Key Gov't Agencies Fail to Assess Cyber Risks

From the GAO, Critical Infrastructure Protection: Challenges for Selected Agencies and Industry Sectors. GAO-03-233, February 28. According to this report, four federal agencies (DOE, HHS, Commerce and the EPA) have not completed an analysis of their respective critical infrastructure assets and their associated vulnerabilities to cyberattacks, five years after mandates to do so. See also …

Subjects: Cybercrime

New Privacy Protection Bill

On March 31, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced S. 745, “A bill to require the consent of an individual prior to the sale and marketing of such individual’s personally identifiable information, and for other purposes.” Her press release states that the legislation seeks to establish a national standard for the protection of personal information, including …

Subjects: E-Government, ID Theft, Privacy

30th Anniversary of LexisNexis

See this press release, LexisNexis Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its Invention of Online Legal Research, noting how original company owner Mead Data Central “revolutionized the field of legal research by launching the world’s first full-text commercial search engine,” 30 years ago today.

Subjects: Legal Research

EFF Analysis of Patriot II

The Electronic Frontier Foundation just published an in-depth analysis of the January 9, 2003 draft known as Patriot Act II, titled Provisions of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 that Impact the Internet and Surveillance. This analysis refers to the purported vaporware bill (there is no offical DOJ statement accepting authorship) as USAPA II, …

Subjects: Patriot Act

Penn State Issues Stern Warning About File Sharing

The Penn State provost, Rodney A. Erickson, issued an e-mail warning to students concerning potential penalties administered by the university and copyright holders against students making illegal copies of copyrighted music, movies and recordings. The tenor and tone of the message conveys the obvious impact made on academic institutions by the industry campaign to blunt …

Subjects: Copyright

Library Groups Oppose Super DMCA Legislation

Library associations including the ALA, AALL and ARL are voicing their collective opposition to the Super DMCA bills about which I posted on March 31. According to letters sent to the Colorado and Arkansas legislatures, the library groups contend that the proposed legislation will erode fair use, and “While digital piracy is a serious problem…some …

Subjects: Copyright, Legislation

New Portal to International Courts and Tribunals

Via the Big Ear, this link to the Project on International Courts and Tribunal: “The new Courts and Tribunals section will include information about all currently functioning international judicial bodies, including contact information, cases (pending and decided), and information about the judges, together with news and selected bibliographies (coming soon) about each body.”

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research

Web Portal for Your Sweet Tooth

This site is just too good not to share. With the moniker, The UK’s premier snack information portal, snackspot.org has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with breaking news and reviews of new products in all categories of sweets, snacks and beverages. Enjoy!

Subjects: Internet

New Report on the Internet and the Iraq War

The Pew Internet & American Life Project issued a press release today on a new report that indicates “some 77% of online Americans have used the Internet in connection with the war in Iraq.” A link to the full-text report, The Internet and the Iraq war: How online Americans have used the Internet to learn …

Subjects: Internet