The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following reports and correspondence: Reports Federal Housing Administration: Decline in the Agency’s Market Share Was Associated with Product and Process Developments of Other Mortgage Market Participants. GAO-07-645, June 29, 2007 Federal Housing Administration: Modernization Proposals Would Have Program and Budget Implications and Require Continued Improvements in Risk… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: July 2007
Social Security Number Protection Act of 2007
S. 1691: “To amend title 18, United States Code, to restrict the public display on the Internet of all or any portion of social security account numbers by State and local governments, and for other purposes. This Act may be cited as the Social Security Number Online Protection Act of 2007…(3) In most jurisdictions throughout… Continue Reading
The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University Survey of Political Independents
“A new national survey by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University provides a detailed look at self-identified independents who they are, what issues matter to them, how they approach politics and elections, and their views on key issues including health care, Iraq, and immigration. The survey assesses the views and… Continue Reading
Survey Reviews Oldest Pending FOIA Requests
The Knight Open Government Survey conducted by the National Security Archive, George Washington University: 40 Years of FOIA, 20 Years of Delay – Oldest Pending FOIA Requests Date Back to the 1980s, July 2, 2007 (39 pages, PDF). This audit “surveys the 87 agencies and major components and finds that extensive backlogs persist. Requests from… Continue Reading
Judiciary Chairmen Leahy, Conyers Seek Basis For President's Executive Privilege Claim
Press release, June 29, 2007: “Senate and House Judiciary Chairmen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) sent a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, responding to the President’s executive privilege assertion over documents relating to the US Attorney investigation. Leahy and Conyers reiterated their concern that the President’s sweeping assertion was unprecedented.… Continue Reading
VA OIG Report Critical of Personal Data Breach Involving 1.5 Million Veterans
Administrative Investigation Loss of VA Information VA Medical Center Birmingham, AL [Rpt. #07-01083-157 6/29/2007] AP: “An Alabama VA hospital that lost sensitive data on more than 1.5 million people in January repeatedly failed to follow privacy regulations leading up to the incident…” Continue Reading
Brand Awareness and the Evaluation of Search Results
Brand Awareness and the Evaluation of Search Results, by Bernard J. Jansen (Pennsylvania State University), Mimi Zhang (Pennsylvania State University), Ying Zhang (Pennsylvania State University) “We investigate the effect of search engine brand (i.e., identifying name or logo that distinguishes a product from its competitors) on evaluation of system performance. Our research is motivated by… Continue Reading
Video Search Engine for Science Videos
“ScienceHack is a unique video search engine for science videos…Every video is screened and approved based on accuracy and quality by our scientists…So far we indexed: Physics, Chemistry, and Space.Coming soon: Geology, Psychology, Robotics and Computer.” [via Slashdot] Continue Reading
EU Launches Channel on YouTube
Welcome to the YouTube space of the European Commission. Find out more about a Europe of action and results. The site currently provides video in English, German and French, with more languages to be added in future. Continue Reading
New GAO Reports, Correspondences and Testimonies
On June 29, 2007 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the following reports, correspondences and testimonies: Reports Military Base Closures: Projected Savings from Fleet Readiness Centers Likely Overstated and Actions Needed to Track Actual Savings and Overcome Certain Challenges. GAO-07-304, June 29, 2007 Defense Contracting: Improved Insight and Controls Needed over DOD’s Time-and-Materials Contracts. GAO-07-273,… Continue Reading
Congressional Concerns Over Closings of FDA Facilities
Press release: “Two leaders of the Committee on Energy and Commerce this week demanded an explanation for the planned closings of seven Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facilities across the country. In a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and… Continue Reading
CCAGW Releases 2006 Congressional Ratings
Press release: “The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW)…released its 2006 Congressional Ratings. Since 1991, CCAGW has examined roll-call votes to separate the taxpayer advocates in Congress from those who favor wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending….[the report features] vote descriptions, scorecards for the House and Senate, personalized scorecards for each member of Congress, and… Continue Reading
