Author archives

Deal Reached on Patriot Act Reauthorization Amid Wide Disagreement

News reports this afternoon on the compromise reached by the House and Senate on Patriot Act reauthorization include the strong caveat that not all Senators are satisfied (see statements as follows, from Leahy and Feingold), and opposition continues (specifically from the so-called gang of six). Although 16 provisions will now sunset in four as opposed …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Patriot Act, Privacy

GAO Reports Extensive False Data on Domain Name Registration

Internet Management: Prevalence of False Contact Information for Registered Domain Names, GAO-06-165, November 4, 2005. Highlights. “Based on test results, GAO estimates that 2.31 million domain names (5.14 percent) have been registered with patently false data–data that appeared obviously and intentionally false without verification against any reference data–in one or more of the required contact …

Subjects: Domain Names, Government Documents, Internet

Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 Introduced Today

The text of H.R. 4437 A section by section summary November 17, 2005: “the House Homeland Security Committee approved comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to address security problems across U.S. borders.” H.R. 4312, the Border Security and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2005. Information on the Homeland Security Committee’s provisions from H.R. 4312.

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legislation

Government Reform Cmte. Chair Refuses Requests to Investigate Plame Leak

“In a letter to Chairman Davis, Rep. Waxman asks the Chairman to explain his rationale (letter, 4 pages, PDF) for rejecting requests to investigate the leak of classified information involving CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and contract abuses at the Department of Homeland Security, while directing the Committee to look into a leak of classified …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents

FOIA Request For Abramoff Docs. Yields No Response From Interior

Press release: “Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued the Department of the Interior (DOI) over its failure to provide requested documents related to Jack Abramoff and the Indian gaming scandal…In the midst of one of the largest government corruption scandals ever, the Department of Interior has decided to simply ignore federal …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents

OCLC Report on Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources

From OCLC:Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) summarizes findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and preferences. “The Perceptions report provides the findings and responses from the online survey in an effort to learn more about: Library use; Awareness and use of library electronic resources; The Internet search engine, the library and the …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries, Search Engines

Univ. Research Center Files FOIA Lawsuit Against OPM

Press release from TRAC, December 6, 2005: “The federal government is unlawfully withholding information it normally provides the public about some 900,000 of its civilian employees, including those working for such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to a …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legislation