Steven Clift posted to Slashdot on his recent article, E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-work, which offers some interesting recommendations along with illustrative web links. Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: September 2003
A Librarian’s Perspective on RSS and News Aggregators
RSS and News Aggregators: What Do You Really Need To Know To Keep Up? by Steven J. Bell, Director of the Library, Paul J. Gutman Library, Philadelphia University. Continue Reading
Commentary on CAPPS II
From Salon.com, this commentary, Brave new skies, by Farhad Manjoo, provides context and perspective to the ongoing controversy engendered by the government’s computer-assisted passenger prescreening system (CAPPS II). Continue Reading
Amnesty Program for Music Downloaders
Music industry to unveil amnesty offer for Internet downloaders: “The recording industry is expected to announce as early as next week an amnesty program for people who admit they illegally share music files across the Internet, promising not to sue them in exchange for their admission and pledge to delete the songs off their computers.” Continue Reading
CDT Wants Privacy Protections for WhoIs Database
The Center for Democracy and Technology sent a letter on September 4 to Reps. Adam Smith and Howard Berman, House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, urging the implementation of privacy protections for personal information entered in the WhoIs domain name database. See also my posting from September 4 on the Hearing on… Continue Reading
Inroads in Corporate Blogging
Early adopters of corporate blogging include some law firms, according to this E-Commerce Times article. See also this posting from the June 2003 Law of the Blog conference, which addresses some of the important issues associated with this nascent process in the legal sector. Continue Reading
Release of the 2003 Privacy and Human Rights Report
EPIC and Privacy International today released their Privacy and Human Rights 2003 report. “This extensive survey examines the state of civil liberties around the world. Key topics include Total Information Awareness, the public response to the Patriot Act, biometric identification, and new technologies of surveillance.” Continue Reading
Significant Increase in FOIA Requests
From a recent Dept. of Justice FOIA Post: “The total number of Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act access requests received by all federal departments and agencies during Fiscal Year 2002 was 2,402,938. This is 156,726 more than the number of requests received during Fiscal Year 2001, an increase of nearly 7%, and it marks the… Continue Reading
Database Vendor Eliminates Personal Data on Mexican Citizens
AP reported that commercial online public records provider ChoicePoint has eliminated its database of “personal information of 65 million voting-age Mexican citizens” following a controvery surrounding the means by which this information was obtained. The company has a contract with the Dept. of Justice, which uses the system for activities associated with homeland security. See… Continue Reading
Hearing on Whois Data Fraud
From the Committee on Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property September 4, 2003 – Oversight Hearing on “Internet Domain Name Fraud – the U.S. Governments Role in Ensuring Public Access to Accurate Whois Data”: Witness List testimony of: Steven Metalitz, Benjamin Edelman, James Farnan, Theodore Kassinger. See also: Lax controls encourage Web… Continue Reading
Print Newspapers Still the Popular Choice With Boomers
AP reports that according to data from a Pew Internet and American Life report to be released this fall, baby boomers still prefer to read their news in print, rather than online. The majority of those surveyed who comprise the “older techie elite” (ages 42-62) regularly turn to online sources for breaking news, but indicate… Continue Reading
Internet Archive Adds New Search Engine
This announcement from the Internet Archive about the site’s new Recall feature, currently in beta, directs users to a powerpoint presentation describing how the new engine works. In addition, see the Help Page, which states that: “Recall is a search engine at the Internet Archive that indexes the text of over 11 Billion pages. The… Continue Reading
