Press release: Grassley Questions Nonprofit Investment Group’s Practices, Seeks IRS, SEC Comment [6 pages, PDF, includes text of letter from Grassley to National Association of Investors Corp. President as well as letter to etter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox]
According to security technology expert Bruce Schneier, the NSA data mining surveillance program "won't uncover any terrorist plots until they are very accurate, and that even very accurate systems will be so flooded with false alarms that they will be useless."
Following up on previous postings about Connecticut librarians gagged by the FBI's use of the National Security Letter provision of the Patriot Act, news from an ACLU press conference on the identity of the librarians and their respective statements as follows:
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2005, April 2006 (871 pages, PDF): "Submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State, this report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports and includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide."
Directory of Published Proceedings: search by subject (Science/Technology, Medical/Life Sciences, Pollution Control/Ecology, Social Sciences/Humanities), sponsor and publisher, country, State/Province and year the event took place. [D.C.]
A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online from The Center For Democracy and Technology - Veterans Data Breach Highlights Inadequate Privacy Protections.
Michael Ravnitzky's FOIA requests for FBI files on Bacteriological Warfare in the United States, from 1950-1971 [709 redacted pages], are now available in PDF, with further releases forthcoming, according to Russ Kick at the Memory Hole.
"The Census Bureau conducts a census of governments at five year intervals, and an annual survey for the intervening years. The state and local government finances are available in files and viewable tables. The statistics cover government financial activity in four broad categories of revenue, expenditure, debt, and assets." [Available data]
Press Briefing: CIA Declassifies Operational Materials As a Result of New Disclosure Policy under Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act
Cases and Materials on American Federalism, Douglas G. Amber, J.D.
Purdue University Calumet, [Last Revision Date: May 29, 2006].
According to the New York Times, Arizona's rapid population growth combined with a "heavy traffic in methamphetamine" are signficant factors in the state's ranking at the top of the list for ID theft complaints recorded by the FTC.
IRS Final and Temporary Regulations, Federal Register: May 30, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 103)][Rules and Regulations][Page 30591-30608]- Summary: "These regulations affect taxpayers that file Federal income tax returns. They simplify, clarify, or eliminate reporting burdens and also eliminate regulatory impediments to the electronic filing of certain statements that taxpayers are required to include on or with
their Federal income tax returns."
From the Energy Information Administration, Côte d'Ivoire Country Analysis Brief (05/30/2006): "For information on the energy situation in Côte d’Ivoire, please see our updated Country Analysis Brief (HTML or PDF). Also included are a map, graph, and links to other related web sites."
Follow-up to recent postings, Theft of Data on Over 25 Million Veterans Renews Calls for Greater Security and VA Launches Website and Call Center After Theft of Personal Data, from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: The VA's Data Breach – Tips for Veterans and Action You Can Take under Federal Law
BBC: "The European Court of Justice has annulled an EU-US agreement requiring airlines to transfer passenger data to the US authorities."
CIA website updated to reflect that General Michael V. Hayden, USAF succeeded Porter J. Goss as Director, Central Intelligence Agency.
The CCH Payroll Management Guide reports "Maryland employers, including the State, counties, and municipal corporations, may no longer print an employee's Social Security number on wage payment checks."
"In recognition of National Internet Safety Month (June 2006), National Criminal Justice Reference Service presents this compilation of Internet safety resources."
"This web site provides information in four topic areas regarding the Inventory and Evaluation of Clinical Research Networks (IECRN) project. The four primary objectives of the IECRN project are as follows: To develop an inventory and database of clinical research networks; To describe organizational and operational characteristics of a sample of networks in several key areas; To identify and examine networks best practices that lead to successful achievement of specified outcomes, including increased efficiency, promotion of interactivity within the network or across networks, and broadening of research scope; To conduct a National Leadership Forum to discuss the study findings, highlight selected best practices and disseminate this information to the research community."
Industry Report: Product Liability: A Trend Still Worth Watching (PDF, 4 pages)
This New York Times article describes the obstacles used by the SEC to obstruct public access to corporate records, even if a third party expert is used to facilitate document retrieval using a FOIA request.
