Author archives

Ubiquity of the Internet Poses Significant Security Issues

Zittrain, Jonathan, The Generative Internet. Harvard Law Review, 2006. Abstract: “The power and flexibility of the Internet has ignited growth and innovation in information technology and in associated creative endeavors, its generativity soliciting contribution from varied audiences. This very power and flexibility projected across millions of mainstream users has also become a vehicle for security …

Subjects: Internet

Cost ot Date of Iraq War May Top $500 Billion

The Economic Costs of the Iraq War: An Appraisal Three Years After the Beginning of the Conflict, By Linda Bilmes and Joseph E. Stiglitz Working Paper Number: RWP06-002 (37 pages, PDF). Submitted: 01/11/2006. “”We have not attempted in this paper an overall assessment of whether the war was conducted in the most cost efficient manner, …

Subjects: Congress

ALA Announces Intention to File Patriot Act FOIA Request

American Libraries Online, January 13, 2006: “The American Library Association’s Executive Board intends to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine if the FBI has been collecting information on the Association and its leaders as a result of their opposition to certain provisions of the USA Patriot …

Subjects: Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Libraries, Patriot Act

Test of E-Passports Begins at SFO

DHS press release: “A live test of e-Passports, that contain contactless chips with biographic and biometric information and the readers that are capable of reading these e-Passports, begins January 15, 2006 at Terminal G at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). This test is a collaborative effort between the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore …

Subjects: E-Records, Government Documents

National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)

National Information Exchange Model (NIEM): “…establishes a single standard XML foundation for exchanging information between DHS, DOJ, and supporting domains…” Mission: “To assist in developing a unified strategy, partnerships, and technical implementations for national information sharing — laying the foundation for local, state, tribal, and federal interoperability by joining together communities of interest. That foundation …

Subjects: E-Government

Wiki Provides Global Guidance to Keep Free Speech Alive

Spirit of America sponsors The Anoniblogging Wiki: “This wiki contains our five initial guides on how to blog more safely [targeted to citizens in Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Malaysia and Zimbabwe]. Across the globe, countries that discourage free speech have followed their citizens into the blogosphere. According to one count, in the last two years …

Subjects: Blogs, Civil Liberties, Free Speech

Clinton Administration Did Not Authorize Warrantless Wiretaps

A January 12, 2005 ABC News Nightline interview with former President Clinton clarified information on the use of warrantless wiretaps during his administration. According to Clinton: “My attitude was that once the Congress had spoken on it and given us the tools that we needed, we used it…We used the law. We either went there …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Privacy