An Examination of the Call to Censure the President, Senate Judiciary Committee, Full Committee, March 31, 2006

Press release: "Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras today issued the agency's 2006 Annual Report at the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting in Washington, DC. The report, entitled "The FTC in 2006: Committed to Consumers and Competition," (62 pages, PDF) is available now on the Commission's Web site and includes sections on the FTC's competition and consumer protection missions and recent accomplishments, as well as a summary of the policy tools it uses to complement its array of law enforcement and international outreach and coordination efforts."

Press release, Thursday, March 30, 2006: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation today approved by voice vote S. 2389, the Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act, which prevents unscrupulous companies and individuals from fraudulently obtaining consumers' private phone records in a deceptive practice known as "pretexting." ...The Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act, which covers wireless, wireline, and IP telephony services, makes it illegal to acquire, use or sell a person’s confidential phone records without that person’s affirmative written consent, which can be given electronically. Under the bill, a carrier must notify a customer if someone without authorization gains access to their phone records. It also specifically clarifies that the practice of fraudulent pretexting is illegal, and charges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with concurrent enforcement."

Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq, Brookings Institution, March 30, 2006 (52 pages, PDF)

Press release, MArch 30, 2006: "Transparency in federal courtrooms today scored a victory when legislation introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, to allow federal trial and appellate judges to permit cameras in the courtroom passed the Senate Judiciary Committee...The bipartisan "Sunshine in the Courtroom" bill would allow federal trial and appellate judges, at their sole discretion, to permit cameras in their courtrooms. The bill would also direct the Judicial Conference, the principal policy-making entity for the federal courts, to draft nonbinding guidelines that judges can refer to in making a decision pertaining to the coverage of a particular case...Forty-eight states currently permit some form of audio-video coverage in their courtrooms and at least 37 directly televise trials. Studies and surveys conducted in many of those states have confirmed that electronic media coverage of trials boosts public understanding of the court system without interfering with court proceedings. Fifteen states have conducted studies aimed specifically at the educational benefits that are derived from camera access to courtrooms. They all determined that camera coverage contributes to greater public understanding of the judicial system."

WSJ free feature: More U.S. Households Are Ditching Landline Phones for Wireless

As previously noted in a series of postings this year, DOJ has sought, and obtained, voluminous data search records from companies including Yahoo, MSN and Verizon. Today, InformationWeek reported that their FOIA request yielded 54 documents [made available in a Zip archive], that include subpoenas, replies, and related legal documents involving 34 ISPs, search companies and security software firms.

Prewar Intelligence - Insulating Bush, by Murray Waas, National Journal, Thursday, March 30, 2006.

Social Security Numbers: More Could be Done to Protect SSNs, Full text GAO-06-586T, and Highlights. March 30, 2006.

From Barbie Selby, current Chair of the Depository Library Council, links to the following documents:

Federal Rulemaking: Perspectives on 10 Years of Congressional Review Act Implementation, Full text GAO-06-601T, and Highlights. March 30, 2006.

Press release: "The highest responsibility of government is to protect the security of every American,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. "After five years of Republican incompetence, Americans have had enough. They expect and demand policies that are tough and smart. They deserve Real Security."

The War on Terrorism: How Prepared is the Nation's Capital? (Part II), 3/29/06. Links to prepared testimony, in PDF.

March 28, 2006 - FBI's Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request, Robert S. Mueller, III, Director, FBI, Before the House Appropriations Committee.

Transportation Security Administration's Information Technology Managed Services Contract, OIG-06-23, February 2006 (PDF, 44 pages) - New 03/30/2006

Press release: "Rep. Waxman and other committee members announce they will introduce a Resolution of Inquiry directing the President to submit to Congress all documents relating to the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which the President signed on February 8. The version the President signed was different in substance from the version the House passed on February 1, 2006."

Follow-up to yesterday's posting, Judiciary Cmte. Holds Hearing on NSA Wiretapping, in today's New York Times, Judges on Secretive Panel Speak Out on Spy Program.

In a letter sent yesterday to President Bush, the nine Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence again called for all 20 members of the committee to be briefed on the details of the NSA surveillance program. This request has been denied.

"The United States tops the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006's "Networked Readiness Index" for the third time in five years, maintaining its eminent position as a leader in the area of innovation and confirming its position as an information and communication technology powerhouse. Singapore, Denmark, Iceland and Finland follow, confirming the ICT dominance of Asia and the Nordic countries."

Press release: "The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved new data security laws Wednesday that will ensure consumers' personal information is closely guarded and consumers are notified when they are at risk...The bill places new requirements on specific companies that specialize in collecting personal data. These "data brokers" will be required to implement effective security safeguards. If there is a reasonable risk of identity theft to the individual to whom the personal information relates, fraud or other unlawful conduct, these data brokers must notify consumers. Additionally, data brokers will be prohibited from falsely representing themselves to obtain personal data...H.R. 4127, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, passed 41-0. The bill "sends a clear message: 'If you can't protect it, don't collect it,'" said U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the committee's ranking member."

"The Red Book is a compendium of significant Office of Inspector General (OIG) costsaving recommendations that have not been fully implemented. These recommendations may require one of three types of actions: legislative, regulatory, or procedural (such as
manual revisions). Some complex issues involve two or all three types of actions. The Inspector General Act requires that the OIG's semiannual reports to Congress include "an identification of each significant recommendation described in previous semiannual reports on which corrective action has not been completed." Thus,
appendixes to each semiannual report list significant unimplemented recommendations."

"The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has partnered with nationally-recognized security and privacy experts to create a new toolkit to help small business owners manage security and privacy challenges. We call it Security & Privacy - Made Simpler (TM). The objective is to demystify the complexities of data security and give small businesses a non-technical roadmap to securing their customer data, and their employees' data, too."

