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… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: May 2003
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… Continue Reading
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. Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
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. Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
Time Reports on Librarians and Patriot Act
Nothing new here, but nevertheless worth noting that Time.com has an article, Checking What You Check Out, on opposition to the Patriot Act by librarians across the country. See also my topical resource on the issue here. Also note this posting from the Volokh Conspiracy that states the Time article erroneously interprets Section 215 of… Continue Reading
Ask Jeeves Chosen for Another Gov't Portal
The newly redesigned District of Columbia portal has implemented JeevesOne’s natural language search. See also this FCW review of the site’s new features, cost and user community. Continue Reading
Net Gambling Bill Approved By House Cmte.
H.R. 21, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act, sponsored by Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), was passed by the House Committee on Financial Services yesterday. See also Hearing on Proposals to Regulate Illegal Internet Gambling, Senate Banking Committee, March 18, 2003, and GAO-03-89 Report, December 20, 2002, Internet Gambling, An Overview of the Issues. Continue Reading
FirstGov Has Yet Another New Look
The FirstGov portal has undergone its third redesign since the site’s introduction September 2000, although the new lingo according to this press release (thanks Tara) is that the site has been ‘refreshed.’ From the release: “The new refreshed site allows users to go straight into a Citizen Gateway, which provides easy access to government services… Continue Reading
File Sharing Network Closed on Another Campus
Ohio State University (OSU) has shut-down dormitory-based computers running a network used to share music files with 3,000 students. The students were using a legal P2P file sharing application called Direct Connect. From the OSU student newspaper, the Latern, Raid pulls plug on illegal network, which states, “A group consisting of a computer crime specialist,… Continue Reading
