Author archives

Total Information Awareness Overview

This site provides a flowchart of the TIA System objectives and strategy….very short on facts. This Washington Post article offers more information on the new Pentagon project including links to other press coverage, both pro and con, mostly focused on privacy concerns associated with its goals and objectives. If you are interested in hearing about …

Subjects: Privacy

China Censors Danish Websites

The Copenhagen press reported that the Chinese government has systematically censorsed access to the Danish search engine, Jubii. This is in no small measure due to the fact this engine provides access to sites banned by the Chinese government, including Amnesty International and the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Note: I was not familiar with Falun …

Subjects: Censorship, Freedom of Information, Internet

CA Law on Computer Database Hacking

The California state government learned the hard way the repercussions of not acting swiftly to respond to, secure and disclose that employee personal data was comprised by a wide scale database hacking operation in April 2002. Fast forward, and their legislature is now the first in the country to pass a law to prevent the …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Privacy

Homeland Security and Surveillance

William Safire’s Op-Ed piece, You Are a Suspect, generated considerable reaction from readers as he enumerated how each and every daily transaction that you consider innocuous and routine (purchases with credit cards, filling prescriptions, surfing the web) will become part of the DOJ’s vast new, Total Information Awareness database. Needless to say, Safire condemns the …

Subjects: Privacy

FTC and Spam Scams

The FTC has developed and initiated a joint effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraudulent and deceptive actions perpetrated via the use of spam e-mail messages. As a result of their investigations, the FTC posted a useful web page here with facts on spam scams and advice for …

Subjects: E-Mail

E-Gov Failures

The Federal Times chronicles the many challenges that have been posed to the successful implementation of e-government initiatives over the course of the past six years, in this article: E-Government Still Unplugged: Projects Short-Circuited by Infighting, Resistance.

Subjects: E-Government

DOE Removes PubScience Website

The Software Information Industry Association (SIAA) issued a press release supporting the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to remove the free PubSCIENCE database from the web. Users are now redirected to the DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) site to conduct journal searches. The SIALL argued for the removal of PubSCIENCE due to …

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

Document Management After Enron

This interesting commentary reviews the requirement for documents management in the post-Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley Act corporate environment. Destroying corporate documents, via shredding or other “digital” means can be a criminal act, so increased attention is warranted to how internal documents are stored, shared and deleted.

Subjects: E-Records

Nursing Home Data Online

Medicare.gov is a useful new government sponsored resourse that provides data evaluating nursing homes that have been certified by Medicare and Medicaid. The site has a general search engine, as well as one that permits users to locate nursing homes by state. In addition, the site also provides links to state sponsored data on nursing …

Subjects: E-Government