New GAO Report on FOIA Released Today
Freedom of Information Act: Agency Views on Changes Resulting from New Administration Policy. GAO-03-981, September 3. Highlights. FOIA Rules Not Seen Affecting Information
Category «Congress»
Bills Introduced to Expand Patriot Act
Antiterrorism Tools Enhancement Act of 2003, H.R. 3037, To strengthen antiterrorism investigative tools, and for other purposes, introduced September 9, 2003. Pretrial Detention and Lifetime Supervision of Terrorists Act of 2003, H.R. 3040, introduced September 9, 2003. See also Bush Seeks to Toughen Anti-Terror Laws and Justice Bell questions expanded Patriot Act: “A Florida Supreme …
E-Gov and Smart Cards
Electronic Government: Challenges to the Adoption of Smart Card Technology, by Joel Willemssen, managing director, information technology, before the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Census, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO-03-1108T, September 9. Highlights.
Enhancing Patent and Trademark Quality
From the July 24, 2003 Oversight hearing on “Patent Quality Improvement”, this recently released Final Serial #38, 39 pages in pdf, includes the opening statements, testimony and prepared witness statements.
FTC Report to Congress on Federal Telemarketing Laws
Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress, Pursuant to the Do Not Call Implementation Act, on Regulatory Coordination in Federal Telemarketing Laws (September 2003). [Link] Text of the Commission Report Appendix A: The Federal Trade Commission’s Amended Telemarketing Sales Rule and Statement of Basis and Purpose Appendix B: The Federal Communications Commission’s Amended Telephone Consumer Protection …
Hearing on Music Downloading Addresses Scope of DMCA
Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate on “P****graphy, Technology, and Process: Problems and Solutions on Peer-to-Peer Networks.” September 9, 2003. [this site provides links to all available testimony] In particular, see the testimony of William Barr, Exec. VP and General Counsel, Verizon Communications(who served as Attorney General of the United States …
Hearing on ID Theft, Fraud and Homeland Security
The Alias Among Us: The Homeland Security and Terrorism from Document Fraud, Identity Theft and Social Security Number Misuse, Senate Finance Committee Hearing, September 9, 2003 (this site provides links to testimony by seven witnesses as well as committee members). From GCN.com’s coverage of this hearing: “the General Accounting Offices Robert J. Cramer (Managing Director, …
The Patriot Act: A Slate Guide to the Highlights
A Guide to the Patriot Act, Part 1 – Should you be scared of the Patriot Act? proclaims there are villans on both side of the fight over the extension of this act, as well as its proposed progeny, the Victory Act (as the Patriot Act II was quickly dispatched while still in draft). This …
CDT Wants Privacy Protections for WhoIs Database
The Center for Democracy and Technology sent a letter on September 4 to Reps. Adam Smith and Howard Berman, House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, urging the implementation of privacy protections for personal information entered in the WhoIs domain name database. See also my posting from September 4 on the Hearing on …
Congressional Report Examines Impact of Politics on Scientific Research
From the Politics and Science website, presented by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member, Committee on Government Reform, Minority Office: A new report, August 2003, Politics and Science, (40 pages, pdf) “finds numerous instances where the Administration has manipulated the scientific process and distorted or suppressed scientific findings. Beneficiaries include important supporters of the President, …
Senate Votes Against Total Information Awareness Program
From Reuters: “The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to cut off funding for a widely criticized computer-surveillance program that would comb travel records, credit-card bills and other private records to sniff out suspected terrorists. In a military spending bill it passed unanimously, the Senate forbade the Defense Department to spend any portion of its $369 …
Resource for Tracking Tech Legislation
The non-profit association, EDUCAUSE, maintains a regularly updated online chart in Excel that tracks technology-related legislation for the 108th Congress. The chart indicates issue, bill number, related bill, last action (date), committee/subcommittee, and whether the bill is active. There are currently 51 entries on issues including privacy, ID theft, broadband and spam.
