Category «E-Government»

All the States Where DOJ is Demanding Voting Data

Democracy Docket – “In recent months, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been contacting states demanding access to sensitive election and voting data. In Minnesota and Nevada, DOJ sent nearly identical letters seeking access to their state voter rolls. In Colorado, DOJ made an unprecedented, sweeping demand for all 2024 election records. And in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research

Inside ICE’s Supercharged Facial Recognition App of 200 Million Images

404 Media – “ICE officers are able to point their smartphone’s camera at a person and near instantaneously run their face against a bank of 200 million images, then pull up their name, date of birth, nationality, unique identifiers such as their “alien” number, and whether an immigration judge has determined they should be deported …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data

Wired – no paywall: “A new agreement viewed by WIRED gives ICE direct access to a federal database containing sensitive medical data on tens of millions of Americans, with the goal of locating immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are getting access to the personal data of nearly 80 million people on Medicaid in order …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Medicine

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE

ProPublica: “The Internal Revenue Service is building a computer program that would give deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data. ProPublica has obtained a blueprint of the system, which would create an “on demand” process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the home addresses of people it’s seeking to deport. Last month, in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Inside efforts to capture federal data after ‘the big takedown’

NextGov/FCW: “Days after President Donald Trump took office again in January, thousands of government pages with critical data were taken down as agencies rushed to comply with executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, as well as what the administration calls “gender ideology.” That day activated a community, said Denice Ross, the government’s former …

Subjects: Censorship, E-Government, E-Records, Education, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Data manipulation within the US Federal Government

Data manipulation within the US Federal Government, Freilich, Janet et al. The Lancet. Published July 3, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01249-8 – “A US Department of Veterans Affairs dataset compiling veteran health-care use in 2021 was quietly amended on March 5, 2025. A column titled gender was renamed sex, and the words were also switched in the …

Subjects: Censorship, E-Government, E-Records, Education, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Medicine

Updated ‘PLUM’ book offers deeper look at Trump administration officials working governmentwide

Federal News Network – “There is now a public list showing the names, agencies and salaries of more than 9,000 Trump administration officials and career federal leaders currently working across government. The Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday updated the PLUM book — a digital employment roster listing virtually all senior federal leaders governmentwide. The …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research

Reporting on Texas Flood

Texas floods shine spotlight on Trump’s weather and disaster cuts. Texas floods kill at least 104, including 27 from Camp Mystic, as search for missing continue…Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also indicated that it wants to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps respond after disasters. Coast Guard swimmer on first rescue mission helps save …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, E-Government, Education, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation

Websites hosting major US climate reports taken down

AP: “Websites that displayed legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world. [Note – this article includes full text PDF copies of the disappeared reports] Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, E-Government, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care

Sudden loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back ‘decades’

The Guardian posted the text of a government press release – Topic: Suspension of All Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Data by June 30, 2025 Date/Time Issued: June 25, 2025 1735 UTC Product(s) or Data Impacted:  All Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data and products: FINE, SMOOTH and HOUSEKEEPING data from Operational Linescan System (OLS), …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, E-Government, E-Records, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management

Justice Dept. Explores Using Criminal Charges Against Election Officials

The New York Timesl: “Senior Justice Department officials are exploring whether they can bring criminal charges against state or local election officials if the Trump administration determines they have not sufficiently safeguarded their computer systems, according to people familiar with the discussions. The department’s effort, which is still in its early stages, is not based …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Records, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research

Nation’s top climate science assessments removed from federal websites

UPI – “The Trump administration has quietly shut down a major federal website that hosted congressionally mandated national climate assessments, which were the U.S. government’s preeminent reports on climate change impacts, risks and responses. The disappearance Monday of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s website marked an unexpected loss in public access to the most …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, E-Government, Environmental Law