National Association for Business Economics 3rd Annual Professional Development Seminar, How to Find and Use Economic Statistics
"Irrepressible.org will harnass the power of the internet to mobilise people all over the world to take a stand against repression." [Link] "...Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information. The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments – with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world – are cracking down on freedom of expression. Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress."
According to News.com, text from a 25 page redacted brief (PDF) filed on behalf of AT&T on whether the NSA surveillance case can be litigated without compromising state secrets, has been recovered to reveal the company's response to alleged cooperation with the government phone surveillance program.
POGO: "The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has obtained a version of the May 2005 Defense Department Inspector General (DoD IG) report on the Boeing Tanker Lease scandal that shows the original report hid the text of Boeing emails and references to Boeing executives from the public. Redactions made by the White House Counsel office still remain in the newly released version...POGO is in the process of filing and administrative appeal to have the remaining redactions made public."
Press release, May 26, 2006: "Today the National Security Archive announces the publication of the most comprehensive collection ever assembled of the memoranda of conversations (memcons) involving Henry Kissinger, one of the most acclaimed and controversial U.S. diplomats of the second half of the 20th century. Published on-line in the Digital National Security Archive (ProQuest) as well in print-microfiche form, the 28,000-page collection is the result of a seven-year effort by the National Security Archive to collect every memcon that could be found through archival research and declassification requests. According to Kissinger biographer and president of the Aspen Institute Walter Isaacson, "Henry Kissinger's memos of conversation are an amazing, fascinating, and absolutely indispensable resource for understanding his years in power."
Follow-up to the latest extensive incident of ID theft involving government records and citizen personal data, see this OMB Memoranda M-06-15, Safeguarding Personally Identifiable Information, May 22, 2006.
Related government documents and news:
NARA: The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) has released its Report to the President for 2005 (32 pages, PDF). The Report profiles data about the Government-wide security classification program, primarily during Fiscal Year 2005. In his transmittal letter to the President included in the Report, ISOO Director J. William Leonard notes: One of the most notable developments is that the Public Interest Declassification Board is now holding regular sessions. This Board will contribute to the declassification process by identifying records on specific subjects that are of extraordinary public interest. These records will be identified when it is deemed that declassification will not undermine the national security interests of the United States."
DOJ: "Testimony in the jury trial of former Enron chief executives Jeffrey K. Skilling and Kenneth L. Lay concluded on Monday, May 8, 2006 after fifty-three days of trial proceedings. Closing arguments were presented to the jury May 15, 2006 through mid-morning of May 17, 2006, at which time the jury retired to begin its deliberations. On its sixth day of deliberations, Thursday, May 25, 2006, the jury returned its verdicts. Lay was convicted on all of the six counts with which he was charged: Conspiracy, two counts of Wire Fraud and three counts of Securities Fraud. Skilling, was convicted on 19 of the 28 counts pending against him: Conspiracy, 12 counts of Securities Fraud, one count of Insider Trading, and five counts of Making False Statements to Auditors. Skilling was acquitted of nine Insider Trading counts. A bench trial concerning charges against Kenneth L. Lay of bank fraud and making false statements to banks began on Thursday, May 18, 2006, before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake and concluded on Tuesday, May 23, 2006. Judge Lake announced his verdict on Thursday, May 25, 2006, immediately after the jury’s verdicts were read. Judge Lake convicted Lay of all the charges against him in the Bench Trial: one count of Bank Fraud and three counts of Making False Statements to Banks."
The LA Times reported (reg. req'd) today that the controvery over the government propaganda campaign is also an issue for 77 news stations throughout the country, who have aired content that is now under investigation by the FCC.
"An Insider’s View of the U.S. Serial Set is a free whitepaper authored by Andrea Sevetson, former documents librarian at University of California, Berkley, and 1996-97 GODORT Chair who is now an Information Professional Consultant with LexisNexis."
Refereed technical papers from 11 research areas are available from the WWW2006 Conference, May 23-26, 2006. Topic areas include: business success, next wave, education and science, security and health.
