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Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, which was prepared by Charles Duelfer, chief weapons inspector for the Iraqi Survey Group. This report is in three volumes, comprising 1000 pages, PDF. September 30, 2004. [Link to table of contents, from the CIA website] Key …
NARA prepares for a new era in records management This article provides insight into, and factual data about, the huge challenge and the technology associated with the development and implementation, by the National Archives, of a new online system to manage and make accessible billions of government agency records.
The SPY Act, H.R. 2929, To protect users of the Internet from unknowing transmission of their personally identifiable information through spyware programs, and for other purposes, was approved today by the House. See the accompanying House Report 108-619. See also this related posting, Spy Act Receives Strong Endorsement from House Cmte, the Software Principles Yielding …
CRS Report, The Information Quality Act: OMB’s Guidance and Initial Implementation, Updated September 17, 2004. “In December 2000, Congress passed and the President signed the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (P. L. 106-554). Section 515 of that more than 700-page bill has subsequently been referred to as the “Data Quality …
From First Monday, Internet time and the reliability of search engines “Search engines are unreliable tools for research that aims to reconstruct the historical record. Why? Some search engines systematically relocate the time stamp of Web documents in their databases from the more distant past into the present and the very recent past.”
From the New York Times, Need a New Job? Check Out a Blog. “Job seekers use blogs to establish a strong online presence, display their skills and advertise their availability…Corporate recruiters, in turn, use blogs to draw in qualified candidates, and they search for potential hires by reading bloggers who write about topics relevant to …
From the website: “The much-anticipated grand opening of America’s first state government digital archives occurred on October 4, 2004…The Washington State Digital Archives is the nation’s first archives dedicated specifically to the preservation of electronic records from both State and Local agencies that have permanent legal, fiscal or historical value.” Three search features are available …
Health Information: First-Year Experiences under the Federal Privacy Rule, GAO-04-965, September 3, 2004, Highlights (both documents in PDF). “Consumer and provider representatives contend that the general public is not well informed about their rights under the Privacy Rule. According to these organizations, patients may not understand the privacy notices they receive, or do not focus …
Department of Home Security, Office of Inspector General, Office of Technology report: DHS Challenges in Consolidating Terrorist Watch List Information (54 pages, PDF, redacted). “DHS is not playing a lead role in consolidating terrorist watch list information…DHS offcials said that the new department lacked the resources and infrastructure to assume leadership for the consolidation…Effective use …
See this article by Anita Ramasastry and my related posting.
“In a report issued jointly by the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Heritage Foundation, National Security Agency Inspector General Joel Brenner proposes ten practical principles that should be applied to the human and technical aspects of information systems in order to balance privacy and national security.” [From the Center for Democracy and Technology] …
EFF press release: “In a landmark case, a California district court has determined that Diebold, Inc., a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, knowingly misrepresented that online commentators, including IndyMedia and two Swarthmore college students, had infringed the company’s copyrights. This makes the company the first to be held liable for violating section 512(f) of the …