Freedom of Information

States Releasing Information Online that Can Ensure Public Official Accountability
“On March 19, OMB Watch released a new report that evaluates state and federal websites designed to ensure the accountability of public officials. The report, Upholding the Public’s Trust: Key Features for Effective State Accountability Websites, examines state efforts to release public officials’ integrity information online. Such transparency is crucial to guard against self-dealing and patronage. While states and the federal government have made progress in this area, more work lies ahead. Transparency can deter corruption and guard against ethical conflicts. It is impressive that the federal government and so many states are disclosing so much information about elected and appointed officials online. However, the quantity and quality of disclosure is uneven.”
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12012

50 states and no winners
“. . . State officials make lofty promises when it comes to ethics in government. They tout the transparency of legislative processes, accessibility of records, and the openness of public meetings. But these efforts often fall short of providing any real transparency or legitimate hope of rooting out corruption. That’s the depressing bottom line that emerges from the State Integrity Investigation, a first-of-its-kind, data-driven assessment of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in all 50 states. Not a single state — not one — earned an A grade from the months-long probe.”
http://www.stateintegrity.org/state_integrity_invesitgation_overview_story

Broadcasters fight plan to post names of political ad buyers on Web
“CBS and News Corp.’s Fox are among broadcasters fighting a plan to post names of campaign-ad buyers and purchase prices on the Web as record election spending raises concerns over anonymous political contributions. The information is maintained in desk drawers and filing cabinets at television stations, and the Federal Communications Commission wants to bring the data to a Web site the agency would run.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/broadcasters-fight-plan-to-post-names-of-political-ad-buyers-on-web/2012/03/15/gIQAX2DLLS_story.html?wprss=rss_politics

If TV Stations Won’t Post Their Data on Political Ads, We Will
“Every local broadcast station has a repository of documents about political advertising that you have a legal right to see but can do so only by going to the station and asking to see “the public file.” These paper files contain detailed data on all political ads that run on the channel, such as when they aired, who bought the time and how much they paid. It’s a transparency gold mine [1], allowing the public to see how campaigns and outside groups are influencing elections. But TV executives have been fighting a Federal Communications Commission proposal [2] to make the data accessible online. . . We tend to like the idea of public data being online. Since TV stations won’t put it online themselves, we decided to do it ourselves — and we want your help.”
http://www.propublica.org/article/if-tv-stations-wont-post-their-data-on-political-ads-we-will

Feds Turn to Tech to Improve Freedom of Information Act Responses
“After coming into office on promises of open government, transparency and accountability, the Obama administration has come under fire from critics who charge that the actions of the executive branch have not lived up to the rhetoric, and that too many of the government’s activities remain shrouded in secrecy. Administration officials, of course, will argue to the contrary, citing, among other factors, the enormous volume of information that has been published on department and agency websites. There is no disagreement, however, in the potential for technology to improve access to government information, particularly in facilitating requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.”
http://www.pcworld.com/article/252404/feds_turn_to_tech_to_improve_freedom_of_information_act_responses.html

Senate Introduces Targeted DISCLOSE Act
“Senate Democrats unveiled their version of the DISCLOSE Act today (S. 2219). Senator Whitehouse was joined by approximately 35 of his Democratic colleagues on legislation that has been described as a pure disclosure and disclaimer bill, with none of the controversial provisions that caused the DISCLOSE Act to fail in the Senate by one vote in 2010.”
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/03/21/senate-introduces-targeted-disclose-act-today/

Public Policy

Liberating America’s secret, for-pay laws
“Did you know that vital parts of the US law are secret, and you’re only allowed to read them if you pay a standards body thousands of dollars for the right to find out what the law of the land is? Public.Resource.Org spent $7,414.26 buying privately-produced technical public safety standards that have been incorporated into U.S. federal law. These public safety standards govern and protect a wide range of activity, from how bicycle helmets are constructed to how to test for lead in water to the safety characteristics of hearing aids and protective footwear. We have started copying those 73 standards despite the fact they are festooned with copyright warnings, shrinkwrap agreements, and other dire warnings. The reason we are making those copies is because citizens have the right to read and speak the laws that we are required to obey and which are critical to the public safety.”
http://boingboing.net/2012/03/19/liberating-americas-secret.html

ProQuest Picks up Where the Census Bureau Left Off: The Statistical Abstract of the United States Will Be Back This Year
“ProQuest will rescue one of researchers’ most valued reference tools when it takes on publication of the Statistical Abstract of the United States beginning with the 2013 edition. The move ensures continuation of this premier guide to an extraordinary array of statistics, which has been published since 1878. The U.S. Census Bureau, responsible for publishing the work, announced in March 2011 that it would cease production of the Statistical Abstract after the 2012 edition, prompting widespread concern among librarians, journalists, and researchers about the disappearance of this essential research tool.”
http://www.proquest.com/en-US/aboutus/pressroom/12/20120322.shtml