Justice Department Probe Foiled, by Shane Harris and Murray Waas, National Journal: "An internal Justice Department inquiry into whether department officials -- including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft -- acted properly in approving and overseeing the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program was stymied because investigators were denied security clearances to do their work. The investigators, however, were only seeking information and documents relating to the National Security Agency's surveillance program that were already in the Justice Department's possession, two senior government officials said in interviews."
Related legal documents, commentary, opinion and postings:
Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators, by Murray Waas, National Journal: "On September 29, 2003, three days after it became known that the CIA had asked the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, columnist Robert Novak telephoned White House senior adviser Karl Rove to assure Rove that he would protect him from being harmed by the investigation, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the federal grand jury testimony of both men."
NIST's National Vulnerability Database: Search for Vulnerabilities - Enter vendor, software, or keyword.
"The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released for public comment the initial draft of its Guide for Developing Performance Metrics for Information Security, 49 pages, PDF (SP 800-80). The guide provides a methodology for linking agencies' IT security program performance to agency performance, "tying information security controls, implementation, efficiency and effectiveness to an agency's success in its mission-critical activities."
Follow-up to previous postings on net neutrality, today the House passed the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 [H.R. 5417], on a 20-13 vote.
Follow-up to posting yesterday, Theft of Data on Over 25 Million Veterans Renews Calls for Greater Security, this news from the government today: "Over the weekend following the recent theft of 26.5 million veterans' records, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) quickly put in place a call center and website to answer questions about the implications of the theft and the steps veterans can take to protect themselves from misuse of their personal information. The call center, at 1-800-FEDINFO, operates from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (EDT) Monday to Saturday. It can handle up to 260,000 toll-free calls a day. The latest information on VA data security is posted on Firstgov.gov, the U.S. government's official Web portal."
Related news and government documents:
From Government Computer News, this 1 page PDF indicates programs ranked by 2006 spending. "The Federal government is spending over $192 million on the 24 quicksilver E-Gov initiatives in fiscal 2006."
NASCIO Research Brief -- The IT Security Business Case: Sustainable Funding to Manage the Risks (15 pages, PDF)
"The Library of Congress preserves the nation's cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them. The Library's traditional functions of acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and the American people to foster education and scholarship extend to digital materials, including Web sites...In 2004, the Library’s Office of Strategic Initiatives created a Web Capture team to support the goal of managing and sustaining at-risk digital content. The team is charged with building a Library-wide understanding and technical infrastructure for capturing Web content. The team, in collaboration with a variety of Library staff, and national and international partners, is identifying policy issues, establishing best practices and building tools to collect and preserve Web content."
Press release: "The U.S. Treasury Department today announced it is conceding the legal dispute over the federal excise tax on long-distance telephone service. The Department of Justice will no longer pursue litigation and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will issue refunds of tax on long-distance service for the past three years. Taxpayers will be able to apply for refunds on their 2006 tax forms, to be filed in 2007."
Press release, May 24, 2006: "U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) today introduced legislation (22 pages, PDF) that would reaffirm that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the exclusive means by which our government can conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. persons on U.S. soil for foreign intelligence purposes."
Indoor Air Chemistry: Cleaning Agents, Ozone and Toxic Air Contaminants, Principal Investigator: William W. Nazaroff. University of California, Berkeley. April 2006. ARB Contract No. 01-336.
NIH Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network: "These NIH Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) studies—organized by city—have been approved to open as of May 1, 2006. Additional studies are being planned. Please note that each study is taking place at multiple sites."
Google Accounts for Half of all U.S. Searches in April according to Nielsen//NetRatings
A Review of the FBI's Handling and Oversight of FBI Asset Katrina Leung, Special Report, May 2006, 24 pages, PDF (Unclassified Executive Summary)
Constitution Project's Guidelines for Public Video Surveillance: A Guide to Protecting Communities and Preserving Civil Liberties (60 pages, PDF) - "Liberty and Security Initiative released their Guidelines for Public Video Surveillance: A Guide to Protecting Communities and Preserving Civil Liberties today. The report provides practical assistance to state and local governments that have established – or are seeking to install – video surveillance systems. It demonstrates how communities can set up systems that enhance security, while safeguarding residents' civil liberties."
