The Center for Governmental Studies published the Electronic Filing and Disclosure Survey, 2002 Update, which is a 27 page report in PDF, encompassing answers to 23 questions. The document includes data from the federal government, 50 states, and six Canadian provinces. Virtually all of the jurisdictions surveyed provide online campaign finance, lobbyist and personal financial… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: November 2002
State and National Freedom of Information Resources
This site is nothing to write home about in terms of the design and graphical interface, but it certainly merits your visit for the useful resources it provides. The National Freedom of Information Coalition, a non-profit that received funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation , has compiled an online guide to… Continue Reading
Total Information Awareness Overview
This site provides a flowchart of the TIA System objectives and strategy….very short on facts. This Washington Post article offers more information on the new Pentagon project including links to other press coverage, both pro and con, mostly focused on privacy concerns associated with its goals and objectives. If you are interested in hearing about… Continue Reading
China Censors Danish Websites
The Copenhagen press reported that the Chinese government has systematically censorsed access to the Danish search engine, Jubii. This is in no small measure due to the fact this engine provides access to sites banned by the Chinese government, including Amnesty International and the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Note: I was not familiar with Falun… Continue Reading
CA Law on Computer Database Hacking
The California state government learned the hard way the repercussions of not acting swiftly to respond to, secure and disclose that employee personal data was comprised by a wide scale database hacking operation in April 2002. Fast forward, and their legislature is now the first in the country to pass a law to prevent the… Continue Reading
Homeland Security and Surveillance
William Safire’s Op-Ed piece, You Are a Suspect, generated considerable reaction from readers as he enumerated how each and every daily transaction that you consider innocuous and routine (purchases with credit cards, filling prescriptions, surfing the web) will become part of the DOJ’s vast new, Total Information Awareness database. Needless to say, Safire condemns the… Continue Reading
ACLU Demands Patriot Act Docs
On October 24, 2002 the ACLU filed a FOI lawsuit to obtain DOJ documents pertaining to the government’s various Patriot Act surveillance programs and initiatives. In a press release issued today, the ACLU is again demanding that the DOJ comply with their demand to release documents the government admits to having compiled, but to date,… Continue Reading
FTC and Spam Scams
The FTC has developed and initiated a joint effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraudulent and deceptive actions perpetrated via the use of spam e-mail messages. As a result of their investigations, the FTC posted a useful web page here with facts on spam scams and advice for… Continue Reading
E-Gov Failures
The Federal Times chronicles the many challenges that have been posed to the successful implementation of e-government initiatives over the course of the past six years, in this article: E-Government Still Unplugged: Projects Short-Circuited by Infighting, Resistance. Continue Reading
DOE Removes PubScience Website
The Software Information Industry Association (SIAA) issued a press release supporting the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to remove the free PubSCIENCE database from the web. Users are now redirected to the DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) site to conduct journal searches. The SIALL argued for the removal of PubSCIENCE due to… Continue Reading
Document Management After Enron
This interesting commentary reviews the requirement for documents management in the post-Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley Act corporate environment. Destroying corporate documents, via shredding or other “digital” means can be a criminal act, so increased attention is warranted to how internal documents are stored, shared and deleted. Continue Reading
Nursing Home Data Online
Medicare.gov is a useful new government sponsored resourse that provides data evaluating nursing homes that have been certified by Medicare and Medicaid. The site has a general search engine, as well as one that permits users to locate nursing homes by state. In addition, the site also provides links to state sponsored data on nursing… Continue Reading