Open Access

FRPAA in the Spotlight: Public Access Bill featured in Congressional Briefing, Two Dozen Bipartisan Co-sponsors add their Support
“Fresh on the heels of yesterday’s (March 19, 2012) well-attended Congressional briefing on the issue of public access to the results of taxpayer funded research, 24 new bipartisan co-sponsors have officially been added to the roster of supporters for H.R. 4004, The Federal Research Public Access Act. The new co-sponsors (see full list below) join the bill’s original sponsors, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS).”
http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/blog/FRPAA_Spotlight_New_Bipartisan_Cosponsors.shtml

International Outlook

[Pakistan] IT ministry shelves plan to install massive URL blocking system
“The Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) has apparently decided to shelve its plans to install a massive URL blocking system. The MoIT, through its research arm, the National Information & Communication Technology Research and Development Fund had thorough a public advertisement on February 23, 2012, sought bids for a system that “should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs with a processing delay of not more than 1 millisecond.” On Monday, Member National Assembly Bushra Gohar confirmed to The Express Tribune that the MoIT had decided to reverse its decision.”
http://tribune.com.pk/story/352172/it-ministry-shelves-plan-to-install-massive-url-blocking-system/

Please feel free to pass along in part or in its entirety.

The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.

Freedom of Information

National Archives chief unlocks secrets
“. . . Ferriero now directs the National Archives in Washington, the first librarian to hold the post of official “collector in chief.’’ He not only oversees 12 billion pages and 40 million photographs that tell America’s story, he referees release of America’s oldest secrets, from the formula for invisible ink to battle plans for the Spanish-American War. He favors openness, he says, but agencies cling to a maze of often-contradictory secrecy rules and a deep-seated culture to lock away even innocuous information. “While progress has been made,’’ Ferriero said, “we still have a huge problem.” Ferriero’s primary job is ensuring the 275 executive branch agencies retain the most important government records for posterity. But he also oversees the National Declassification Center, created by President Obama by executive order in 2009. That makes him point man for an aggressive effort to try to release, by the end of next year, a backlog of an estimated 400 million records that are more than 25 years old.”
http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-13/nation/31153633_1_google-books-formulas-government-files

Let the Sunshine In
“This week is Sunshine Week, a joint project of the American Society of News Editors and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.  Held in mid-March, Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote discussion about the importance of open government and freedom of information. The theme of this year’s Sunshine Week is “Put Sunshine in Your Government,” and so now is an appropriate time to reflect on the Obama Administration’s strong commitment to open government over the past three years, and more particularly to provide an update on implementation of the U.S. National Action Plan on Open Government. President Obama unveiled the National Plan in September 2011, as part of the United States’ commitment as a founding member of the Open Government Partnership – a global effort to promote more transparent, effective, and accountable governance in countries around the world. A little over five months later, we have already made important progress on many initiatives and thus followed through on a number of commitments in the National Action Plan.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/12/let-sunshine

Tell Congress to open up
“Making sure that people can get information about what our government is doing is the heart of what we do at Sunlight. And right now, there’s a chance to make some big changes. A committee in Congress is working on an appropriations bill that could make it easier to find out what Congress is doing by changing how information is released by the Library of Congress through a website through THOMAS. They’re writing the bill as we speak (er, type…), so this is a perfect moment to speak up for greater transparency.”
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/03/12/tell-congress-to-open-up/

Web Site Publishes Freedom of Information Requests Sought by California Congressman
“An Internet site that promotes openness by the federal government has beaten Representative Darrell E. Issa to the punch, publishing copies of tens of thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests assembled for Mr. Issa last year as part of an investigation he is conducting into the federal government’s responsiveness to such inquiries. Mr. Issa, a California Republican who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, had asked 180 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and Amtrak, for five years’ worth of logs detailing who requested government documents, what documents they wanted and when responses were provided, if at all. The result is tens of thousands of pages — perhaps more than 100,000 — of such logs, which include the names of business executives, lobbyists, academics, journalists, lawyers and private citizens who have made such inquiries, known as F.O.I.A. requests.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/web-site-publishes-freedom-of-information-requests-sought-by-california-congressman/

Strides and Stumbles: Mixed Results for the Obama Administration on Freedom of Information
“The Obama administration has continued to make progress on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In fiscal year (FY) 2011, the administration processed more FOIA requests than in either of the past two years. In fact, agencies processed considerably more requests in FY 2011 than they received altogether the previous year. Nevertheless, the surge in FOIA requests outpaced the administration’s increase in processing. This resulted in a growth of the administration’s combined FOIA backlog. In this analysis, OMB Watch lays out several key strengths and weaknesses of the Obama administration’s track record on FOIA during FY 2011.”
http://www.ombwatch.org/fy2011foiaanalysis
Read the full text of the analysis.