The Use of RFID for Human Identification (PDF, 15 pages). "The DHS Emerging Applications and Technology Subcommittee of the Privacy Advisory Committee is seeking comments on this draft report. This report will be considered by the full Committee during the June 7, 2006 public Advisory Committee meeting in San Francisco, CA."
Follow-up to previous postings on domestic surveillance of telephone calls, this press release today - ACLU Launches Nationwide Action Against NSA Snooping on Americans' Phone Calls: "ACLU affiliates in 20 states today filed complaints with Public Utility Commissions or sent letters to state Attorneys General and other officials demanding investigations into whether local telecommunications companies allowed the NSA to spy on their customers."
Related news:
Statement of Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson on the Status of the Veterans Data Theft (5/24/06): "I am outraged at the loss of this veterans' data and the fact an employee would put it at risk by taking it home in violation of our policies. I am also concerned about the timing of the Department's response once the burglary became known. I will not tolerate inaction and poor judgment when it comes to protecting our veterans."
NIH Posts Information on Research Results for the Public - May 16, 2006. Currently, fact sheets are available (PDF), on the following topics: Doubling Accomplishments-Selected Examples; Chronic Kidney Disease and Kidney Failure; Heart Disease; Research Into What Works Best; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Parkinson's Disease; Amazing Research, Amazing Help; New Efforts for FY 2007; Driving the Transformation to Predictive, Personalized and Preemptive Medicine; and Stroke (additional documents will be added in future).
May 21, 2006 press release: "During the year that ended last June 30, the nation's prison and jail population grew 2.6 percent, reaching 2,186,230 inmates behind bars, the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Two thirds were in state or federal prisons (1,438,701) and the other third (747,529) were in local jails."
WSJ free feature: Americans Growing Less Confident In FDA's Job on Safety, Poll Shows
Press release: "Leadership in Customer Service: Building the Trust (108 pages, PDF) is Accentures seventh global report on government service delivery. The report showcases insights from in-depth interviews with 45 high-ranking government executives from the 11 countries that consistently top Accenture’s annual survey of governments' use of technology in customer service: Canada, the United States, Denmark, Singapore, Australia, France, Japan, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom and Ireland."
From PERC: Patient Education Resource Center [U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center], "lists of information sourcesrelating to a specific cancer diagnosis or issue. The purpose is to help newly diagnosed patients and their loved ones find sources of information and support. The guides are not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to provide starting points for information seeking."
As reported by USAToday.com, marketing objectives are displacing statistical data in a growing number of corporate annual reports, whose appearance may now be slanted toward style over substance, at least from the researcher's perspective. [D.C.]
Follow-up to recent postings, EFF Can Use Critical AT&T Documents in Surveillance Lawsuit and Does Domestic Telephone Surveillance Violate Communications Act?, today Wired published Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut [note related link, 29 pages, PDF, documenting domestic surveillance program activities and technical descriptions]
Related news and documents:
WSJ free feature: New Domain Name -- .Mobi -- Could Spur Wireless Web
Israel: Background and Relations with the United States - Congressional Research Service Report, Updated 5/18/2006 (19 pages, PDF)
ABC News This Week, May 21, 2006: "Gonzales also defended the NSA wiretapping program, insisting the Justice Department has not been reviewing the "content" in journalists' phone records without a court order. The attorney general reiterated that the rights of a free press cannot trump national security but added, "I understand very much the role the press plays in our society." "...When asked whether journalists should be prosecuted for publishing classified material, Gonzales answered, "It depends on the circumstances...We have an obligation to make sure the people are protected.""
The Final Report on the fiftieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women is now available.
Press release, May 19, 2006: "U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today introduced legislation that would preserve the open and democratic character of the Internet. The Internet Freedom Preservation Act (9 pages, PDF) would ensure that all content, applications and services are treated equally and fairly on the Internet by prohibiting broadband network operators from blocking, degrading, or prioritizing service on their networks. Rules to that effect were in place when the Federal Communications Commission reclassified broadband services, but the FCC neglected to adopt meaningful and enforceable safeguards."
BusinessWeek.com: Life On The Web's Factory Floor - Who do you think turns all those words into an easy click?
