Jenny, the Shifted Librarian, has linked to her April 9 PowerPoint presentation, Keeping Current Using RSS, from the 5th Annual Government Information Locator Service (GILS) Conference. She also provides a link to an informative workshop outline, Publish and Syndicate Your News to the Web, by Ray Matthews, and to an RSS Feed Reader/News Aggregators Directory.… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: April 2003
Can-Spam Bill Introduced
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the CAN-SPAM bill on April 9 (S. 877), “to regulate interstate commerce by imposing limitations and penalties on the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail via the Internet.” See the Burns press release here. The two Senators also co-sponsored the CAN-SPAM Act of 2001 (S.… Continue Reading
Copyright Office Hearing on Anticircumvention Rulemaking
Today the the Copyright Office held a hearing on its Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted Works. The panel that testified on “compilations of lists of websites blocked by censorware (“filtering software”) applications,” included attorney Jonathan Band (who represents many organizations including the American Association of… Continue Reading
Data Mining, KM and Search Engines
Enterprise Search Engine Technology Strikes Gold offers useful, albeit brief, overviews of how some large companies are leveraging Enterprise Search Engines (ESE) and other supplemental tools as well. “Enterprise Search Engines perform much the same function as Internet search engines, but targeted to the needs of a particular group of people rather than the broad… Continue Reading
USA Today War Blog
Take a moment to look in on this Iraq War Blog by Angela Gunn, whose well-researched and thoughful commentary includes an interesting range of topics and sources of information not necessarily found on other sites. Continue Reading
Analysis of Google SafeSearch
From Ben Edelman, this link to a report he released today, Empirical Analysis of Google SafeSearch. “The report includes a listing of blocked URLs and of keywords that are particularly intensively filtered, and the site provides a means for users to test whether SafeSearch filtering affects a keyword or URL of interest. See also this… Continue Reading
Rhetoric Sharpens Over Proposed Patriot Act Extension
As a follow-up to my posting yesterday, Legislative Maneuvering to Extend Patriot Act, see today’s press release from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Leahy Threatens Floor Fight On Move to Repeal Sunset Provisions of The USA PATRIOT Act. More information on this issue tomorrow. Continue Reading
Enron Loses Request to Shield Documents from Public
A follow-up to my posting yesterday on FERC’s announcement concerning the temporary removal of Enron e-mails from the agency’s database: Judge Melinda Harmon, United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, has “rejected Enron’s request for a blanket protective order preventing parties from disclosing discovery documents to the public.” This information is via the Reporters… Continue Reading
Challenges Confront War Bloggers
This article discusses the pitfalls and the accolades that have accompanied the new vanguard of war news bloggers, many of whom have gained notoriety as well as increased scrutiny of their efforts, including challenges to their content sourcing. Continue Reading
Judge Dismisses DMCA Challenge
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns (MA) dismissed a lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of Harvard law student and cyber-activist Ben Edelman who argued a first amendment right to create software to decrypt an Internet blocking program by N2H2. The filtering software, used by public and school libraries, is marketed as “CIPA compliant.” Edelman… Continue Reading
Libraries and Patriot Act Like Oil and Water
The Washington Post brings more attention to the growing movement in public libraries to pro-actively challenge patron surveillance efforts associated with the Patriot Act. The 64,000 member American Library Association has passed a resolution seeking its repeal, and librarians across the country are taking actions to limit access to patron related online and paper documents. Continue Reading
UK E-Gov Sites Not Accessible to All Users
Bad news for the UK’s approximately 800 e-government sites comes from a report leaked to the press. Apparently, almost 80% of the sites are not published in a format accessible to users with disabilites and require redesign to achieve mandatory compliance. Continue Reading