Government can’t keep up with information requests
“The Obama administration couldn’t keep pace with the increasing number of people asking for copies of government documents, emails, photographs and more under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of the latest federal data by The Associated Press. Federal agencies did better last year trying to fulfill requests, but still fell further behind with backlogs, due mostly to surges in immigration records requested from the Homeland Security Department. It released all or portions of the information that citizens, journalists, businesses and others sought — and outright rejected other requests — at about the same rate as the previous two years. The AP analyzed figures over the last three years from 37 of the largest federal departments and agencies.”
http://news.yahoo.com/government-cant-keep-information-requests-084923086.html

Report Card Ranks 50 States on Transparency of Spending
“In Following the Money 2012: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data, researchers at the United States Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) graded all 50 states on how well they provide online access to information about government spending. States were given “A” to “F” grades based on the characteristics of the online transparency systems they have created to provide information on contracts, subsidies and spending at quasi-public agencies.”
http://www.uspirg.org/news/usp/report-card-ranks-50-states-transparency-spending

Patrick Leahy, Chuck Grassley on warpath over stalled FOIA recommendations
“Sparks flew at a usually staid Congressional hearing on the Freedom of Information Act Tuesday, as the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused the Office of Management and Budget of bottling up legally-required recommendations to improve federal agencies’ compliance with the law guaranteeing public access to government records. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and ranking Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa went on the warpath after the head of a federal office involved with FOIA said her proposals for legislative changes went to OMB more than a year ago, but have yet to be formally adopted or submitted to Congress by the administration.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/03/patrick-leahy-chuck-grassley-on-warpath-over-stalled-117303.html

Sens. Wyden and Udall Weigh in on ACLU Patriot Act FOIA Case
“”Contrary to core principles of American democracy.” That’s how two U.S. senators describe the Justice Department’s refusal to release a secret legal interpretation of the Patriot Act.”
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/sens-wyden-and-udall-weigh-aclu-patriot-act-foia-case http://www.scribd.com/doc/85512347/Senators-Ron-Wyden-Mark-Udall-Letter-to-Attorney-General-Holder

Obama FOIA efforts earn mixed grades
“Many federal agencies have failed to track basic information in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee study released Thursday. A separate, rosier study from nonprofit OMBWatch noted FOIA progress compared to previous years.”
http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/03/obama-foia-efforts-earn-mixed-grades/41477/

Public Policy

MapLight’s Newly Launched Topic Pages Allow Journalists and Citizens to Search for Bills by Issue Area
“MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money’s influence on politics, is pleased to announce the launch of its newest transparency tool, Topic Pages, during Sunshine Week. The new tool allows journalists and citizens to search for and track bills by issue area in the U.S. Congress and in the California and Wisconsin State Legislatures. The tool combines all of MapLight’s research data related to a specific topic area,  giving journalists and citizens a snapshot view of the latest legislative and campaign finance data relating to a given topic–for example, Technology and Communications or Environmental Protection.”
http://maplight.org/topics-page-launch

Internet Access

Council Of Europe Passes Internet Governance Strategy
“In passing a comprehensive Internet Governance Strategy, the Council of Europe (CoE) today laid claim to a front runner position in the human rights dialogue for the internet. According to a press release by the Strasbourg-based, 47-member organisation, the strategy integrates 40 lines of action, including the development of a variety of soft law instruments from a high-level “framework of understanding and/or commitments” protecting the “Internet’s universality, integrity and openness as a means of safeguarding freedom of expression regardless of frontiers and Internet freedom,” to protection standards for granting the unimpeded cross-border flow of legal internet content or human rights standards on network neutrality.”
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/03/15/council-of-europe-passes-internet-governance-strategy/

International Outlook

Egypt’s National Library seeks to improve access to information
“The National Library and Archives (NLA) recently announced plans to modernise the administration of the Egyptian National Library and improve access to information countrywide. Firstly, the NLA aims to bring all of Egypt’s libraries under the National Library’s umbrella within a four-year period, along with standardising regulations governing all library operations. The NLA also aims to work more closely with Egyptian cultural and heritage centres with the aim of encouraging library development and the archiving sciences. The NLA is also expected to issue a raft of new regulations aimed at improving the exchange of documents and manuscripts.”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/36612.aspx

National Archives unveils digitisation strategy
“The National Archives of Australia has outlined a plan to reduce the dependency of government agencies on paper records, saving up to $200 million a year in physical storage costs. The Director General of the National Archives, David Fricker, said he hoped to drive a coordinated and strategic approach to digital information management across the Federal Government. The Digital Continuity Plan has been developed by the Archives as a key element of a new whole-of-government policy that will see all Australian Government agencies change to a comprehensive digital information and records management regime.”
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/293671,national-archives-unveils-digitisation-strategy.aspx

Please feel free to pass along in part or in its entirety.