Press release, May 18, 2006: "Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) today introduced the Free Flow of Information Act (12 pages, PDF), a bill seeking to protect the public's right to information through a free press. This legislation would provide appropriate protections for professional journalists and their employers from having to reveal information that a journalist learned under a promise of confidentiality and in the course of carrying out news-gathering functions."
CRS Report, Government Access to Phone Calling Activity and Related Records: Legal Authorities, May 17, 2006 (19 pages, PDF)
Via BBC, the Advance Unedited Version (11 pages, PDF), Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee against Torture, May 19, 2006.
"Resignations from the federal bench, once rare, now are increasingly frequent. Since January 1, 2005, nine judges have resigned or retired from the federal bench. As a result, 2005 witnessed the single largest exodus from the federal bench ever." [Link]
May 17, 2006: Report on the Progress of the DNI in Implementing the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004" (12 pages, PDF)
From the Google Librarian Center: "Looking for tools to help teach your patrons how to use Google more effectively? By popular demand, we’re now offering free downloadable teaching tools. While we've started small, we're planning on making more materials available soon, including additional posters, cheat sheets, tent cards – even trainings. Feel free to download and distribute these materials as widely as you'd like."
DisabilityInfo.gov "contains links to information of interest to people with disabilities, their families, employers, service providers and other community members." This site is the May 2006 recipient of the Gold Award from the American Association of Webmasters for outstanding design and content.
Follow-up to previous related postings, ona May 17, 2006 the CDT sent a letter to Congress, signed by more than 180 organizations (including ALA and AALL), urging that public access to data from the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory program not be subject to limitations.
John Cornyn, Immigration Reform: Back to the Future, Yale L.J. (The Pocket Part), May 2006.
H.R. 5126, the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2006 Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Hearing, May 18, 2006.
Senate Intelligence Committee Open Hearing: Confirmation Hearing of General Michael V. Hayden to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, May 18, 2006.
BBC Poll, Trust in Media press release: "More people trust the media than their governments, especially in developing countries, according to a ten-country opinion poll for the BBC, Reuters, and The Media Center." [thanks to D.C.]
CRS report, Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 109th Congress, May 12, 2006 (37 pages, PDF)
Press release: "Wireless Internet access can free you from the confines of cords, but not from the need for security. Without taking the proper precautions, it's easy for others to use your wireless network connection to access the Internet, or even to access the information on your own computer. The Federal Trade Commission is introducing a new section of OnGuard Online to teach computer users how to protect their personal wireless network connections – and the computers on them – from unauthorized use. The information also is available in Spanish."
From the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights:
The Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor, May 2006 (1 G.L.M. 2006), 50 pages, PDF. "The Global Legal Monitor is a new electronic publication of the Law Library of Congress intended for those who have an interest in legal developments around the world. It draws upon information selected from official national legal publications and reliable press sources and is arranged by broad subject topics." [Donna Scheeder, Director, Law Library Services, Law Library of Congress]
"SmartLinks provides 'pre-queried' searches on health policy topics (Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Electronic Medical Records, Children's Health Coverage, Public Health Preparedness, Drug Safety and Regulation, Stem Cell Policy, Drug Reimportation, VA Health System) in several different internet search engines. You'll get results from: PubMed, Kaisernetwork Daily Headlines, HighBeam Research, Google Uncle Sam, Google Scholar, and NY Academy of Medicine Grey Literature Report."
Fromt he Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured:
Disaster Preparedness: Preliminary Observations on the Evacuation of Vulnerable Populations due to Hurricanes and Other Diasasters, Full-text report GAO-06-790T, and Highlights, May 18, 2006.
Follow-up to May 15, 2006 posting, EFF Reports Government Files Secret Motion to Dismiss AT&T Surveillance Case:
Privacy: Key Challenges Facing Federal Agencies, Full text report GAO-06-777T, adn Highlights, May 17, 2006.
Social Security Numbers: Internet Resellers Provide Few Full SSNs, but Congress Should Consider Enacting Standards for Truncating SSNs, Full-text report GAO-06-495, and Highlights, May 17, 2006.
Information Sharing: DHS Should Take Steps to Encourage More Widespread Use of Its Program to Protect and Share Critical Infrastructure Information, Full-text report GAO-06-383, and Highlights, April 17, 2006.