Senate Passes Amendments to Surveillance Act

On May 8, the Senate passed, 90 – 4, S. 113, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance bill “to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to cover individuals, other than United States persons, who engage in international terrorism without affiliation with an international terrorist group.” See the text of the floor debate from the …

Subjects: Privacy

Law Journal on Public Domain Issues

From Duke University School of Law, the Winter/Spring 2003 issue of Law & Contemporary Problems has 13 full-text articles on public domain issues, including Mapping the Digital Public Domain: Threats and Opportunities and Reconciling What the First Amendment Forbids with what the Copyright Clause Permits: A Summary Explanation and Review. The articles and essays in …

Subjects: Copyright, Digital Rights, Intellectual Property

California Online Privacy Act

A.B. No. 68, the Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003, was amended in Assembly on April 28 and passed by the Committee on Business and Professions on May 7. The bill “requires an operator of a commercial website that collects personally identifiable information about individuals visiting its website or online service, who are located in …

Subjects: Legislation, Privacy

New Name for GAO?

Roll Call has an article, GAO Seeks New Name, Image (subscription required), in the print and online versions, in which David M. Walker, the Comptroller General of the United States states he “wants to change the name of Congress’ investigative arm to Government Accountability Office, saying the current name doesn’t fit its job description. The …

Subjects: E-Government

Report on Best E-Gov IT Projects by Cities

The Center for Digitial Government has published a new 26 page report in pdf, Digitial Cities 2002, Best of Breed Programs, that spotlights 11 specific projects undertaken by cities throughout the country to deliver a diverse range of specific enhanced digital solutions and services to government employees and citizens.

Subjects: E-Government

Library E-Rate Public Forum at FCC

Comments of Charles E. Parker, Chair of The American Library Association’s E-rate Task Force, before the Federal Communications Commission Public Forum on Improving Administration of the E-rate Program, May 8th, 2003. See the FCC press release here, and Fraud, waste in school Internet program, from CNN, as well as Schools, Libraries Call for More E-Rate …

Subjects: E-Government, Internet, Libraries

Searching vs. Researching

This commentary, Search Engines Make Us Dumb, no doubt reflects the perspective of many seasoned online (pre-Web) researchers. There is a steadily growing reliance, among consumers and professionals in many communities, on search engines (or just Google for that matter) as the penultimate tool to search, locate, and analyze data which is then disseminated as …

Subjects: Search Engines

Pentagon Library's Journey Back From 9/11

Pentagon Library Back Home After Difficult Journey. The Pentagon Library, which sustained significant damage during the 9/11 attack, finally returned from temporary quarters to a new facility within the Pentagon itself. Best wishes to all the librarians whose long-term efforts and commitment contributed to the re-opening.

Subjects: Libraries

EarthLink Prevails Against Spammer

Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr., U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, granted EarthLink an injunction and a $16.4 million judgment against Howard Carmack, who engaged in ID theft and fraud to deliver over 800 million spam e-mails last year via the hundreds of accounts he established with the ISP. How much EarthLink can expect …

Subjects: E-Mail, ID Theft