"The Sunshine in Government Initiative is a coalition of media groups committed to promoting policies that ensure the government is accessible, accountable and open. Public oversight is the ultimate safeguard of democracy. This is not an issue just for the media. It is the inalienable right of citizens to examine and judge their government; and that right is served when news media act on behalf of the public to gain access to information."

"PhishRegistry.org is a free service provided by CipherTrust, Inc. to help businesses know when they are at risk of being phished. PhishRegistry.org monitors the content of your website and alerts you when attempts to duplicate it have been detected. Weekly reports are sent to your email address with information about suspect websites."

American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) E-Government Satisfaction Index, March 21, 2006. "Citizen satisfaction stalled, although some sites show significant improvement in meeting citizens' needs." Improvements were registered by IRS.gov, PBGC.gov, the National Archives, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Testimony of Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Medicaid Program Integrity, March 28, 2006 (9 pages, PDF)

Hearing - NSA III: War Time Executive Power and the FISA Court, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Tuesday, March 28, 2006.

Dept. of Transportation, IG Audit of Oversight of Load Ratings and Postings on Structurally Deficient Bridges on the National Highway System, March, 21 2006 (33 pages, PDF)

Following-up to postings on proposals to limit public access to the EPA's pollution release inventory data, a bipartisan letter issued yesterday on the issue "called for an investigation into the proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) to weaken regulations that require polluters to inform the public about toxic releases."

Related government document:

Journalist David Kline discussed the growing influence of blogs on politics and the news media during a March 20-24 rolling webchat.

Press release: "A searchable online database of Asian-language cancer materials has been launched by the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (AANCART) and the American Cancer Society."

"Welcome to 'Debate Europe', our website for the wide debate on the future of the European Union. This website is our invitation to you to discuss with us your ideas, hopes and worries for Europe's future. With this site, we want to make contact with you and listen to what you think and propose."

A new study (4 pages, PDF) by the European Interactive Advertising Association indicates that although men continue to spend more time on the Internet than women, the gap is rapidly closing.

March 21, 2006 - National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse of the Legal Background and Recent Amendments

Press release: "U.S. Joint Forces Command will release on Friday, March 24 an unclassified historical report in book form on the Iraqi view of coalition military operations conducted in Iraq. Conducted by U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Center for Operational Analysis, the Iraqi Perspective Project (IPP) is a research effort focused on coalition military operations in Iraq from March to May 2003. This project focused on the perspectives of the Iraqi civilian and military leadership involved in major combat operations gathered through interviews conducted during the fall and winter of 2003/2004, and an extensive review of Iraqi historical documents done in the months since then."

National Military Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction (31 pages, PDF)

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Securing Our Border, Enforcing Our Laws, and Upholding Our Values, Fact sheet released by the White House, March 27, 2006.

Saddam's Delusions: The View from the Inside, By Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray, From Foreign Affairs, May/June 2006

03/16/06 Testimony Regarding the 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices; Barry F. Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary; Testimony Before the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations; Washington, DC.

The Fog of Law: The Need for a Legal Framework for 21st Century Security Policy, Speech to the Council on Foreign Relations by Congresswoman Jane Harman, March 13, 2006.

Global Voices: A country-by-country aggregation of world blogs: Translations of and links to selected postings from blogs around the world.

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Updated March 23, 2006: A Chronology of Data Breaches Reported Since the ChoicePoint Incident

Newsweek: Why Privacy Won't Matter Google, Yahoo and Microsoft desperately want to know every last thing about what you do, say and buy. Here's how they'll do it—and why we'll let them.

New York Times Op-Ed, March 26, 2006: Searching for Dummies, by Edward Tenner.

Following up on several related postings on bloggers and campaign speech, today the FEC issued a 96 page document (PDF) promulgating its final rules that impact the publication of campaign related information. Declan McCullagh has more details and commentary.

In response to requests by the House Judiciary Committee members for more extensive documentation on the administration's domestic surveillance program, this afternoon DOJ released two memos (both in PDF) that supported previous statements on the issue, providing nothing of substance in the way of more details, as requested.

Government On-Line 2006: "This report documents the achievements of the Government On-Line initiative over six years, from 1999 to 2006. It tells of its challenges, its groundbreaking journey, and its legacy for future initiatives. Thanks to the efforts of 34 federal Departments and Agencies, you may now obtain on-line the 130 most commonly used services of the Government of Canada."

ComputerWorld reports, "Democrats on the U.S. House Science Committee are demanding that the U.S. Department of Commerce release the complete version of a study that examined the impact of globalization and offshoring on U.S. jobs. The $335,000 report, originally produced in 2004, didn’t surface until last fall -- and then only as a 12-page summary offered up by the Commerce Department. The full 200-page report has never been released and the summary was never made available electronically."

From the National Archives: Central Foreign Policy Files, 1973-1974: This series, popularly known as the "State Department Cables" or the "State Department Telegrams", consist of telegrams, and an index to airgrams, memoranda, correspondence, reports, diplomatic notes, and related material. The 1973 and 1974 digital and fully releasable permanent portion of this series is now accessible through Access to Archival Databases (AAD)."

The March 15, 2006 issue of Library Journal included a special supplement, Movers & Shakers 2006 - The People Shaping the Future of Libraries. I am honored and delighted to be included in this diverse group of professionals, all of whose work I respect and admire. I was recognized in the Innovators category, for my two sites, LLRX.com and beSpacific. Thank you to all my readers and contributors for your unflagging support, and for sharing your ideas, experiences and expertise, over these past ten years. May the next 10 be just as fulfilling and productive. With my regards - sp.

Press release: "The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government - in cooperation with the Council for Excellence in Government - today announced the Top 50 Government Innovations for 2006...Exemplifying the most innovative, creative and results-oriented efforts in government today, these programs are making a real and significant difference in the lives of countless Americans."

The ACLU posted a copy of an abridged legal statement from a second individual identified as a target of a National Security Letter, by which the FBI concurrently gags the recipient and his/her counsel while requiring the provision of demanded documentation.

