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The Society of Professional Journalists launched a new website, Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions. The site provides links to the History of the Geneva Convention, Full texts of the Conventions, and an alphabetical look-up feature to locate definitions for language and phrases from the conventions, as well as their associated deep links in the …
On March 21, I posted this entry, Executive Order on National Security Info to be Rescinded. On March 25, the President issued Executive Order 12958, Amended, Classified National Security Information. “…the national defense has required that certain information be maintained in confidence in order to protect our citizens, our democratic institutions, our homeland security, and …
Iraq rebuilding contracts awarded: “The first contracts for rebuilding post-war Iraq have been awarded, and Vice President Dick Cheney’s old employer, Halliburton Co., is one of the early winners…President Bush Tuesday asked Congress for $489.3 million to cover the cost of repairing damage to Iraq’s oil facilities, much or all of which could go to …
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
The Wall Street Journal reports on how American troops in the Gulf are using e-mail, personal web sites and blogs, such as LT SMASH, to communicate directly with family, friends and others. Although there are over 500 reporters in the region, the Internet has changed the dynamic of the flow and content of information from …
Via the DoD DefenseLINK website, you will find numerous interesting links to policies and guidelines that circumscribe what information may be posted online for public access by agency webmasters and content providers. Topics addressed include security policy, findability, privacy, accessibility, copyright, and specific memos and directives concerning clearance procedures.
The Clinton Presidential Center website, still under construction, includes the following statement: “Since President Clinton had the honor of being the first president of the Internet age, this site will function as the first truly virtual Presidential Library. It will encourage users to search for information, communicate through chats, create a dialogue and participate in …
According to this article in today’s New York Times, the Bush Administration is well on its way to removing declassified government documents on national security from the public domain, as well as implementing a new policy to prevent such documents acquired in the future from reaching public view. A final order is expected in April …
This Wired article highlights a software initiative developed by the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, called Internet Censorship Explorer (ICE). “ICE demonstrates state-sponsored content filtering and blocking by delivering the content of blocked URLs to end users. After completing a query form, ICE will attempt to access the …
