Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
26 Readings in Public Health Law: “Each week for 26 weeks…we will post a short introductory description and a link to selected readings in public health law, including cases, law review articles, book chapters, and other materials. The readings are designed to provide a foundation for understanding public health law.” [thanks to Mike Ravnitzky] Also …
“Through the Geospatial One Stop portal, anyone can access geospatial information from federal agencies and a growing number of state, local, tribal and private agencies through one comprehensive and comprehensible portal.” This incredible resource provides users with many options to construct searches by specifying key words, data categories, scale/coverage, data type/format, time period and location. …
Via EPIC, news of the availability of the Department of Homeland Security Privacy Report to Congress, April 2003-June 2004 (112 pages, PDF): “This Report on Department of Homeland Security privacy activities…demonstrates that, through the establishment and functionality of the operations of the DHS Privacy Office, we are working to “operationalize” privacy awareness and best practices …
Press release: FTC Continues Battle Against Telemarketing Fraud and Abuse “The quarterly enforcement update issued today can be found on the FTCs Web site here. The telemarketing fraud and abuse enforcement Web page can be found here.”
Press release: Diebold Election Systems Submits Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail Printer for Federal Qualification – “Diebold Election Systems has completed design of a paper-based, voter-verifiable printer module that has been submitted for federal system qualification. The module enables a voter to print out, review and verify candidate selections made on a Diebold touch screen voting …
From OMB Watch: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed one database from its public website and slightly altered another due to a Data Quality Act (DQA) challenge submitted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber submitted the request May 26, 2004, asserting that physical and chemical property information in several EPA databases was …
From the American Library Association Washington Office Newsline: (proposed changes effective October 1, 2005) “…GPO would produce and distribute in print only the 50 titles listed on the Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper Format. The Essential Titles list, last revised in 2000, does not include important materials including maps, geological information, administrative decisions …
“Web site operations are an integral part of an agency’s program. Managing web records properly is essential to effective web site operations, especially the mitigation of the risks an agency faces by using the web to carry out agency business. This guidance will assist agency officials in this regard, including agency program staff, webmasters, IT …
In Age of Security, Firm Mines Wealth Of Personal Data (reg. req’d): the Post provides an overview of ChoicePoint, described as a “little-known information industry giant.” However, many librarians and researchers are well acquainted with the company’s products, and it has been in the bulls-eye of privacy advocates for selling its vast databases of personal …
From EPIC: “Through the Freedom of Information Act, EPIC has obtained FBI reports to Congress stating that the agency did not use its DCS 1000 Internet monitoring system — formerly known as Carnivore — during fiscal years 2002 (pdf) and 2003 (pdf). According to the reports, the FBI used commercially available software to conduct court-ordered …
Arriving this summer, significant improvements in the Regulations.gov website, detailed in this GovExec.com report. “For the first time, citizens will be able not only to comment on proposed regulations using the Internet – as they do now on the site – but also will have access to supporting agency documents, every public comment and rules …
“EPIC has learned through Freedom of Information Act litigation that the FBI obtained 257.5 million Passenger Name Records following 9/11, and that the Bureau has permanently incorporated the travel details of tens of millions of innocent people into its law enforcement databases. The FBI made the revelation as it explained (29 pages, PDF) why it …
