focused on that important goal."
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - "In a letter to Chairman Davis, Rep. Waxman renews his request for hearings into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Wilson, citing many precedents for congressional oversight occurring concurrently with a criminal investigation."
From American Library Association Washington Office Newsline: "The House is scheduled to vote on the PATRIOT Act conference report as early as Thursday, November 17. The revised bill does not contain important civil liberties safeguards sought by ALA and other advocates...The revised bill sunsets at seven years (The Senate bill sunset was 4 years and the House bill sunset was 10 years) -- A four year sunset will make it possible to correct an abuse of Section 215 at an earlier date."
From EFF, draft of the final conference report follows (in three parts, all PDF):
"Wex is an ambitious effort to construct a collaboratively-created, public-access law dictionary and encyclopedia. It is sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Much of the material that appears in Wex was originally developed for the LII's "Law about..." pages, to which Wex is the successor.
A timely reminder on a useful resource: see Iraq on the Record.
Following up on postings concerning the expanding circle of journalists involved in the Plame investigation, news today that the grand jury heard testimony this week from Bob Woodward, heretofore not named.
From OMB, the President's Management Agenda current survey results, Scorecard - September 30, 2005 indicate performance in areas evaluated (human capital, competitive sourcing, financial performance, e-government, and budget/performance integration) dropped at agencies including VA, EPA, State, NASA, USAID, Justice and Interior (note: the red circle indicates unsatisfactory, with eight agencies showing a specific decline in e-government services).
News from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) that the U.S. and representatives from 100 other nations have reached an agreement to continue the oversight of Internet domain names in the control of the United States, with administration provided by the Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
In an article published on November 16, the New York Times reports that the defense team representing I. Lewis Libby plans to seek to obtain documents from journalists that are well beyond the scope of those used to substantiate the indictment. The article quotes Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, who states, "This is a very unsettling case, and it could take years in the courts to resolve."
Press release: "The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux®, today announced the launch of its online patent commons reference library, the foundation of its Patent Commons Project. The Project's goal is to provide greater confidence for developers and customers of all open source software. The site, patentcommons.org, hosts searchable databases containing more than 500 patents pledged to date and more than a dozen technical standards supported by patent pledges and covenants. The library is freely available to developers, users and vendors, where they can quickly view information about patents and technology pledges benefiting open source software and standards."
Press release: "The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has joined with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and PEN American Center in a legal action against the U.S. Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency. In a complaint filed [November 10, 2005 - 19 pages, PDF], the national groups charge that these federal agencies are illegally withholding information on the government's practice of excluding prominent foreign intellectuals based on their political views."
Guidance Package, Biometrics for Airport Access Control, 30 September 2005, Version Release: October 2005 (140 pages, PDF).
From the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Office of the Inspector General, Review of Alleged Actions Violating the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, as Amended (67 pages, PDF), November 15, 2005.
Rep. Conyer's Patriot Act Action Center includes links to Patriot Act resources from government and advocacy sources, a chronology of Congressional action on the legislation (which links to a series of beSpacific postings), recent news articles, and "What the Blogs are Saying."
U.S. Foreign Policy and the Middle East by Senator Chuck Hagel, November 15, 2005 - Delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, DC.
Press release: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi unveiled the House Democrats new Innovation Agenda: A Commitment to Competitiveness to Keep America #1 (12 pages, PDF) in a speech at the National Press Club this morning.
Security Weaknesses Increase Risks to Critical Emergency Preparedness and Response Database, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, (Redacted, 38 pages, PDF).
Blog Software Smackdown: The Big 3 Reviewed, by Vinnie Garcia.
FCC press release: "The Joint FCC/NARUC Task Force on VoIP 911 Enforcement has launched a new Web site to provide consumers, industry and state and local governments information about the rules that require certain providers of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to supply 911 emergency calling capabilities to their customers."
St. Petersburg Times (Florida), November 13, 2005. State of Secrets, State of Tortue; National security letters put privacy at risk, by Robyn E. Blumner, Perspective columnist.
FBI: "Hate Crime in America Behind the Numbers - A report released today on hate crime statistics shows a slight increase in the number of crimes from 2003 to 2004. The annual report, which details offenses and breaks them down by location, is based on statistics gathered from 12,700 law enforcement agencies."
