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For months there has been talk of the launch of a new government portal, sponsored by OMB, that will allow citizens and businesses to easily locate, and then comment on, new regulations proposed by the federal government. The url of this portal is http://www.regulations.gov, but after many announcements of its impending availability, it remains vaporware. …
The New York Times reported that the Administration plans to widen the scope of government sponsored monitoring of Internet usage as well as the use of surveillance, to counter possible terrorist threats. Further details of such plans are still under development, and would be included in the early 2003 release of the final version of …
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued Standing Order 02-01, Electronic Access to Public Records and Sensitive Information, on October 17, 2002. The document stipulates that effective January 1, 2003, the court “intends to make electronic access to court files available through PACER by imaging documents into the court’s computer system.”
Bloggers may be well advised to read this Washington Post article on the potential legal ramifications of posting on work related issues, activities, products, services, etc. Blogger John Stanforth’s seemingly innocuous reference to a former work project on his personal weblog resulted in a cease and desist order from his old employer.
According to this press release, a new survey indicates that the majority of Internet searching (66%) undertaken by Canadians focuses on obtaining health related data. In addition, such searches are conducted by users on at least a monthly basis. According to Ipsos-Reid, the company that conducted the survey, healthcare consistently ranks as the number one …
There is evidence of a slow but steady groundswell of citizen concern about, and local government response to, increased online surveillance as a result of the Patriot Act. Wired highlighted the work of a new grassroots organization called the Bill of Rights Defence Committee that is assisting municipalities in the passage of resolutions opposing the …
Once popular search engine HotBot has returned with a new look, new features, and new hopes to lure back all those users who abandoned them for Google.
InstantMessagingPlanet.com reports that as a result of acquiring the Israeli company Mirabilis (in 1998) and their ICQ technology, telecom giant AOL has obtained a patent (see the text here) on instant messaging (IM) software. This patent could cause considerable problems for the respective IM apps from Microsoft and Yahoo.
The Total Information Awareness Office (TIA) and its controversial director Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, (remembered by some for his Reagan era Iran Contra involvement), have begun to feel the heat of growing dissent concerning the activities of this project. Personal data about Poindexter has been posted on numerous weblogs (see this example) and discussed …
The Memory Hole reports that the government’s Total Information Awareness website has undergone significant changes to the design with which the site was originally launched. Initially, the site looked like this, and included a very prominent graphic of a single eye shining its light onto a globe below. The metaphor was obvious….we are watching the …
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced updates to its website that include new features, content and links as part of their e-gov initiative. Unfortunately, the agency has not made these enhancements in a manner that is readily apparent to users. However, there is an exception to these design problems in the new …
In the December 18, 2002 Federal Register there are proposed changes to sentencing guidelines for United States Courts in response to the Patriot Act and other post 9/11 laws concerning terrorism and national security.