The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.

SLA’s Leadership Summit was held January 25-28 in Atlanta, Georgia.  The meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet colleagues, as leaders from chapters and divisions come together to learn about plans for the organization as a whole, and to share successes and challenges in managing their individual units.

I came away from the meeting with a much better understanding of the direction the organization is taking.  For me, the most important presentation at the summit came from the treasurer, Dan Trefethen.  We all know that the association has had several difficult years financially, so it was wonderful to hear Dan say that fiscal 2011 had closed with no cash deficit, and that no deficit is projected for 2012.  The association still faces some deferred expenses, most notably some infrastructure work on our headquarters offices and some overdue upgrades to computer equipment, so we’re not without challenges, but it’s a big improvement over the past several years.  Dan’s slides are online here: http://www.sla.org/presentations/12leadsumm/ShowMetheMoney.pdf

Another important presentation was the update on SLA’s Loyalty Project from consultant James Kane.  James presented to the leadership team two years ago, and since then selected chapters have been working with him on techniques and tools for developing member loyalty, with an overall goal of increasing chapter membership retention by 5%.  I personally participated in a somewhat humbling exercise, designed to demonstrate that leadership means going beyond the specific tasks you are assigned, and providing guidance and vision to the organization.  In the exercise, a small group of us were designated as “problem solvers”, taken out of the main conference room, and given a detailed set of maneuvers to execute using the people still in the main conference room.  Of course, while we worked diligently at solving the puzzle in the lobby, confusion reigned in the conference room.  By the time we returned to the conference room to implement our plan, there was no way to restore order in the main space! James Kane went on to explain that the exercise demonstrates the importance of leaders being visible, and ensuring that the decision-making process is visible to the group.  I’ll certainly be keeping that lesson in mind as I look to execute tasks as your President, and welcome your input on ways to make the chapter more open and accessible.

If you’re interested in learning more about the loyalty project, I recommend looking at the presentations from three of the participating chapters, which are also available online: http://www.sla.org/content/resources/leadcenter/LeadershipSummit/12leadsummit/handouts.cfm.

Finally, in group discussions I learned about a number of programs that other chapters have implemented that might be of interest here in the Bay Area.   Some of these are listed below.  I welcome your input on whether these types of programs would be of interest.

• Post Executive Board agendas on the chapter website in advance of board meetings, and make sure discussion points from executive board meetings are circulated to the membership.
  • I’ve already implemented this one – see: http://sanfrancisco.sla.org/2012/03/board-meeting-agendas/

• Professionals need professional headshots for Linked In, etc.  Have a photographer come to a meeting and allow members to get quality photos
  • If you’re a photographer and would be interested in working with us on this project, let me know.

• Post board member profiles on your website
  • We will work on integrating this into our new Bayline format.

• Find out what other organizations our members belong to, and plan joint programming with those organizations
  • Do you belong to another professional organization outside of SLA?  If so, and you’d be interested in joint programming, please let me know.

• Establish chapter liaisons to various divisions.

• Start a chapter “Article Club” (less commitment than a book club).

• Be sure members are aware of member benefits.  In particular, note that SLA does offer a group health care purchase option.

If you’re interested in any of these programs, I want to hear from you.  You can reach me at president@sanfrancisco.sla.org.

Mimi Calter

Chapter President

The Chapter Executive Board and Advisory Council will meet on Thursday, March 14th, 2012.  The planned agendas for the two meetings are below.  I hope that a broader distribution of the agendas will give you all more insight into the workings of the organization.  Of course, additional discussion topics are always welcome.

You can also find minutes of past meetings here: http://sanfrancisco.sla.org/meeting-minutes/

Note that minutes will not be posted until approved, so they generally lag the meeting date by a couple of months.