November 14, 2005 - 9/11 Commissioners Issue Third Report on Recommendations - Part III: Foreign Policy, Public Diplomacy, and Nonproliferation (PDF)
AP reported today that in a motion filed with Judge Reggie Walton, United States District Judge for the District of Columbia, Dow Jones has challenged Plame Special Counsel Fitzgerald's request for a protective order blocking the release of government documents related to the case against Libby.
From Salon, Throwing Google at the book - "Google's new search engine of books puts a world of knowledge at our fingertips. Publishers say the Internet giant is robbing them of their rightful fees. Maybe it's time to call copyright laws history," by Farhad Manjoo.
From FindLaw:
Web 2.0: Building the New Library: "Paul Miller explores some of the recent buzz around the concept of 'Web 2.0' and asks what it means for libraries and related organisations."
'NLJ 250' Shows Lawyer Ranks Growing Again - "Most firms are getting bigger, but it's harder to make equity partner." Lindsay Fortado, The National Law Journal.
As reported today by Govexec.com: "According to federal documents obtained by National Journal and Government Executive, among the services that ChoicePoint provides to the government [FBI and DoD] is access to a previously undisclosed, and vaguely described, "exclusive" data-searching system. This system in effect gives law enforcement and intelligence agents the ability to use the private data broker to do something that they legally can't -- keep tabs on nearly every American citizen and foreigner in the United States."
askSam provides researchers with free access to a database to search and analyze the published opinions of Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel A. Alito.
Via Public Knowledge, this Section by Section Analysis of the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2005 (, authored by DOJ.
From the WSJ/NBC News Poll (free, PDF): "Six in 10, including 43% of Republicans, say there should be a public investigation and hearings into exposure of operative Valerie Plame's identity. Republican congressional leaders don't plan to go along."
From the Anti-Phishing Working Group and SRI International, the following report, commissioned by DHS, Online Identity Theft: Technology, Chokepoints and Countermeasures (58 pages, PDF).
FTC press release: "An operation that uses the lure of free lyric files, browser upgrades, and ring tones to download spyware and adware on consumers' computers has been ordered to halt its illegal downloads by a U.S. District Court at the request of the Federal Trade Commission. The court also halted the deceptive downloads of an affiliate who helped spread the malicious software by offering blogs free background music. The music code downloaded by the blogs was bundled with a program that flashed warnings to consumers who visited the blog sites about the security of their computer systems. Consumers who opted to upgrade by clicking, downloaded the spyware onto their computers."
Burson-Marsteller press release: "The results of the fifth annual 2005 PRWeek/Burson-Marsteller CEO Survey reveal that while blogs are increasingly making headlines, only seven percent of CEOs are actually blogging and many are skeptical about starting a blog themselves. Despite the low numbers, 59 percent of CEOs said blogs are useful for internal communications, and 47 percent said blogs are effective for external audiences."
Government Computer News: GPO readying draft RFP for digital storage system
Office of the Director of National Intelligence press release: "Based at the CIA, the Center will advance the Intelligence Community's exploitation of openly available information to include the Internet, databases, press, radio, television, video, geospatial data, photos and commercial imagery. The Center's functions will include collection, analysis and research, training and information technology management to facilitate government-wide access and use. The Center will build on the established expertise of the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), which has provided the U.S. Government a broad range of highly valued products and services since 1941. The Director of the CIA will administer the Center on behalf of the DNI."
IBM press release: "IBM today introduced a new software solution that enables businesses to make sense of the explosion of information from emerging social networks on the Web to deliver new insight into brand reputation and customer, competitor and public opinion about their company. The proliferation of blogs, news feeds, consumer review sites, newsgroups and articles published daily on the Web has created a phenomenon where public opinion about an organization spreads worldwide, faster than ever before. These sources are filled with insight from consumers, experts and competitors that can be analyzed and used by businesses to make better decisions on products, services and business strategies. This creates a tremendous opportunity for organizations to carefully monitor their image and more quickly address business opportunities, threats, quality concerns or changing public perception."
U.S. Newswire: "The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today announced that a new mine emergency operations database listing mine rescue teams nationwide and mine emergency services and related contacts at the federal, state and local levels is available on the Web...Located at https://lakegovprod1.msha.gov/MEO/Default.aspx, the Mine Emergency Operations (MEO) database can be searched by service provider and specific category, including vendors, suppliers, mine emergency operations team members, state agencies and emergency contact personnel. The public can also search by location or a specific description of the desired equipment or service."