"Thousands of visitors to StopBadware.org have shared their badware experiences with us since we launched. From their stories, we've identified and tested four applications that contain annoying or objectionable behaviors. To find out what we think of Kazaa, MediaPipe, SpyAxe, and Screensaver.com, read our reports (all in PDF):"

Press release: "Rep. Waxman releases a new report finding that 97% of plans restrict access to important drugs on their formularies through the use of prior authorization, step-therapy, and quantity limits. A telephone survey of the plans finds that they fail to adequately inform seniors of these restrictions, often providing information that is conflicting or erroneous."

Defense Logistics: Several Factors Limited the Production and Installation of Army Truck Armor During Current Wartime Operations, March 22, 2006 (69 pages, PDF)

Press release, March 22, 2006: "Following press accounts that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is considering altering privacy protections that would allow tax preparers greater freedom to sell taxpayers' personal financial information, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today wrote to IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson expressing concern over the agency’s proposals."

Related references:

From the House Budget Committee Democratic staff - Environmental Funding Slashed in the President's 2007 Budget: Budget in Brief #7 - March 23, 2006 (3 pages, PDF).

Information Security: Department of Health and Human Services Needs to Fully Implement Its Program, Full Report, GAO-06-267 and Highlights, February 24, 2006.

Pew Internet and American Life: "By the end of 2005, 50 million Americans got news online on a typical day, a sizable increase since 2002. Much of that growth has been fueled by the rise in home broadband connections over the last four years. For a group of "high-powered" online users – early adopters of home broadband who are the heaviest internet users – the internet is their primary news source on the average day."

WSJ free feature: White House Will Reverse Policy, Ban Evidence Elicited by Torture

USNews.com: "The CIA's Publications Review Board is sending out terse reminders to agency veterans reminding them of the rules requiring that any writings--even blogs--must first get agency approval."

Circumventing Competition: The Perverse Consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PDF, 28 pages), by Timothy B. Lee

Press release: "Large well-respected companies are helping to fund the virulent spread of unwanted and potentially harmful "adware" by paying for advertisements generated by those programs, a new report by CDT finds. In "Following the Money: How Advertising Dollars Encourage Nuisance and Harmful Adware and What Can be Done to Reverse the Trend," (10 pages, PDF) CDT details how -- through a complicated network of intermediaries -- major advertisers pay to have their products and services advertised though pop-ups and other ads generated by unwanted advertising software or "adware." The report dissects the financial relationships behind those arrangements and identifies a number of mainstream companies that advertise through one particularly unscrupulous adware distributor."

Press release: "Four years after its launch and more than 1 million hits later, freedominfo.org has a whole new look. But the dual mission of the site remains—a virtual network linking freedom of information (FOI) movements globally and an institutional memory for transparency and access to information rights throughout the world. Freedominfo.org today introduces a new, comprehensive country-by-country section that gives users access to resources about FOI laws in more than 60 countries—including background, legal texts, links to government bodies and organizations, and current news about the FOI movement in the country. As more countries move towards adopting FOI laws everyday, freedominfo.org provides vital tools for researchers, advocates, journalists, government officials, and members of the public to stay informed about the progress of the right to information, around the world and in their own backyards."

CRS Report via FAS: Terrorism and National Security: Issues and Trends (20 pages, PDF), updated March 9, 2006.

Press release: "BRB Publications recently expanded its free Resource Center and added its complete list of online accessible occupational licensing boards. The list, which is updated weekly, contains 4,819 name-searchable job titles. There is no fee, no registration nor a 20 second wait required. Go to http://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp and click on State Occupational Licensing Boards under the Free Government Public Record Sites heading."

According to the Official Google Blog, Google's newly released Finance service is in beta, with additional content and features to be added in future. Currently, users are offered data in the following categories: Market Summary, Today's Headlines, Company Facts and Financials, Related company data, a Company Summary, Management info, blog posts and links to topical discussions.

Following up on previous postings concerning the FBI's use of National Security Letters to obtain library patron records, the New York Times reports today, Librarian Is Still John Doe, Despite Patriot Act Revision

S. 2453 - A bill to establish procedures for the review of electronic surveillance programs; to the Committee on the Judiciary. [Congressional Record: March 16, 2006 (Senate)][Page S2316-S2376]

What Do You Do with a Million Books? by Gregory Crane, Tufts University

A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case(Unclassified and Redacted), Special Report, March 2006; HTML (Full Report Coming Soon); List of PDF Files.

Google launches its challenge to financial news websites in US: "Google Finance is trumpeting features that will allow users to monitor their portfolio and get access to chief executives' pay details without wading through annual reports."

Press release: "Sprint Nextel Corp. announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against a private investigation firm that employs deceptive practices to illegitimately obtain customer call detail records, and then sells the confidential information to online data brokers. In its complaint against San Marco & Associates of St. Petersburg, Fla., Sprint Nextel states that the company employs fraudulent tactics such as pretexting, the practice of obtaining personal information under false pretenses, to access cell phone logs and phone numbers."

Final Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Future Strategic Strike Skills (89 pages, PDF), March 2006. This report is unclassified.

Defense Critical Technologies, (151 pages, PDF), March 2006. This report is a product of the Defense Science Board (U.S.) and the Defence Scientific Advisory Council (UK). This report is unclassified.

Wikipedia has published an extensive comparison of over two dozen web browsers. Included is information on each respective browser's general history, features, operating system support, web technology support, languages in which the brower is available, and technical vulnerabilities. Readers note that all data is subject to verification, as this is a collaborative, open source publication.

ComputerWorld reports on enterprisewide search applications implemented by large corporations for a range of tasks, including competitive intelligence, e-discovery, and generating intranet content. Solutions such as FAST, Autonomy and Endeca index formats including text, audio and video.