Executive Board Agenda

Advisory Council Agenda

The San Francisco Bay Region Chapter of SLA &

The Northern California Association of Law Libraries

Citizens United – A Local Sunshine Week Program

with Jay Costa, MapLight

Absinthe Brasserie & Bar

388 Hayes Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

(415) 551-1590

Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 5:30 – 8:00 PM

What: With the unbridled spending that has inundated our elections over the past two years, the words “Citizens United” have come to be virtually synonymous with the problem of political corruption and money in politics. Indeed, the Supreme Court decision is as unpopular as it is infamous. But while it is a source of widespread anger, the ways in which Citizens United has actually changed our political climate are often misunderstood. What are the SuperPACs we hear so much about, and what kind of powers has the Court given them? What does the Citizens United decision have to say about the issue of transparency? Is there any realistic hope of remedying the ill-effects of Citizens United, short of the decision being reversed? And in what ways is Citizens United just a drop in the bucket of a much larger problem confronting American democracy?

Who: Jay Costa is a member of the staff at MapLight, a nonpartisan organization that reveals money’s influence on politics, where he serves as web producer, communications associate, and contributes to research. Most recently, he designed the MapLight Voter Guide, which will be the most comprehensive and easiest-to-navigate source of information about California ballot measures for the upcoming election. Jay was appointed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to serve on the City’s Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, a body responsible for ensuring that deliberations of commissions, boards, councils, and other agencies of the City and County of San Francisco are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people’s review. Jay chairs the Task Force’s Education, Outreach, and Training Committee, which advises the Task Force on matters of media relations and outreach to the general public. He is also the lead organizer for the Bay Area arm of Rootstrikers, a group founded by Lawrence Lessig to curb the corruptive influence of money in politics. Jay holds a degree in Biological Anthropology from Harvard College.

When: Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 5:30 – 8:00 PM

Agenda:

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM Registration, networking and appetizers

6:30 PM – 6:45 PM Announcements

6:45 PM – 8:00 PM Program with Q&A following

Cost: $25 for SLA members, $50 for non-members, and $20 for students, retired, and unemployed.

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, March 27th 2012 – CLOSED

Registration Form: Mail-in Registration

Many thanks to Taylor & Associates and WestlawNext for sponsoring this meeting.

http://www.taylorlib.com/

http://customers.westlawnext.com

View Sunshine Week event in a larger map

Freedom of Information

Obama’s muddy transparency record
“A minute after he took office, the White House website declared his administration would become “the most open and transparent in history.” By the end of his first full day on the job, Obama had issued high-profile orders pledging “a new era” and “an unprecedented level of openness” across the massive federal government. But three years into his presidency, critics say Obama’s administration has failed to deliver the refreshing blast of transparency that the president promised.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73606.html

Transparency measures slow to move in Congress
“As Congress faces record-low approval ratings, open-government groups say more transparency could help rebuild public trust. But greater disclosure may be a tough goal when it comes to legislation targeting lawmakers’ activities.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-03-08/congress-sunshine/53423540/1

Easier access to disclosure forms planned
“The Office of Government Ethics is preparing to make more readily accessible the public financial disclosure reports of political appointees who are subject to Senate confirmation, launching as soon as next week a service providing online access to those records through its Web site, www.oge.gov. The new service will be the result of a multi-year effort to improve transparency of those records, which currently must be requested through a paper-based system.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/easier-access-to-disclosure-forms-planned/2012/03/08/gIQAoMcizR_blog.html

Public Policy

United Nations Releases 2012 E-Government Survey
“The Division for Public Administration and Development Management, DPADM, announces the launch of its E-Government Survey 2012: E-Government for the People. The 2012 Survey sheds light on the global state of e-government development and provides options on how best to move forward.”
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan048065.pdf

Pew Study: Urban Libraries Struggle to Meet Greater Demands with Fewer Resources
“A new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts finds that urban libraries are experiencing increased demands for an ever-widening array of services, due in part to the poor economy. At the same time, libraries’ funding from local governments has been cut, leaving them with fewer resources, staff and hours with which to meet these new challenges. To understand how urban libraries are dealing with this pressure, the report from Pew’s Philadelphia Research Initiative compares library systems in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus (Ohio), Detroit, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Queens (NY), San Francisco and Seattle.”
http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=85899373285

Dot-gov reforms clash with transparency objectives
“Among the several thousand federal websites likely to be shuttered as part of the government’s massive dot-gov reform plan, count this one: XML.gov. Extensible Markup Language, or XML, is an extremely simple Web document language that is especially responsive to search queries and easy for other computer programs to read. Advocates inside government say XML could be a boon for information sharing; transparency advocates favor the language because it allows them to easily extract government data and mash it up with other information such as laying campaign contributors over earmark recipients. The computer language has generally lost out in the federal government, though, to PDFs and other document formats that are simpler to create on the front end, easier to secure and control on the back end, and more amenable to fancy graphics and crisp formatting.”
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20120306_7913.php

