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The Washington State Senate passed SB 5242, requiring libraries to offer filtering software for minor access to the internet, by a vote of 36 to 13. The bill has been referred to the House Technology, Telecommunications & Energy Committee.
The IRS Free File program has generated usage far beyond agency expectations, with 53 million taxpayers anticipated to file eletronically this year according to CNN. However, there is a flip side to this free web service. A coalition of advocacy groups (EPIC, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center, and the …
From the International Herald Tribune, Being Googled: Web search tool is not without critics, this article touches on how this high profile company, that responds to 200 million global requests daily, successfully deflects criticism concerning its indexing, privacy and data collection policies. There appears to be more interest in whether the company will go public …
A new study from Zeichner Risk Analytics LLC, State Implementation of Cyber-Security Requirements (pdf) identifies 36 states that have failed to prepare for and implement appropriate cybersecurity measures as required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 to protect critical financial and information infrastructure from cyberattacks.
New from the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC), Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and its Procedures. This resource also provides numerous links to other sources of CRS reports on the web from government, asssociation, commercial and academic sources.
The Command Post is a community blog with authors around the world who provide brief, predominently unbiased and continually updated information on a range of war related news and issues. Worth a look! Also, be sure to check-out the National Journal’s Iraq Coverage. Important information updated on this site daily includes: U.S. Military Deaths, U.S. …
Data Mining: Results and Challenges for Government Program Audits and Investigations, by Gregory D. Kutz, director, financial management and assurance, before the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Census, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO-03-591T, March 25.
Announcement from EPIC’s website, March 24: “In a legal memorandum (pdf) filed with the federal court in Washington, EPIC and the American Civil Liberties Union challenge the Justice Department’s refusal to disclose basic, statistical information concerning implementation of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act. For background information and copies of DOJ and FBI documents that have …
Rob Truman, Head of Electronic Information Services, Boley Law Library, Lewis & Clark Law School, alerted me to his resource guide, War on Iraq, that includes links to news sites, government and defense related information, as well blogs devoted to war coverage. Rob is updating this well designed and useful site frequently, and it merits …
Copyright Versus Consumers’ Rights: How Companies are Using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Thwart Competition, March 25. From the article: “Unlike in prior DMCA disputes, the object of Lexmark’s DMCA claim is not to prevent piracy of a copyrighted work. Instead, it is to prevent rivals from offering cheaper cartridges for Lexmark’s printers. This …
The Marion Brecher Citizen Access Project (CAP), from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is a “comparative guide to state laws controlling citizen access to government meetings and records.” The project provides a growing database of information on public records that uses a ‘sunshine’ index rating scale (to indicate the level of …
Digital Democrats, An Online Analysis of the Presidential Candidates, is an in-depth survey (92 pages, pdf) of how the websites of the eight declared candidates (Howard Dean, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Carol Moselely Braun and Al Sharpton) are leveraging the online forum for the purposes of fundraising, communicating with …