November 9, 2005, Dr. Vinton Cerf and Dr. Robert Kahn, Medal of Freedom Recipients: "There could not have been two more surprised people at the White House today than the two of us. Most people will immediately recognize most of the names on the list of honorees, but although our names are not household words, our work in creating the Internet now shows up almost every corner of the world. If Vint has his way, it will show up on the other planets, as well. And if Bob has his way, the Internet will be re-invented many times over in the future by those in the audience and the generations too come." [Full transcript]
Federal Judiciary Newsroom: "The Judicial Conference's concerns regarding a bill to allow cameras in the courtroom and the experiences of a federal appeals court judge with televised proceedings were part of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing."
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, November 8, 2005
From the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey released today: "fully 79% of Americans say the recent indictment of I. Lewis Libby, formerly a top aide to Vice President Cheney, on perjury and other charges is a matter of at least some importance to the nation; that is greater than the percentage who said that in 1998 about charges that former President Clinton lied under oath about a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky (65%)."
AP reports White House Staff Begins Ethics Classes. Several thousand employees who work in agencies and offices that are part of the government's Executive Branch will be taking the classes during the upcoming weeks.
Related news on the Names of Library Organization Members Gagged by FBI:
A Tale of Disaster and Two Courts, Pamela A. MacLean: "Two months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the legal system remains a tale of two courts: Federal courts reopened last week while Louisiana state courts struggle with disarray."
A Blueprint for the Future: "The federal government has embarked on the biggest courthouse building spree in history, hired the nation's finest architects to do the designing, and touched off a rancorous debate over what the courthouses of tomorrow should look like," by Daniel Brook.
From the UK Chief Information Officer Council: "The Government has published Transformational Government - Enabled by Technology, a strategy for transforming public services using technology. The strategy sets out how effective use of technology designed around citizens' and businesses' needs can make a real difference to people's daily lives. It is not simply about the internet, but is a far more profound approach that goes to the heart of public services delivery."
White House press release: "President George W. Bush today announced the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civil award...Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn designed the software code that is used to transmit data over the Internet. Dr. Cerf and Dr. Kahn have been at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment."
After hunting around for days to locate this draft, announced in the Federal Register on November 3, it is herewith available (all 175 pages, PDF), not via the DHS website, but from Politechbot.com.
Eventually, our entire day will consist of interruptions, by Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News.
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Audit Reports: "SIGIR audits are conducted to determine whether programs and operations funded by the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) are being managed efficiently, effectively and economically, and if they are achieving the desired outcomes. The audit reports presented on this Web site include those conducted to evaluate the programs and operations of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which terminated operations on June 28, 2004. Some of these audits were completed in 2005."
Law tech guru Dennis Kennedy is quoted in this article in today's New York Times: Beware Your Trail of Digital Fingerprints. He suggests practical ways to eliminate data deleted in revisions when it is determined that documents have been finalized.
Follow-up to previous postings on FBI use of National Security Letters to obtain data on library patron use of online services in Connecticut: Washington Post,The FBI's Secret Scrutiny. The Washington Post researched and reveals the names of the "John Doe's" under the gag, and the name of their organization. Please also note that according to this article: "The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters -- one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people -- are extending the bureau's reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans."
Related news:
Federal Register, November 2, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 211), Page 66470-66472. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Notice of availability of proposed records schedules; request for comments.
Follow-up to November 1, 2005 posting, Data Breaches Remain A Concern for Consumers and Lawmakers. The House Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee passed the Data Accountability and Trust Act, H.R. 1427, on November 3. Congressional support for the legislation remains mixed.
New York Times: Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Suspicions: "A high Qaeda official in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newly declassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document."
New York Times, Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies, speculates on Google's potential plans to broaden the company's e-commerce endeavors, including property listings in conjunction with mapping, searching, and satellite projects currently extant, and comparison pricing for a range of consumer goods.
Washington Post (reg. req'd) - Bush Orders Staff to Attend Ethics Briefings - White House Counsel to Give 'Refresher' Course:
Financial Times (no fee req'd) - James Boyle: Web’s never-to-be-repeated revolution
Speculation, commentary, and references to prevarication have followed in the wake of the Libby indictment. Add to the mix this article today by John Dean, A Cheney-Libby Conspiracy, Or Worse? Reading Between the Lines of the Libby Indictment and the new Zogby poll, Survey reflects troubled times for the President at home and abroad.