Open Access

81 Scholarly Journal Publishers Oppose Federal Research Public Access Act
“Today, 81 U.S. scholarly journal publishing organizations expressed their strong opposition to the third introduction of the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA, H.R. 4004 and S. 2096). The Association of American Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division (AAP/PSP) and the DC Principles Coalition sent letters on behalf of a diverse cross-section of American non-profit, scholarly society and commercial organizations, to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Chair, and Sen. Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Rep. Darrell Issa, Chair, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.”
Publishers’ letter to the Senate
Publishers’ letter to the House
http://www.publishers.org/press/61/

Privacy Concerns

International Reactions to Google’s New Privacy Policy
“Google’s new privacy policy took effect last Thursday, following several weeks campaigning to educate users on the changes. The policy will allow them to consolidate users’ data across all of its services and platforms, in a move they claim will both improve user experience and make their policy “easier to understand.” The international privacy community, however, is having none of it. Lawmakers, privacy authorities, technical experts, and privacy organizations around the world are releasing public statements and direct letters to Google representatives that are critical of the new policy. Advocacy groups criticize and condemn the changes, and the European Union, Japanese, and Canadian privacy authorities have released statements indicating that the new policy may violate their domestic privacy laws. Google meanwhile, seems to be ignoring the global outcry, dismissing criticism as “chatter and confusion.””
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/international-reactions-googles-new-privacy-policy

Intellectual Property

US Congressman Posts ACTA For Open Debate
“A conservative United States congressional representative has posted the text of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the internet and is calling for public comments out of the fear that the agreement will harm the open internet. The website, keepthewebopen.com, created by California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, is already collecting a numerous comments, but with the agreement already signed by the US and others, it remains to be seen if it is too late for change.”
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/03/07/us-congressman-posts-acta-for-open-debate/

Orphan Works: Mapping the Possible Solution Spaces
“This paper surveys a range of proposed orphan works solutions. The goal is to acquaint the reader with the wide variety of solution types, and to identify the positive and negative aspects of each. The paper discusses four general categories of proposed solutions to the orphan works problem.”
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2019121

Canadian copyright bill hits the home stretch
“Days after the Conservative government introduced its copyright reform bill in June 2010, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore spoke out in support of the legislative package by notoriously labeling critics as “radical extremists” who should be confronted until “they are defeated.” This week, the copyright bill hits the home stretch as the Bill C-11 legislative committee conducts its final “clause-by-clause” review. The bill has been a subject of debate for nearly 20 months and over the course of that period, there has been a surprising role reversal. Moore’s vision of strong support from copyright lobby groups has been replaced by demands to overhaul the legislation with a broad array of extreme measures, while the supposed critics – library groups, educators, consumer associations, and individual Canadians – have endorsed much of the legislation with only requests for modest changes to the controversial digital lock provisions.”
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1144302–copyright-bill-hits-the-home-stretch

Internet Access

US Government Scuttles Plan To Share Control Of The Internet
“The US Commerce Department National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has cancelled its request for proposal for the management of the internet root zone file, a core piece of infrastructure for the global domain name system (DNS) that helps users to navigate the net. In a 10 March notice published on its website, NTIA announced the agency had “received no proposals that met the requirements requested by the global community.” NTIA intended to “reissue the RFP at a future date to be determined (TBD) so that the requirements of the global Internet community can be served.” This unexpected move is a setback to expectations by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to be re-named as contractor for the so-called IANA function that also includes a list of tasks necessary for the internet, for example IP address allocation to the Regional Internet Registries. NTIA’s rather blunt explanation of shortcomings of the proposals received ignites speculation about possible intentions of the US body, but also some quick criticism about the unilateral power over internet critical infrastructure.”
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/03/11/us-government-scuttles-plan-to-share-control-of-the-internet/

Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable
“When U.S. authorities shuttered sports-wagering site Bodog.com last week, it raised eyebrows across the net because the domain name was registered with a Canadian company, ostensibly putting it beyond the reach of the U.S. government. Working around that, the feds went directly to VeriSign, a U.S.-based internet backbone company that has the contract to manage the coveted .com and other “generic” top-level domains. EasyDNS, an internet infrastructure company, protested that the “ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc. needs to ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of U.S. federal and state lawmakers.” But despite EasyDNS and others’ outrage, the U.S. government says it’s gone that route hundreds of times. Furthermore, it says it has the right to seize any .com, .net and .org domain name because the companies that have the contracts to administer them are based on United States soil, according to Nicole Navas, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/feds-seize-foreign-sites/all/1

International Outlook

EU Digital Commissioner: Open Public Data, The Oil Of The Digital Age
“Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, today called for public data to be opened up for all to use, somewhat akin to providing the free oil of the digital age. “Let me underline one initiative that I am supporting to make digital technology work for governance and transparency: by opening up public data. In the digital age, data takes on a whole new value, and with new technology we can do great things with it. Opening it up is not just good for transparency, it also stimulates great web content, and provides the fuel for a future economy,” she said in prepared remarks entitled, “From Crisis of Trust to Open Governing“, given today in Bratislava, Slovakia.”
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/03/05/eu-digital-commissioner-open-public-data-the-oil-of-the-digital-age/

