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Monthly Archives: September 2003

Digital Document Preservation: Remember Microfiche – Well Its Back!

Marketplace response to the challenges of preserving digital documents appears to be incorporating a “back to the future” perspective according to this recent article, Upgrade and Archive: The Ongoing Threat of Data Extinction. The continual push to digitize documents into virtual libraries must be balanced against the critical issues associated with the lifespan of hardware… Continue Reading

Commentary on Sec. 215 of the Patriot Act

This commentary, Why the ACLU Is Right To Challenge The FBI’s Access to Library, Bookstore, and Business Records Under the USA PATRIOT Act, by Anita Ramasastry, focuses on the privacy issues and related lawsuits associated with the FBI’s ability to invoke Sec. 215, the Access to Records and Other Items Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance… Continue Reading

E-Mail Retention Compliance Issues

Lost in the Mail: “Adhering to the array of SEC and NASD regulations around e-mail retention is going to be a full-time job for firms that hope to avoid the fines, lawsuits and bad press that come with non-compliance. It is estimated that over 16 billion business e-mail messages are sent a day, and financial… Continue Reading

Surveys Indicate Increase in Rate of ID Theft

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse provides summaries of, and links to, data on three recent surveys documenting the rise in the rate of ID theft: Federal Trade Commission Survey – September 2003 Gartner Survey – July 2003 Privacy & American Business Survey – July 2003 See also FTC Overview Report and Timeline of the ID Theft… Continue Reading

FOIA and Illinois Gov’t Docs.

Illinois Strengthens Open Government Laws: “Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) recently signed two pieces of legislation into law that expand current open government laws. The first requires local government bodies to record closed meetings; the second allows attorneys fees and court costs to be awarded to plaintiffs in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases.” Continue Reading

A Proposal to Stop Spam

Giving E-mail back to the users: Using digital signatures to solve the spam problem: “This paper argues that current legislative and private attempts to stop spam are either ineffective, or involve unacceptable tradeoffs. The key to solving the spam problem is recognizing the importance of e-mail authentication and the granting of permissions. Properly used, digital… Continue Reading