The Memory Hole has recovered content from the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) website, apparently removed from public access within the past month. The recovered website pages have been posted by Russ Kick here.

OIG-Identified Management and Performance Challenges Facing the FDIC (2005)

The United States Statutes at Large (Volume 117, 108th Congress) is now available online from the U.S. Government Printing Office, with future volumes to follow as they become available.

Press release: "Neil Holloway, president of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), unveiled a global law enforcement campaign that will target cybercriminals behind phishing attacks. Microsoft Corp. announced that by the end of June 2006 it will have initiated legal actions on more than 100 cases in EMEA against individuals suspected of committing online fraud; 53 of these will have already started by the end of March 2006...The legal actions are linked to a larger Microsoft(R) program, the Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative (GPEI), launched by the company to coordinate and expand its many anti-phishing efforts worldwide to fight phishers through consumer protection, partnerships and prosecution."

Federal Bureau of Investigation: Weak Controls over Trilogy Project Led to Payment of Questionable Contractor Costs and Missing Assets, Full-text, GAO-06-306, and Highlights, February 28, 2006.

As reported by Raw Story tonight, a filing on March 17 by Libby's defense names current and former White House and State Department officials as having leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame prior to Libby's dissemination of the information.

From askSam:

Follow Up Review of the Port Security Grant Program, OIG-0-6-24, February 2006 (Revised) (PDF, 37 pages) - New 03/15/2006.

New York Times, March 18, 2006: Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?

Press release, Cmte. on Homeland Security, Democratic Office, March 17, 2006: "News reports today disclosed the results of a government investigation into airport security vulnerabilities. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigatory arm of Congress, conducted a clandestine review of airport security throughout the country. While the report remains classified and has not yet been released, news reports indicate that bomb making materials were passed through Transportation Security Administration passenger screening at 21 airports, without being detected...This morning, Ranking Member Thompson requested that the Committee on Homeland Security hold a hearing to review security vulnerabilities at our nation's airports and rectify problems at the TSA (read the letter here)."

From the Official Google Blog: Judge tells DoJ "No" on search queries, Posted by Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel: "Google will not have to hand over any user's search queries to the government. That's what a federal judge ruled today when he decided to drastically limit a subpoena issued to Google by the Department of Justice. [Today's ruling, 21 pages (PDF) and the government's original subpoena.)

Press release, March 16, 2006: The Federal Trade Commission today told the House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight that protecting consumers' privacy rights is a top priority for the agency. Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the Committee, "The Commission is committed to aggressive law enforcement, vigorous consumer and business education efforts, and global cooperation to safeguard the security of consumers’ personal information." To date, the agency has brought 12 data security cases, six spyware and adware cases, more than a dozen financial pretexting cases, and more than 80 spam cases.

Supreme Court transcript [115 pages, PDF], 05-204. League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (3/1/06)

A Homegrown Solution for Safe Ports

Press release: Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) Friday sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [text included in the press release] seeking information on court cases that may have been compromised by the Bush Administration’s illegal domestic spying program..Leahy...and Kennedy...ask Gonzales to provide the committee with information on all legal challenges where parties in the case are claiming evidence was illegally obtained through the illegal program or any others operated outside the law."

WSJ free feature - Google Wins Copyright Battle; Archiving Issue Is Still Unclear: "A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google Inc. of wrongful conduct, including copyright infringement and defamation, providing the latest court opinion to weigh in on the contentious area of search engines and copyright."

U.S. Newswire: "The House Financial Services Committee voted today to repeal strict state notification and credit freeze laws that have helped to protect consumers from identity theft and financial fraud. These laws provide essential protections that allow consumers to prevent identity thieves from opening credit accounts in their names and require companies to inform consumers when their personal data -- such as their Social Security and credit card numbers -- have become compromised."

Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them, by Donna Maurer.

The introduction of the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 today has raised concerns for reporters, bloggers and advocates for civil liberties. The bill "authorizes the President to conduct an electronic surveillance program, without court order, for up to 45 days..."

Steve Matthews, Michael Lines and Connie Crosby have launched a first ever blog for the CALL conference. [thanks Connie]

AP reports that Libby's lawyers have subpoenaed the New York Times, Time magazine and NBC to obtain additional documents from Judy Miller, Matt Cooper and Tim Russert.

Press release: "Consumer confidence in conducting business and protecting personal data online is threatened every day by phishing scams. In an initiative led by the National Consumers League (NCL), law enforcement, financial services and technical industries have joined forces to combat this threat. The group today issued a "call to action" with the release of a paper outlining key recommendations that form a comprehensive plan for combating phishing more effectively."

Government Reform Committee Oversight Hearing: No Computer System Left Behind: A Review of the 2005 Federal Computer Security Scorecards, March 16, 2006.

Adobe whitepaper, Redaction of Confidential Information in a Document: "How to safely remove sensitive information from Microsoft Word documents and convert to PDF"

Press release: "On Thursday, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA)...[introduced] legislation to address the NSA's warrantless surveillance of Americans on American soil...The bill, the NSA OVERSIGHT ACT, would:

From the First Amendment Center, Kevin Goldberg summarizes federal legislation in 2005 that involved FOIA issues, and comments on the status of the proposals.

Press release: Business Roundtable joined with other U.S. business organizations today to urge Congress to apply a specific set of principles when considering any legislation that would impact current laws governing review of foreign investment in the United States. The eight business groups delivered Principles to Guide National Security Reviews of Foreign Investment to all Members of Congress today."

As reported today by Tony Mauro in the Legal Times, Justice Ginsburg Acknowledges Death Threat Against Her. Justice Ginsburg spoke about the threats against her and Justice O'Connor in a February 7, 2006 speech delivered to the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Retired Justice O'Connor has also recently spoken out about critics of the court who threaten its independence, and apparently the lives of those who serve as well. Threats to judges have become so widespread, that according to AP, "Three quarters of the nation's 2,200 federal judges have asked for government-paid home security systems."