Press release: Amazon.com Announces Plans for Innovative Digital Book Programs: "...the company is currently developing two new programs that will enable customers to purchase online access to any page, section, or chapter of a book, as well as the book in its entirety. The first program, Amazon Pages, will "un-bundle" the physical-world experience of buying and reading a book so that customers can simply and inexpensively purchase and read online just the pages they need...
The second program, Amazon Upgrade, will allow customers to "upgrade" their purchase of a physical book on Amazon.com to include complete online access."
Rolling Stone: The New Web Slingers - Politcal bloggers scoop the mainstream media on Plamegate.
Press release (PDF): NCLIS Launches New Web site.
Google press release: "Today, Google Inc. announced the availability of the first large collection of public domain books on Google Print. This collection, scanned as part of the company’s book digitization project with several of the world’s largest libraries, includes works such as U.S. Civil War history books, government documents, the writings of Henry James and other materials. Because they’re out of copyright, these cultural artifacts can be read in their entirety online at http://print.google.com, where anyone can search and browse every page. They are fully searchable and users can save individual page images."
Related references:
Follow-up on Patriot Act reauthorization and libraries, from the ACLU: "In the first federal appeals court argument addressing a surveillance provision of the Patriot Act, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged a three-judge panel to uphold two separate rulings: one which found the National Security Letter (NSL) authority of the Patriot Act unconstitutional and another that struck down a gag imposed under the same statute. The controversial NSL provision authorizes the FBI to demand a range of personal records without court approval, including records of Web site visits, e-mail addresses and library records."
FDA press release: "In a continuing effort to use modern information technology to help inform the public and health care providers and to further improve patient safety, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today began requiring drug manufacturers to submit prescription drug label information to FDA in a new electronic format. This electronic format will allow healthcare providers and the general public to more easily access the product information found in the FDA-approved package inserts ("labels") for all approved medicines in the United States...These new electronic product labels will be the key element and primary source of medication information for "DailyMed" -- a new interagency online health information clearinghouse that will provide the most up-to-date medication information free to consumers, healthcare providers and healthcare information providers. This information can be accessed through the National Library of Medicine."
"Italian internet users use more e-government than other European net surfers: moreover, central government offices are actually creating traffic in the net...60% of Italian internet users have visited government public sites." [Link]
CBS News Polls, November 2, 2005
Bloggers Say Blah to White House Briefings
Citizens Against Government Waste press release: "The FOIA requests are part of an ongoing effort to determine the DOJ's cost of antitrust litigation...seeking material related to fiscal years 2000 through 2006, including a breakdown of cases initiated, a budget itemization, and a list of consultants employed during this period of time."
Follow-up to yesterday's posting, Senate Democratic Leader Invokes Rare Closed Session to Force Review of WMD Intel - see this related press release from the Senate Democratic Communications Center, November 1, 2005: "For more than two years, Senate Democrats have pressed Republicans to address the misuse of intelligence. At every turn, Republicans have blocked efforts to investigate how intelligence was used in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Below details the long record established by Democrats to investigate this matter."
The official U.S. government Web site for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza, launched today by HHS. Content on, and links from the site, as follows:
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Contracting for Response and Recovery Efforts, GAO-06-235T, November 2, 2005.
The newest additions to the Google product blogs, now numbering ten, are:
Oklahoma Courts Now Offer RSS Newsfeeds: "You can now receive Oklahoma appellate court opinions and Oklahoma Attorney General opinions via RSS newsfeeds at no charge." As Jim indicates, Oklahoma joins two other trailblazing states, West Virginia and Louisiana, who also offer feeds.
Acquiring Copyright Permission to Digitize and Provide Open Access to Books, Published by the Council on Library and Information Resources and Digital Library Federation, (72 pages, PDF)
Related references to Google's announcement that Print Program scanning will resume, along with clarifications on the programs goals:
Senate Democrats invoked rarely used Rule 21 to force a closed door meeting today with the goal of obtaining an agreement to fully investigate the administration's use of WMD documents as a justification for the Iraq war.
According to a statement issued by Sen. Harry Reid, the "Key questions that need to be answered include:
Forbes targets what is calls "attack bloggers" with a very broad brush, in a trio of articles as follows: