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Via Politechbot, the text of the Reduction in Distribution of Spam Act of 2003, (43 pages, pdf) introduced May 22 by Rep. Richard Burr, (R-NC) in another effort to stem the tide of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE). For other related information on state and federal anti-spam legislation that I have posted, see this link. Also …
From a May 20 Judiciary Committee news advisory: “House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the answers received last week from the Justice Department regarding the USA PATRIOT Act and the war on terrorism. Chairman Sensenbrenner and Rep. Conyers wrote Attorney General John Ashcroft on …
Several sources have recently reported on the White House refusal to release data and related sources on events that led up to the 9/11 attacks which comprise a 800-plus page Congressional study completed last December. Reasons for the unwillingess to provide the public with access to the currently ‘secret’ report range from the need to …
From the New York Times, another article on the continuing saga of Congress and their fixation with the BlackBerry wireless handhelds. As noted in my previous posting, loyalty to this Canadian device is under significant challenge from a patent infringement dispute with NTP Inc. Time will tell whether Congress will establish a new allegiance with …
The Congress Online Project released a report resulting from two years of research, Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age (html). The entire text of the report is also available in PDF. The report evaluates 610 congressional member, standing committee and leadership websites, identifies effective techniques and tools for design, usability and …
On February 13, the Joint Committee on Taxation released a 3-volume report (PDF) that took a year to complete: Report Of Investigation Of Enron Corporation And Related Entities Regarding Federal Tax And Compensation Issues, And Policy Recommendations. You may access each of the volumes as follows:
Congressional Research Service Products: Taxpayers Should Have Easy Access. From the report: “$81 million of tax-payer money funded the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in FY 2002. CRS authors products at the request of current Members of Congress, many of whom become lobbyists, but CRS products are made difficult if not impossible for the public to …
The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee is holding a Technology Fair on February 12, 2003 with demonstrations by Internet Caucus Co-Chairs, Senators Conrad Burns and Patrick Leahy, and Congressmen Bob Goodlatte and Rick Boucher, of the latest wireless, tele-medicine, e-learning, cyber security, online gaming, Internet movies and music technologies.
C-SPAN has a public service called CapitalHearings.org that allows you to listen live, via streaming audio, to selected Senate hearings. The site provides a schedule indicating the committee, time and location of each respective hearing.
Only a partial text is available to non-subscribers, but here is a link to a new Salon article, Total Information Awareness: Down, but not out, that contends Congressional efforts to limit the program may be a case of too little too late. “The federal government is unlikely to stop doing research into how to glean …
According to this AP article, House Speaker Dennis Hastert commented on the TIA program via his spokesman, Pete Jeffries, that its fate “is questionable,” setting the stage for what appears to be an uncertain road ahead for funding of the controversial program when it reaches the conference committee in February.
The administration’s proposed plans for e-government initiatives have been dealt a significant blow by Senate appropriations actions which cut $40 million from the requested total of $45 million for FY 2003. Through the E-Government Act of 2002, agencies are working on a coordinated effort to streamline, standardize and improve the management and operation of online …