Press release: California "Attorney General Bill Lockyer, in the first enforcement action resulting from his ongoing investigation into the sale of cell phone records, today filed a $10 million-plus lawsuit against Data Trace USA, Inc. (Data Trace) that alleges the firm unlawfully obtained and sold wireless customers' confidential monthly call records."

Related documents, legislation and postings:

"Welcome to CenSEARCHip! This is a tool developed by Mark Meiss and Filippo Menczer at the Indiana University School of Informatics in March of 2006 to allow you to explore the differences in the results returned by different countries' versions of the major search engines. We currently work with the Web search and image search functions of four national versions of Google and Yahoo!: the United States, China, France, and Germany."

"ArchiveGrid is an important destination for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world. Thousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies. ArchiveGrid is available to both individuals and institutions free of charge through May 31st. If additional grants funds or sponsorship are obtained, ArchiveGrid will remain free of charge; otherwise subscriptions will be available for institutions and individuals alike."

Op-Ed in Roll Call by CDT Officials Supports Protecting Bloggers without Opening Soft Money Loopholes in the Campaign Finance Laws: "H.R. 4900 protects bloggers and small speakers far better than does H.R 1606, and by design, it does not create other loopholes in the campaign finance laws. Those who truly want to protect bloggers and ordinary citizens should support H.R. 4900. Those whose real goal is to undermine campaign finance laws should support H.R. 1606, which provides only limited protection to online speakers."

Legal Decisions, Legislation & Forces of Nature Influence Federal Court Caseload in FY 2005: "Caseload statistics of the federal courts are compiled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts...For the tenth consecutive record-breaking year, filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals rose 9 percent to an all-time high of 68,473...Civil filings fell 10 percent to 253,273 in FY 2005; over a five year period, civil filings have climbed one percent...Nationwide, criminal filings in the U.S. district courts fell 2 percent to 69,575 in FY 2005, and the number of defendants in these cases dropped 1 percent to 92,226...Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts climbed 10 percent to 1,782,643, for a new record in FY 2005."

Office of General Counsel Advisory Opinions ["This index is intended to assist in locating Opinions on a particular subject, but the CPSC does not attest to its accuracy."]

Press release: "Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity, and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, introduced the Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act today, March 14, 2006."

Globalization and Offshoring of Software - A Report of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Job Migration Task Force, William Aspray, Frank Mayadas, Moshe Y. Vardi, Editors

Following up on recent postings about Google's legal battle with the DOJ, today District Court Judge James Ware indicated he will require Google to provide user generated search data, but with the caveat that he was concerned about use of such data for surveillance purposes. In addition, the government has reportedly scaled back the scope of its data request.

Press release, March 10, 2006, The National Archives and GPO Celebrate 70th Anniversary of the Federal Register: "...over the past two years, the public has downloaded almost 200 million Federal Register documents each year. During each of the past ten years, the Federal Register has published more than 70 thousand pages of rulemaking documents."

Telecommunications: Options for and Barriers to Spectrum Reform. GAO-06-526T, March 14, 2006. Full text | Highlights.

Press release: "The first-ever government-wide audit of the ways that federal agencies mark and protect information that is unclassified but sensitive for security reasons has found 28 different and uncoordinated policies, none of which include effective oversight or monitoring of how many records are marked and withheld, by whom, or for how long. The audit began in February 2005 with Freedom of Information requests from the National Security Archive at George Washington University, to more than 40 agencies, for copies of their policies and guidelines on "sensitive unclassified information."

Sunshine Week press release: "Two national polls conducted on the eve of the second national Sunshine Week open government initiative, March 12-18, show a public that equates open government with effective democracy and is concerned about the rise in official secrecy at the national, state and local levels."

Press release: "Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced a settlement to address what may have been the largest breach of privacy in internet history. The settlement with Datran Media, a leading e-mail marketer, follows an investigation that identified the improper disclosure of the personal information of more than six million American consumers."

"Press release: The oldest Freedom of Information requests still pending in the U.S. government date back to 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, according to the Freedom of Information Audit released [March 12] by the National Security Archive at the George Washington University."

Confronting Digital Age Head-On GPO Aims to Secure All Government Documents Online:" For most of U.S. history, any government agency that needed to print many copies of a document went to the GPO. Now, about half of government documents go straight online, forcing the printing agency to find new ways to make itself relevant in an increasingly paperless world. But questions of security, privacy and authenticity have confronted the GPO leadership as it has sought to get up to date in the digital age."

Project for Excellence in Journalism: "The State of the News Media 2006 is the third in our annual effort to provide a comprehensive look each year at the state of American journalism. Our goal is to put in one place as much original and aggregated data as possible about each of the major journalism sectors (Newspaper, Online, Blogs, Network TV, Cable TV, Local TV, Magazines, Radio, Ethnic)."

Research on the Case Management/Electronic Case File system (PACER), conducted by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), documented 469 missing criminal cases and 65 missing civil cases over the five-year period of Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2005.

Also from the RCFP:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Pre-Acquisition Planning for and Controls over the Sentinel Case Management System, Audit Report 06-14, March 2006 (PDF)

Press release: CIA Wins 2006 "Rosemary Award" for Worst Freedom of Information Performance by a Federal Agency

Press release: "U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has announced that he will introduce a resolution (text - in PDF) in the U.S. Senate on Monday to censure the President of the United States. Feingold's resolution condemns the President's actions in authorizing the illegal wiretapping program and then misleading the country about the existence and legality of the program. Feingold calls the resolution an appropriate and responsible step for Congress to take in response to the President's undermining of the separation of powers and ignoring the rule of law."

The press release referenced above includes the text of a Fact Sheet from U.S. Senator Russ Feingold on his Resolution to Censure the President, which includes the following statements:

Rethinking How We Provide Bibliographic Services for the University of California, Final Report, December 2005 (80 pages, PDF).