Australia considers national digital archive
“Australia’s Legal Deposit requirement, which compels publishers to send copies of all books to the National Library, may be extended to digital works. The potential extension of the Legal Deposit is discussed in a new Consultation Paper issued by the Federal Attorney General’s Department.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/08/australia_legal_deposit/

Campaign on the reform of EU access to documents Regulation
“Access Info Europe is calling for civil society support for the campaign on the reform of the EU access to documents Regulation, which aims to strengthen the right of access to EU documents or, at the very least, to avoid any narrowing of the current right of access to documents.”
http://www.access-info.org/en/european-union/226-reforming-regulation-1049

Wanted: Censor for Pakistan’s Internet
“Pakistan is advertising for companies to install an Internet filtering system that could block up to 50 million Web addresses, alarming free speech activists who fear current censorship could become much more widespread.”
http://news.yahoo.com/wanted-censor-pakistans-internet-063046745.html

Please feel free to pass along in part or in its entirety.

The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.

On February 28^th, a small but mighty group of chapter members spent the morning learning to tackle strategic planning at a professional development program led by past chapter president Eris Weaver (http://www.erisweaver.info/).  I say mighty because, in addition to Eris, our group included two other past chapter presidents, and several past and present members of the chapter’s executive board, in addition to recent graduates.  I very much enjoyed the interaction among the group members, and appreciated the opportunity to share stories and experiences.  I always learn more at these events than what comes from the agenda.

The agenda, however, was quite informative.  The title of the session was “Quick and Dirty Strategic Planning”, and we all agreed that a strategic planning process that was fast and light had real advantages over a lengthy process, as the results of those lengthy reviews are often outdated before they are published.

We discussed the many parallels between the strategic planning process, and the vacation planning process.  You start with dreaming, and envisioning many possibilities of where you might go, or your many possible goals.  At some point, though, you pick a destination (or a goal), based on your objectives.  You then outline a plan to get you to your destination, (booking flights, picking hotels) or your goal (outlining targets, breaking out tasks).  You adapt your plan as necessary, and you document the whole process, which may mean vacation photos or quarterly reports!

Marlene Vogelsang had this to say about the event:

An opportunity to learn with Eris Weaver is not to be missed and I was very pleased that my schedule opened up and I could attend.  Imagine thinking of strategic planning in terms of planning a vacation! That was the premise of our morning as Eris walked us through the vacation (whoops, strategic planning) process.  We talked about where we wanted to go, how we would get there, what we would do when we got there and also about “life happens” and maybe ending up  in another place entirely.

I loved this idea!  We also did some planning around our own needs, which included job searching, completing coursework, and setting up programs in our libraries.  Eris is a fan of post-it note planning and we worked on timelines with post-it notes to visualize what we each needed to do to get where we wanted to go.  My planning was around a resource project that I was trying to start.   I gave myself a very generous timeline… but, guess what?  Since I knew better what steps were needed to get there, I got started this week and made significant progress.  Thank you Eris!    I always find it valuable to step away from the day-to-day of my work to just get a different perspective. Our chapter workshops and SLA programs have helped me to do that.

Overall, the feedback on the session was incredibly positive, and I’m pleased we were able to bring the group together.

However, given that attendance was light, I welcome input on either meeting times or topics that would be of greater interest to our membership.  Watch for the Survey Monkey questionnaire, http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7KMGK3B.  You’re also welcome to send me comments directly: president@sanfrancisco.sla.org.

Mimi Calter

Freedom of Information

In New York, Landmark Open Data Legislation Will Soon Be Up for a Vote
“The New York City Council is expected to vote on a far-reaching open data bill on Wednesday that would codify many of the principles articulated by open government advocates in recent years. If made law, the bill would go further than San Francisco’s pioneering 2010 open data law in depth and scope, obliging agencies to provide data online in machine-readable format though a single, citywide portal. But perhaps in a nod to the amount of work involved in working through large volumes of existing data, city agencies won’t have to make theirs available through the city’s portal until the end of 2018.”
http://techpresident.com/news/21837/new-york-city-enact-open-data-law-defines-open

Judge issues rare order to release classified document
“A federal judge issued a highly unusual order Wednesday requiring the government to disclose a document that the Obama administration insists is classified. The document at issue is only a single page long and lays out the initial negotiating position of the United States on a technical issue during longrunning but ultimately unsuccessful talks to establish a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/02/judge-issues-rare-order-to-release-classifed-document-116023.html

