The Hill: “The White House recently deleted all of the data on its open data portal, which served as a public clearinghouse for data on everything from federal budgets to climate change initiatives. This is a red flag, since for eight years, the Obama White House championed the practice of making government data freely available… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Records
Many ‘password challenged’ internet users don’t take steps that could protect their data
“In today’s digitally connected world, where accessing medical records, ordering groceries and paying taxes can all be done online, many internet users find it daunting to keep up with all the various passwords associated with their online accounts. One consequence is that a significant minority of users settle for less secure passwords they can more… Continue Reading
Nuts and Bolts of Encryption: A Primer for Policymakers
Nuts and Bolts of Encryption: A Primer for Policymakers, Edward W. Felten, Center for Information Technology Policy. Department of Computer Science, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, version of February 20, 2017. An up-to-date version of this paper will be available at https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~felten/encryptionprimer.pdf “This paper offers a straight for ward introduction… Continue Reading
Mirror copy of EPA website prior to Trump preserved for researchers and public
FastCoExist: “Should sections of the Environmental Protection Agency‘s website go the way of the civil rights and climate-change pages of the White House website—in other words, disappear—the agency is prepared. Even if Donald Trump takes the whole EPA site offline, a mirror copy of the website exists online, and it reflects the way the site… Continue Reading
The Immigration Court’s Institutional Hearing Program: How Will It Be Affected
“Special Immigration Court hearings under the court’s Institutional Hearing Program (IHP) appear slated for expansion under President Trump. A new directive, signed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Monday, February 20, 2017 provides that “to the maximum extent possible” removal proceedings be initiated against noncitizens currently “incarcerated in federal, state, and local… Continue Reading
GAO – Presidential and Congressional Transition documents
“During presidential transitions, GAO provides information specifically for new administrations as well as new Congresses. The resources and recommendations here can help policymakers and other leaders find ways to greatly improve government operations and potentially save millions of dollars. Three sets of resources are available here, specifically focusing on the issues and challenges that should… Continue Reading
The Presidential Timeline Project
“The Presidential Timeline project supports educators in developing students’ historical thinking skills and promoting civic engagement. The project consists of the Presidential Timeline website, Summer Teacher Institutes and webinars. The National Archives provides historical content and primary sources, and the University of Texas at Austin provides technical skills to create and maintain the website. Both… Continue Reading
The real National Treasure: US presidential libraries
Oxford University Press Blog: “…A presidential library is actually two things,” Giller [Melissa Giller, Chief Marketing Officer for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Institute in Simi Valley, California] describes. “It’s a museum that anyone can come and visit and tour through…and it is a library.” The library is, more often than not, the private… Continue Reading
Some animal welfare data removed from USDA site is restored
Follow up to previous postings – Animal welfare information wiped from USDA website – today via The Hill – USDA reposts some animal welfare records after outcry: “The Department of Agriculture on Friday February 17, 2017] reposted some of the animal welfare records it had removed from its website, after outcry from animal rights groups… Continue Reading
Senate Judiciary Democrats Demand Retention of All Documents Related to Trump, Russia
“All nine Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats today called on the White House, the Justice Department and the FBI to preserve all documents related to communication between Russia and all Trump officials and associates, as well as all documents related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Letter to White House Letter to DOJ, FBI In… Continue Reading
Please support DataRescue and other open access archive efforts
“DataRescue events create trustworthy copies of federal climate and environmental data, while the Internet Archive, datarefuge.org, and a consortium of major research libraries holds these copies. See our sister project at www.librariesnetwork.org. See also: “Orientation to DataLumos – ICPSR’s archive to preserve valuable government data. Join us for a webinar on Feb 17, 2017 at 12:00… Continue Reading
Animal welfare data deleted by government restored to public by Russ Kick
Follow up to previous posting – Animal welfare information wiped from USDA website – news via TIME on the freedom of information evangelist Russ Kick – “An Arizona man who has published thousands of animal welfare documents on his website since the government purged the once-public information is pledging to keep digging up data until… Continue Reading