Press release: "In New York on March 9, 2006, attorneys with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a significant motion for summary judgment in the challenge to the legality of the NSA Domestic Spying Program (CCR v. Bush), asserting that the Bush Administration has already admitted enough incriminating facts to prove the NSA Program is illegal."

H.R. 4709, Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006, March 9, 2006 - Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on March 2, 2006.

H.R. 4900: Internet Free Speech Protection Act of 2006 - To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to exclude certain communications made over the Internet from certain requirements of such Act, and for other purposes.

AP: "Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in U.S. law."

NPR: "Newly retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took on conservative Republican critics of the courts in a speech Thursday. She told an audience at Georgetown University that Republican proposals, and their sometimes uncivil tone, pose a danger to the independence of the judiciary, and the freedoms of all Americans."

Declan McCullagh reported that NORAD orders Web deletion of transcript: "In an unusual follow-up to a public event, the Defense Department has ordered that a transcript of an open hearing on aviation restrictions be yanked from the Web."

Feds suggest 21-day deadline for Google subpoena
The U.S. Justice Department has set a suggested deadline for Google to hand over information about its users' search habits: 21 days."

National Security Archive press release: "The Justice Department official who oversaw national security matters from 2000 to 2003 e-mailed his former colleagues after revelation of the controversial warrantless wiretapping program in December 2005 that the Department's justifications for the program were "weak" and had a "slightly after-the-fact quality" to them, and surmised that this reflected "the VP's philosophy that the best defense is a good offense," according to documents released through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and joined by the ACLU and the National Security Archive."

See also:
ACLU Asks Federal Court to Block Illegal Spying Program, Citing "Concrete Harm" to Americans: "Saying that the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping of Americans is flatly illegal and unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal court in Detroit to block the program immediately."

Following-up on two recent postings, CIA Opposes Document Release for Libby Case and Decision on Key Documents in Libby Case Pending Judge's Determination, today U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton granted Libby access to summaries of the President's Daily Briefings (PDBs) for a range of specific dates, rather than the full text of the documents, for a 10 month period, as requested. The judge stated, "It is inconceivable that the defendant's memory of matters of significance to him have totally vanished and would not be refreshed upon viewing the general description of those matters.."

As posted on the Memory Hole: "After a certain number of years, the CIA, like many other agencies, turns over its films and other documents to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The lengthy list of CIA films at the Archives has never been publicly released, but researcher Michael Ravnitzky requested and received a copy from NARA...Many of the films were created by the CIA, and some - such as news reports and the occasional Hollywood movie - were not. Unfortunately, there's no indication of authorship in the list, though you can sometimes tell by the title."

Several weeks of contentious debate on the port operations deal have apparently been resolved with today's brief press release by DP World stating the company will transfer operations to an unnamed U.S. entity.

The Implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, Audit Report 06-13, [Redacted] March 2006 (PDF)

Press release [note - includes links to specific reports organized by hemisphere and country]: "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended, and section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. The law provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by February 25 "a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B) in all other foreign countries which are members of the United Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human rights report under this Act."

H.R. 1606, To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to exclude communications over the Internet from the definition of public communication, was passed by the House Administration Committee today, by voice vote.

Election Reform: Nine States' Experiences Implementing Federal Requirements for Computerized Statewide Voter Registration Lists, February 7, 2006. [Full Text | Highlights]

Press release: "The House Energy and Commerce Committee took steps Wednesday to protect consumers' privacy by unanimously approving the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. The bill will not only stop data sellers from lying to obtain individual consumers' personal phone records, but also fine telephone companies that don't do enough to protect this information."

March 1, 2006, It's Time To Update Site Search Functionality, by Iris Cremers with Jaap Favier, Kerry Bodine

"The Superintendent of Documents is pleased to announce the launch of the enhanced version of the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP). This version of the CGP is the online public access catalog (OPAC) module of the Government Printing Office's (GPO) new integrated library system. With the availability of the new CGP Phase 1 of a larger modernization plan to replace older legacy systems is complete. The new and improved CGP currently offers more than 500,000 records to both historical and current Government publications. These records have been created or updated since July 1976. Plans are underway to include records
for publications dating back to the late 1800s."

Executive Order 13397--Responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security With Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
[Federal Register: March 9, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 46)][Presidential Documents] [Page 12273-12276]

Press release: FTC Retains Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule Without Changes - "The Federal Trade Commission today announced its decision to retain, without changes, the Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule, which implements the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. In a Federal Register notice to be published soon, the Commission will present its findings retaining the Rule’s sliding scale approach to obtaining parental consent to the online collection of personal information from children, which takes into account how such information can be used."

CDT: "The House approved a PATRIOT Act renewal bill on Tuesday that lacks meaningful privacy and civil liberties reforms. The Senate passed the bill last week. The bill will now go to President Bush for his signature. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, who voted to renew the PATRIOT Act last week but vowed to continue fighting for reforms, co-sponsored a bill this week (S. 2369) with other Republican and Democratic Senators that contains the civil liberties protections that Congress failed to pass. CDT will urge other members to support Specter's bill."

Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
Oversight Hearing on "The Report on Orphan Works by the Copyright Office."

Witness statements (in PDF):

From Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media, "Safety on the Net" (7 pages, PDF), (09/02/06).

Following up on several weeks of news on strong bipartisan opposition to the operation of America's ports by UAE owned DP World, today the House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 to prevent the deal.

Report to Congress on Implementation of Section 1001 of the USA PATRIOT Act, Special Report, March 2006

Developed by the British Standards Institution, and reported yesterday by the Disability Rights Commission: "Key guidance on how to develop a website which is user-friendly for disabled people has been launched today."

Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Volume IX: March 2006 Highlights.

From the Economic Research Service, USDA: Government Patenting and Technology Transfer, by Paul W. Heisey, John L. King, Kelly Day Rubenstein, and Robbin Shoemaker, Economic Research Report No. (ERR15) 60 pp, March 2006.