The New Ambiguity of ‘Open Government’
““Open government” used to carry a hard political edge: it referred to politically sensitive disclosures of government information. The phrase was first used in the 1950s, in the debates leading up to passage of the Freedom of Information Act. But over the last few years, that traditional meaning has blurred, and has shifted toward technology. Open technologies involve sharing data over the Internet, and all kinds of governments can use them, for all kinds of reasons. Recent public policies have stretched the label “open government” to reach any public sector use of these technologies. Thus, “open government data” might refer to data that makes the government as a whole more open (that is, more transparent), but might equally well refer to politically neutral public sector disclosures that are easy to reuse, but that may have nothing to do with public accountability. Today a regime can call itself “open” if it builds the right kind of web site — even if it does not become more accountable or transparent. This shift in vocabulary makes it harder for policymakers and activists to articulate clear priorities and make cogent demands. This essay proposes a more useful way for participants on all sides to frame the debate: We separate the politics of open government from the technologies of open data. Technology can make public information more adaptable, empowering third parties to contribute in exciting new ways across many aspects of civic life. But technological enhancements will not resolve debates about the best priorities for civic life, and enhancements to government services are no substitute for public accountability.”
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2012489

Public Policy

CBO scores bill to require online posting of program spending
“A bill requiring agencies for the first time to post spending at the program level on a central website would cost some $115 million over the next four years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday. The average cost of implementing computer upgrades and administrative changes for the 24 major departments and agencies would be $1 million. The Government Results Transparency Act (H.R. 3262) was introduced by Rep. Frank Guinta, R-N.H., and cleared the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in November 2011.”
http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/02/cbo-scores-bill-require-online-posting-program-spending/41290/

Open Access

Legislation to Bar Public-Access Requirement on Federal Research Is Dead
“The science-publishing giant Elsevier pulled its support on Monday from the controversial Research Works Act, hours before the bill’s co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives declared the legislation dead. The bill, HR 3699, would have prevented agencies of the federal government from requiring public access to federally subsidized research. In a statement released on Monday morning, the publisher reiterated its opposition to government mandates even as it backed away from the bill. On Monday afternoon, the bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican of California, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat of New York, issued a statement of their own saying that they would not push for action on the bill after all.”
http://chronicle.com/article/Legislation-to-Bar/130949/

Privacy Concerns

Keep the Pressure On: Canadian Online Surveillance Bill on Pause, But the Fight Continues
“Last Saturday, the Canadian government announced it would put proposed online surveillance legislation temporarily “on pause” following sustained public outrage generated by the bill. Since its introduction two weeks ago, Canadians have spoken out en masse against Bill C-30, the Canadian government’s latest attempt to update police online surveillance powers. As currently drafted, the bill represents a dramatic and dangerous attempt to leverage online service providers as agents of state surveillance.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/keep-pressure-canadian-online-surveillance-bill-pause-fight-continues

Intellectual Property

Guild Motion Asks for Quick Ruling on HathiTrust’s Fair Use Defense
“Although the Google Book Settlement has been rejected by the court, one reason the parties were even able to reach an agreement was by avoiding the question of whether Google’s scanning of copyrighted books was a violation of fair use. The issue came up late last year when the Authors Guild led a group of copyright holders in filing a lawsuit against HathiTrust contending that its scanning program in which Google has converted millions of books into digital files stored by the Trust was copyright infringement. Now the Guild is placing the question of fair use front and center in a motion filed February 28 that asks the judge hearing the case to issue a “partial judgment on the pleadings,” and rule that the unauthorized digitization is in fact not protected by fair use.”
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/50875-guild-motion-asks-for-quick-ruling-on-hathitrust–s-fair-use-defense.html

International Outlook

Mexico Adopts Alarming Surveillance Legislation
“The Mexican legislature today adopted a surveillance legislation that will grant the police warrantless access to real time user location data. The bill was adopted almost unanimously with 315 votes in favor, 6 against, and 7 abstentions. It has been sent to the President for his approval.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/mexico-adopts-surveillance-legislation

Freedom of Information Act has not improved government, says UK MoJ
“The Freedom of Information Act has failed to increase understanding of government, may have reduced trust and has done little to improve decision-making in Westminster, according to the Ministry of Justice, presaging a parliamentary debate on whether to consider reforms to the seven-year-old legislation. Civil servants are also calling for the introduction of higher fees for users of the act. The ministry suggests that the costs do “not adequately reflect the total amount of time spent in practice in compiling the information”.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/13/freedom-of-information-ministry-justice

Please feel free to pass along in part or in its entirety.

The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.