Author archives

Hearing on Identity Theft

On Thursday, June 16, 2005, the Senate Commerce Committee held a Full Committee hearing to examine federal legislative solutions to data breach and identity theft. Note that Opening Remarks by five Senators are available in HTML, and the testimony from five FTC Commissioners and the Vermont Attorney General are available in PDF [Link]

Subjects: Congress, Cybercrime, ID Theft, Legislation

National Survey Report Consumer Views on Spyware and Identity Theft

From the Cyber Security Industry Alliance press release on the new survey: “More than 90 percent of voters see identity theft and spyware as serious problems with 71 percent believing new laws from Congress are required to protect consumer security. Today, CSIA released the results of a nationwide survey of voters dedicated to Internet safety …

Subjects: Cybercrime

NY AG Lawsuit Over Distribution of Spyware Settled

As a follow-up to my previous posting, NY AG Sues Net Marketer For Installing Spyware on Millions of PCs, see this press release dated June 14, 2005: “Intermix Media, Inc. reported today that it has reached an agreement in principle with the Internet Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General which …

Subjects: Cybercrime, PC Security, Privacy

FOIA Request Yields Gov. Docs on E-Voting Standards

“Documents obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the complete draft standards for voting technology. The standards, which were developed by a technical committee for the Election Assistance Commission, could determine how votes will be tabulated in future elections. Other documents obtained by EPIC reveal vendor attempts to influence the development of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Freedom of Information

Civil Liberties Groups Submit Amicus Brief on Listserv Membership Protection Issue

“EPIC joined eight civil liberties organizations to submit a “friend of the court” brief (38 pages, PDF) in Forensic Advisors v. Matrixx Initiatives, a case before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in which a pharmaceutical company is attempting to force a newsletter publisher to disclose his subscriber list. The company wants to use the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Internet, Legal Research

Corporate Blogs Are All The Rage, Sort Of

Recent suggested reading on enterprise blogs, and corporate blogs for public consumption: Establishing a Weblog On Your Organization’s Intranet (PDF): Sabrina I. Pacifici and Dennis Hamilton’s presentation from the SLA Annual Conference in Toronto is a ying and yang study of blogging enterprisewide behind the corporate firewall, with examples of blogs, and numerous references to …

Subjects: Blogs, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries, Marketing

Controversy Over Global Warming Report and Resignation of Key Figure

On June 9, I posted Questions Surround Editing of U.S. Report on Global Warming, linking to reports on, and documents related to, the “editing” of climate change research prior to publication of a government report on the issue. Another relevant document associated with this story is a June 9 letter sent by Rep. Waxman and …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents

Audit Report on Terror Watch List Database

Questions about the adequacy of the data and structure of the federal government’s terror watch list continue, and today’s New York Times reports on the the results of a recently released DOJ OIG study documenting significant weaknesses with the project, including the manner in which critical information was entered into the database. Federal Bureau of …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

Health Sites Remain E-Gov’t Favorites With Consumers

The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government scores [excel format] reports that consumers continue to rate most favorably the data provided by health related websites, including those run by the National Institutes of Health [MedlinePlus and the National Cancer Institute main website]. Related references: This GovExec.com article which includes commentary and a chart with …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research

MIT Weblog Survey

MIT Weblog Survey: “This is a general social survey of the greater weblog community being conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our goal is to help understand the way that weblogs are affecting the way we communicate with each other. Specifically we are interested in issues of demographics, communication behaviors, experience with weblogs and …

Subjects: Blogs

OECD Report on Digital Music

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Project on Digital Broadband Content published a new Report on Digital Music: Opportunities and challenges (132 pages, PDF): “…the outlook for the music market in 2005 is positive due to rapidly increasing sales of (mobile) digital music services. Digital music is also a driver for the global …

Subjects: Copyright, Digital Rights, E-Commerce, Internet

Enforcement of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Abroad Remains Weak

Intellectual Property: U.S. Efforts have Contributed to Strengthened Laws Overseas, but Significant Enforcement Challenges Remain GAO-05-788T, June 14, 2005. Highlights: “U.S. efforts have contributed to strengthened intellectual property legislation overseas, but enforcement in many countries remains weak, and further U.S. efforts face significant challenges. For example, competing U.S. policy objectives such as national security interests …

Subjects: Copyright, Government Documents, Intellectual Property

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