The National Association of Attorneys General launched a searchable Antitrust Multistate Litigation Database, comprising case information dating back to 1990.

Hurricane Katrina: GAO's Preliminary Observations Regarding Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, GAO-06-442T, March 8, 2006. Highlights.

Press release, March 7, 2006: "The Maryland Judiciary announced today that public Internet access to information from case records maintained by the Maryland Judiciary is now available...Information is available on all civil, traffic, and criminal cases in the state except for cases originating in the circuit courts for Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. This information includes defendant name, city and state, case number, date of birth, plaintiff name (civil cases only), trial date, charge, and case disposition. It does not include contact information for victims and witnesses (other than expert witnesses). The amount of historical data may vary by jurisdiction."

Washington Post: Democrats' Data Mining Stirs an Intraparty Battle With Private Effort on Voter Information, Ickes and Soros Challenge Dean and DNC: Project seeks to raise millions to create and implement a database of voter information for use in state, local and national campaigns.

Notes from CEO Eric Schmidt's March 2 Google Analyst Day remarks, not intended for public release, mention a company plan to allow for the storage of "100% of user data" on a virtual drive.

Reviews of Vulnerabilities and Potential Abuses of the L-1 Visa Program, OIG-06-22, January 2006 (PDF, 43 pages)

AP: Congress Renews Patriot Act; Bush to Sign

Following up on recent news that Libby's defense is demanding the release of highly classified White House daily intelligence briefings, AP reports that a CIA affidavit filed with the court strongly opposed the release of these documents, stating in part "...Any disclosure... increases the possibility of damage to the national security..."

Press release - U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today made the following statement: "Several weeks ago I began discussing with the White House the need to expand this Committee's oversight of the Terrorist Surveillance Program and to begin engaging with Congress on possible legislative approaches. Before our last recess, I asked the members of the Intelligence Committee to give me more time to continue these discussions in hope of reaching an accommodation with the Administration on both the oversight and legislative fronts...Today we reached an accommodation with the White House to expand the number of members involved in overseeing this important program to seven, just about half of the Committee. The Committee voted to create a seven member subcommittee to conduct enhanced oversight of the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Including myself, there will be four Republicans on the Subcommittee. I have appointed the Members. They are: Senator Hatch, Senator DeWine, and Senator Bond."

Press release: "The New York Times announced today the launch of DealBook, a new online financial news report on NYTimes.com featuring up-to-the-minute news and exclusives about Wall Street and corporate America. The continually updated report edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin, the Times's chief mergers and acquisitions reporter, with contributions from Times business reporters, is an extension of the daily e-mail newsletter of the same name that reaches more than 160,000 subscribers and includes among its readers many of the nation’s most influential executives and leaders. DealBook now includes three separate entities: the DealBook online report, the DealBook e-mail newsletter and the DealBook Sunday column in the newspaper. The new online report will be published weekdays at NYTimes.com/dealbook and will contain in-depth coverage that is updated throughout the market day, Monday through Friday."

White House Fact Sheet: President Submits Line Item Veto Legislation to Congress

"Libraries Australia, a service that enables anyone with an Internet connection to select from more than 40 million items held in over 800 libraries across the nation....[was] launched at 12.30pm Monday 27 February at Parliament House, Canberra by Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. This innovative service is an Australian first, opening up the collections of Australia’s libraries to the public. Libraries Australia, developed by the National Library of Australia, is an e-ticket to a world of information consisting of books, journals, newspapers, theses, pictures, music, manuscripts, maps and much more. Many online resources such as digitised images and full text government publications can also be accessed immediately online."

"...the eGovernment Economics Project (eGEP) aims at producing a measurement framework for the evaluation of e-government impacts and outcomes. Policy makers and practitioners need new instruments to evaluate and monitor the costs, benefits and outcomes of eGovernment. After the first generation e-Government investments at digitalising the public sector, it is now important to show measurable goals in order to intensify, justify and monitor such efforts.

eGEP will answer these needs by following three main objectives:

"The FCC's Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks (Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel) was established pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended. The mission of the Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel is to review the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the telecommunications and media infrastructure in the areas affected by the hurricane. Specifically, the Independent Panel will study the impact of Hurricane Katrina on all sectors of the telecommunications and media industries, including public safety communications. The Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel will also review the sufficiency and effectiveness of the recovery effort with respect to the infrastructure. The Independent Panel will then make recommendations to the FCC by June 15, 2006 regarding ways to improve disaster preparedness, network reliability, and communication among first responders such as police, fire fighters, and emergency medical personnel."

National Journal: Defense Attorney, March 3, 2006.

The Case of Online Tax Filing: "This exerpt from Digital Government: Technology and Public Sector Performance, examines online tax filings in e-government, by Darrell M. West [John Hazen White Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University], February 2006.

Press release: "Citing the need to safeguard the personal information of Minnesotans, Governor Pawlenty today announced a series of proposals that will protect personal privacy and improve the way state government handles personal data...In 2005, more than 3,000 Minnesotans became the victims of identity theft according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Follow-up to Patriot Act Reauthorization Passed by Senate, from the Christian Science Monitor today, How the Patriot Act came in from the cold - The addition of new civil liberties protections made the Patriot Act's final lurch toward passage possible.

Press release from the Institute for Small Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI): "The 2004 election was a watershed in presidential campaign fundraising. Three or four times as many people contributed to the candidates in 2004 as in 2000, including an unprecedented number of small donors and Internet donors."

Press release: according to Nielsen//NetRatings reports - "Online Search Hits All-Time High of 5.7 Billion Searches...the highest number to date." Top three search engines remain: Google search, Yahoo search and MSN search.

