Audit of Freedom of Information Requests Highlights Gov’t Delays

From the National Security Archive at George Washington University: Justice Delayed is Justice Denied – The Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests – Some FOIA Requests Wait More Than Ten Years Without Being Processed- Annual FOIA Reports Do Not Answer Congress’s Question: How Long Does a FOIA Requester Wait? [Link] The National Security Archive, Freedom of …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Internet Telephony Subject to FCC Regs in 2004?

In October I posted Minnesota Cannot Regulate Internet Telephony, and now note the growing interest on the federal level to regulate this technology by the end of 2004. On October 20, 2003 the Federal Communications Commission Technical Advisory Council (TAC) held a meeting on the topic of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The agenda is …

Subjects: Internet

E-Mail Publisher’s Commentary on CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: Real Reform or Political Pork? by Neil J. Squillante: “Many of my peers in the online marketing industry claim that requiring permission (opting in) would destroy email’s commercial potential. I disagree and can personally attest to the fact that permission is good for business. If companies produce outstanding email newsletters …

Subjects: Congress, E-Commerce, E-Mail, Legislation, Privacy

Biometrics Increasingly Used to Monitor Employees

For most employees, gone are the days when “signing in” to work involved the use of pen and paper. Now employees are issued smart cards and other electronic IDs used in conjunction with scanners and sensors throughout their office buidlings. Biometric technology is apparently the latest timekeeping application to be implemented in the workplace, and …

Subjects: Privacy

Judge to Determine Policy on Linking to Stolen Docs. in E-Voting Machine Case

Judge Jeremy Foley, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, will rule in the next several weeks on whether internal documents stolen from Diebold Inc., and posted to or linked from a range of personal, non-profit and university websites, must be removed due to copyright infringement. See my November 14 posting which details relevant information …

Subjects: Copyright

Fair Credit Reporting Act Jeopardizes Protections Provided by State Legislation

“As Congress moves into the final wrangling over an update to the Fair Credit Reporting Act designed in part to slow the growth of identity theft, victim advocates are complaining the legislation might actually make things worse. The central issue is one of the oldest debates in American politics: states’ rights vs. a strong central …

Subjects: Congress, ID Theft, Legislation

Selected Presentations from Internet Librarian Conference

A Google Gambol: Advanced Tricks and Techniques, Greg Notess, Creator, Search Engine Showdown & Reference Librarian, Montana State University Top Tech Trends for Internet Librarians, Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Rochester Institute of Technology The Blogging Explosion—Libraries & Weblogs, Darlene Fichter, Data Services Librarian, University of Saskatchewan Web Searching in 2004, Greg Notess, Creator, Search Engine Showdown …

Subjects: Blogs, Libraries, Wireless Web

Advocacy Group Issues New Report on Spyware

From the Center on Democracy and Technology (CDT), a new report, Ghosts in Our Machines: Background and Policy Proposals on the “Spyware” Problem” offers a straight-forward review of how spyware programs operate, how to locate and disable them, and federal laws that in some measure address this technology, albeit with less than satisfactory results for …

Subjects: PC Security, Privacy

Review of Effective Solutions to Block Spam

From InfoWorld, this useful review of the following anti-spam applications for use on the enterprise level: Brightmail Anti-Spam Enterprise Edition Version 5.1, FrontBridge TrueProtect E-mail Security Suite, Postini Perimeter Manager Enterprise Edition, Proofpoint Protection Server 1.2.1, and SpamAssassin 2.44, an open source spam filter included with Red Hat Linux 9.

Subjects: E-Mail, Privacy

Privacy Groups Organize Opposition to ID Technology Used on Consumer Goods

From PrivacyRights.org, Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products: “Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an item-tagging technology with profound societal implications. Used improperly, RFID has the potential to jeopardize consumer privacy, reduce or eliminate purchasing anonymity, and threaten civil liberties. As organizations and individuals committed to the protection of privacy and civil …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Privacy