CRS Report, Congressional Gifts and Travel: Legislative Proposals for the 109th Congress, January 17, 2006 (10 pages, PDF): “It has been a decade since the House and Senate examined their rules on the acceptance of gifts and travel expenses. Press accounts of alleged excesses in privately funded congressional travel and gifts, particularly from lobbyists, have… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2006
Fear of Cybercrime Greater Than That of Physical Crime
IBM press release: “More Americans anticipate falling victim to a cyber attack rather than a physical crime, reports a recent IBM survey of U.S. adults. And, despite the convenience and flexibility that online transactions offer, 37 percent of Americans will not provide credit card information online…Based on the survey, 70 percent of online shoppers will… Continue Reading
FDIC IG Audit Report on Strengthening Privacy Program
FDIC Safeguards Over Personal Employee Information, January 2006, Report No. 06-005 (60 pages, PDF): “The FDIC has a corporate wide program for protecting personal employee information, has appointed a Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) with responsibility for privacy and data protection policy, and is making efforts to enhance its privacy program in response to legislative requirements… Continue Reading
President Declares Domestic Spying Program “Legal”
Press Conference of the President, January 26, 2006: “…Secondly, I said, before we do anything, I want to make sure it’s legal. And so we had our lawyers look at it — and as part of the debate, discussion with the American people as to the legality of the program. There’s no doubt in my… Continue Reading
IBM Intranet Recognized In Top Ten Survey
IBM press release: “IBM’s intranet — known inside the company as the “w3 On Demand Workplace,” — has been selected as one of “The Year’s 10 Best Intranets” by the Nielsen Norman Group, a user experience research firm that advises companies on human-centered product and service design. IBM is the only information technology company recognized… Continue Reading
FDIC Releases New Tool To Protect Consumers Against Online Scams
Press release: “The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today released an on-line multimedia education tool that consumers can use to learn how to better protect their computers and themselves from identity thieves. The presentation also features actions consumers can take if their personal information has been compromised. Identity theft continues to be one of the… Continue Reading
Google Resists Complying With DOJ Demand For Data to Shield Trade Secrets?
In a shift from previous responses to and commentary about DOJ’s subpoena for Google’s search data, this New York Times article, In Case About Google’s Secrets, Yours Are Safe, recasts the probe with a focus on protecting corporate trade secrets, not preserving user privacy. Related commentary on Google: Imagining the Google Future – Top experts… Continue Reading
Survey of Cyberpreparedness By State and Local Governments
Press release: “The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), which represents the chief information officers (CIOs) of the states, and the Metropolitan Information Exchange (MIX), an association of county and municipal CIOs, have released findings from a pair of surveys of state and local government cybersecurity preparedness.” Survey Findings (7 pages, PDF) Survey… Continue Reading
Surveillance Increasingly Woven Into Fabric of Online World
This New York Times essay, A Growing Web of Watchers Builds a Surveillance Society, by David Shenk, offers especially cautionary insight in light of the growing public and political response to revelations about the government’s domestic surveillance program. After Subpoenas, Internet Searches Give Some Pause Survey finds solid opposition to release of Google data to… Continue Reading
NSA Faces Significant Challenge in Declassification of Millions of Documents
Via FAS: “The National Security Agency has 46 million pages of historically valuable classified records more than 25 years old that are subject to automatic declassification by the end of December 2006, according to a new NSA declassification plan….A copy of the new NSA declassification plan was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by… Continue Reading
Study Finds Internet Expands Social Contacts
Press release: “The internet and email expand and strengthen the social ties that people maintain in the offline world, according to a new report released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. One major payoff comes when people use the internet to press their social networks into action as they face major challenges.… Continue Reading
Judiciary Chair Sends Questions to AG On Domestic Spying
In advance of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing on Wartime Executive Power and the NSA’s Surveillance Authority, February 6, 2006, the Committee’s Republican Chairman, Arlen Specter, sent a letter on January 24, 2006, to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, listing 15 questions for which he expected detailed responses. The following questions are in the… Continue Reading