Washington Post via MSNBC, White House trains efforts on media leaks - Bush administration targets sources, reporters under espionage laws

Computers in Libraries 2006, Post Conference Workshops – Saturday, March 25 - Workshop 17 — 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., presented by Sabrina I. Pacifici (LLRX.com and beSpacific)

Press release: "Attorney General Jim Petro said today he believes Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has a legal duty to take immediate steps to protect the privacy of citizens whose Social Security numbers have been made public on routine business forms posted on his office’s Web site....The confidentiality of citizens’ Social Security numbers is guarded as well under many public offices’ individual policies, including the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office, which redacts the numbers from forms they display or provide to the public, Petro said."

Preliminary Analysis of the President's Budget Request for 2007, March 3, 2006

From the Democratic staff of the Senate Budget Committee:

Press release: "...I am proposing legislation to establish a nonpartisan commission to review and investigate domestic surveillance in America, along with serious allegations of abuse. In this way, we will be sure to safeguard our First and Fourth Amendment rights, as enumerated in our Constitution, as well as evaluate the actual effectiveness of such programs in combating terrorist threats."

Press release: "The National Academies have prepared fact sheets that provide reliable, objective information on four types of potential terrorist attacks. Designed primarily for reporters, they explain the scientific underpinnings and health effects of biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological attacks. The National Research Council's Division on Earth and Life Studies led the creation of the briefs...PDF files of each fact sheet."

Follow-up to recent postings on Congressional earmarks, this February 28, 2006 press release:

Electronic Government: Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing New Federal Employee Identification Standard, GAO-06-178, February 1, 2006. Highlights.

"The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the stories and digital record of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. George Mason University's Center for History and New Media and the University of New Orleans, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and other partners, organized this project."

Time, Is the Dubai Ports Deal Doomed? - Why Bush is still losing ground with his own party, by Michael Duffy: "Republican objections to the Dubai ports deal haven't stabilized in Congress this week, despite the promise of a 45-day delay and nonstop crisis management by the Bush Administration. If anything, they've increased."

From the DOJ: Enron Trial Exhibits and Releases - United States v. Jeffrey K. Skilling and Kenneth L. Lay

Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc. Case 1:06-cv-00657, Filed 02/03/2006, 20 pages, PDF.

NARA press release: "Archivist of the United States Announces New Steps in Response to Withdrawal of Declassified Records from Open Shelves at the National Archives"

Related documents, news and postings:

According to surveys conducted by NYU Prof. Jay Rosen and members of his blogging 101 class, the list of Best Blogging Newspapers in the U.S. is topped by the Houston Chronicle.

"...ReadtheBill.org is a narrowly focused effort to persuade the U.S. Congress to establish the "72 Hours of Online Sunshine Rule" [H. Res. 688, introduced Feb. 16, 2006: To require that legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72 hours before consideration by the House, and for other purposes.]"

"CDT today offered a legislative proposal that would exempt the vast majority of individual speakers on the Internet from campaign finance laws, without creating loopholes that could be easily exploited by state political parties and large donors. CDT drafted the proposal in response to mounting efforts in the House of Representatives to pass a measure (HR 1606) that doesn't go far enough to protect the rights of political speakers on the Internet. That bill was offered in response to a proposal by the Federal Elections Commission to apply campaign finance laws to Internet communications."

Press release: "U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today unveiled ground-breaking new legislation that would ensure "net neutrality," or equal delivery of content on the internet, for consumers and business interests. Under Wyden's bill, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, network operators would be prohibited from charging companies for faster delivery of their content to consumers over the internet or favoring certain content over others."

Related news and postings on net neutrality:

A 19 page affidavit was filed today in the Libby CIA leak case, by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Previous disclosures related to the case refer to a still unnamed government official who in addition to Libby leaked information on Plame's identity.

H.R. 4709: Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006, and S. 2178: Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006, both passed committee by voice vote.

Press release: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Find Cell Phones Pose Greater Risk to Airplane Navigation Than Previously Believed

The vote was 89-10, with the following senators voting against the reauthorization: Sen. Akaka (D-HI); Sen. Bingaman (D-NM); Sen. Byrd (D-WV; Sen. Feingold (D-WI); Sen. Harkin (D-IA); Sen. Jeffords (I-VT); Sen. Leahy (D-VT); Sen. Levin (D-MI); Sen. Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Wyden (D-OR).

What Bush Was Told About Iraq, by Murray Waas, National Journal, Thursday, March 2, 2006

Learn how the government spent $62 billion in 2005 on information technology -- FY 2005 Report to Congress on Implementation of The E-Government Act of 2002, March 1, 2006. (46 pages, PDF)

Govtech.net: "For the second year in a row, Americans have rated the U.S. Postal Service as the number one agency they trust to protect their privacy, according to a new study." The FTC and the IRS are ranked second and third in the study, whose full text is not currently available online.

From People for the American Way, this new website, Make a FOIA Request: "Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), anyone has the right to request information from the government. Last strengthened by Congress in response to the Watergate scandal, FOIA gives citizens a way to demand transparency from the Administration -- and take the government to court if necessary. Many Americans -- especially those with family and friends abroad -- are wondering whether government agents have been listening to their phone conversations or reading their email. If you're worried this has happened to you, you can use this site to help you find out. We can't guarantee that the Bush administration will disclose all this information in compliance with the law, but we can help you through the process. By filing a FOIA request, you will send a strong signal that American citizens believe in the rule of law and aren't afraid to stand up to the President when he violates the Constitution!"

Statement of Senator Russ Feingold On Opposition to Ending Debate on the Patriot Act, As Read From the Senate Floor, March 1, 2006.

AP has obtained video footage and transcripts of federal and state emergency management personnel briefings for top government officials, including Bush and Chertoff, on the devastating ramifications of Katrina, prior to landfall.

CNN: "A review of a United Arab Emirates-owned company's plan to take over a portion of operations at key U.S. ports never looked into whether the company had ties to al Qaeda or other terrorists, a key Republican lawmaker told CNN on Wednesday."