HHS Determines How Federal Scientists Participate in World Health Arena

From the Cmte. on Government Reform, Minority Office HHS Restricts Communications between U.S. Scientists and WHO Officials: “A new HHS policy requires the World Health Organization to submit all requests for expert scientific advice to political officials at HHS who pick which federal scientists will be permitted to respond. Letter to HHS on International AIDS …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Database on Foreign Lobbyists Cannot Be Archived Due to Deterioration

Foreign Lobbyist Database Could Vanish – “Justice Department officials say a huge database that serves as the public’s lone window on lobbying activities by foreign governments has been allowed to decay to a point they cannot even make a copy of its contents.” Foreign Agents Registration Unit (FARA), Counterespionage Section From AP, DOJ: Our Computer …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents

Supreme Court Rules Against Child Online Protection Act

In a 5-4 decision today (Ashcroft v. ACLU), the Supreme Court held that “The Third Circuit was correct to affirm the District Court’s ruling that enforcement of COPA (Pub. Law 105-277) should be enjoined because the statute likely violates the First Amendment.” For additional documentation and commentary on this case, see the following references: Ashcroft …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts

New York Times Expands RSS Feeds

The New York Times is now providing 28 topical RSS feeds. Examples include Campaign 2004, Circuits, NYTimes.com Home Page, Technology, and Week in Review. Related resource: From PCWorld.com, News on Demand – Tired of browsing around the Web for timely information? RSS readers deliver exactly the news you need–fast.

Subjects: RSS

New Pew Internet Memo on VoIP

New research by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the New Millennium Research Project “shows that 27% of Internet users have heard of Voice over Internet Protocol phone calling, and 13% of that population have considered adopting VoIP in the home. This translates into 34 million Americans who have heard of VoIP and …

Subjects: Internet

Gov’t Cmte. Established to Develop Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

See today’s Federal Register: “the U.S. Election Assistance Commission hereby establishes the Technical Guidelines Development Committee…to assist the Executive Director of the Commission in the development of the voluntary voting system guidelines..” Related news: E-Voting Problems Expected, “Even new law setting standards won’t ensure bug-free digital elections this fall, Congress is warned.”

Subjects: E-Government

Study Released Today Rates How Sites Respect Customers

The 2004 Online Customer Respect Study of the Top 100 U. S. Companies ($$) evaluates “corporate performance from an online customer’s perspective,” according to the aggregate ratings for the following criteria: ease of navigation, quick and thorough responses to inquiries, respecting customer privacy, open and honest policies, values and respecting customer data. The top five …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Internet, Marketing

Launch of New Anti-Spyware Resource

PestControl, a PC security company, today launched the Center for Pest Research, offering consumers a range of resources to assist in the effort to combat spyware. The site offers updated spyware analysis, whitepapers, how-to guides to identify, locate and eliminate “pests,” and an searchable Alphabetical Index to 21,109 Pest Descriptions.”

Subjects: E-Commerce, PC Security, Privacy

2004 State of the First Amendment Survey

“The State of the First Amendment survey, released by the First Amendment Center each year, is a reality check on how Americans view their first freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion and petition. The survey (PDF, 16 pages), conducted annually since 1997 by the Center for Survey Research & Analysis at the University of Connecticut, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties