Privacy Issues

The New York Times Reminds Us the NSA Still Warrantlessly Wiretaps Americans, and Congress Has the Power to Stop It

Last week, the New York Times published two important op-eds highlighting how the National Security Agency (NSA) has retained expansive powers to warrantlessly wiretap Americans after Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act in 2008. And unlike in 2005—when the exposure of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program provoked widespread outrage—Congress is now all but ignoring ample evidence of wrongdoing, as it debates renewing the FISA Amendments Act before it expires at the end of this year.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/ny-times-reminds-us-nsa-still-warrantlessly-wiretapping-americans-and-congress-has

——————————-

Intellectual Property Issues

Impatience over lack of action on intellectual property theft

The European Union’s Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy is set to be given enhanced enforcement capabilities in order to fight IP infringements. According to The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) the new powers could start to come into effect in March 2013.
However FAST points out that a stronger fight against IP breaches is long overdue.

http://www.iwr.co.uk/business/3011367/Impatience-over-lack-of-action-on-intellectual-property-theft

——————————-

Public Policy

Overhaul of Federal Record-Keeping Ordered By NARA, Office of Management and Budget

A major overhaul in the way federal departments and agencies manage and preserve their records was ordered today by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
In a directive that carries out a presidential memorandum to reform records management for the 21st century, NARA and OMB said that all agencies must begin to manage their records, including emails, in electronic format by the end of the decade.
The directive also requires each agency to designate a high-ranking agency official to oversee its records management programs and to ensure that all appropriate staff receive records management training.

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2012/nr12-145.html

——————————-

Open Access

Wiley joins open access group

John Wiley & Sons has joined the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association. OASPA represents the interests of open access journal publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines and enables exchange of information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation.
In early 2011 Wiley launched Wiley Open Access, an open access journal program, which contains eleven journals. Wiley Open Access provides open access publication in peer-reviewed journals where all published articles are immediately freely available to read, download and share.

http://www.iwr.co.uk/academic-and-humanites/3011369/Wiley-joins-open-access-group

——————————-

Digital History

The Born Digital in the Archives: One Curator’s Experience

The late Jonathan Larson went through many drafts when composing what became the hit-musical RENT. The tragic end to his life is well known – he died suddenly at age 35 in 1996 shortly before the off-Broadway opening of the musical. What may not be well known is that these early drafts of RENT and other artifacts from Larson’s life and career were hidden for years, existing only on floppy disks and now-obsolete software programs.
Working to solve this digital preservation dilemma became the focus for Doug Reside, Digital Curator of the New York Public Library, along with Mark Horowitz, Senior Music Specialist in the Library of Congress Music Division and curator of the Jonathan Larson collection.

http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2012/08/the-born-digital-in-the-archives-one-curators-experience/

——————————-

Freedom of Information

Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice, and Recent Developments

Presidential claims of a right to preserve the confidentiality of information and documents in the
face of legislative demands have figured prominently, though intermittently, in executive congressional relations since at least 1792. Few such interbranch disputes over access to information have reached the courts for substantive resolution. The vast majority of these disputes are resolved through political negotiation and accommodation. In fact, it was not until the Watergate-related lawsuits in the 1970′s seeking access to President Nixon’s tapes that the existence of a presidential confidentiality privilege was judicially established as a necessary derivative of the President’s status in our constitutional scheme of separated powers.
There have been only four cases involving information access disputes between Congress and the executive, and two of these resulted in decisions on the merits.
President Obama formally invoked executive privilege for the first time on June 20, 2012, over documents sought by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in its ongoing investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.

www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R42670.pdf (Note: PDF file)

GOP Platform Moves from Light to Dark

As the Republican nominating convention gets into full swing, there has been much discussion about the rightward shift by the party and its platform. But the GOP’s newfound hostility toward disclosure of money in politics does not reflect a move from center to right. It’s a move from light to dark.
The GOP platform adopted yesterday left no question that the party fully embraces unlimited, unregulated, undisclosed money in our elections. "We support repeal of the remaining sections of McCain-Feingold, support either raising or repealing contribution limits, and oppose passage of the DISCLOSE Act or any similar legislation designed to vitiate the Supreme Court’s recent decisions protecting political speech in Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission."

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/08/29/gop-platform-moves-from-light-to-dark/

——————————-

International Outlook

(Court-Ordered) Notice-and-Takedown: the Chilean Approach

In 2010, Chile updated its copyright law with a novel approach for protecting Internet intermediaries from liability for their users’ copyright infringement. Though modeled on the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the law differs in one crucial respect: While a cornerstone of the US law is its private notice-and-takedown system, the Chilean law requires that rightsholders secure a court order before content must be taken down.
Today, CDT released a short report on the Chilean law, examining the balance the law strikes among the rights of copyright-holders, intermediaries, and Internet users. As we explain in the paper, the law offers greater certainty to intermediaries as to when content should be removed, and court oversight may well prevent some of the mistakes we have seen under the US system.
On the other hand, some rightsholders have expressed dissatisfaction with the law, since having to go to court significantly raises the burden on them when requesting takedowns.

https://www.cdt.org/blogs/andrew-mcdiarmid/2808court-ordered-notice-and-takedown-chilean-approach

Jordanians Protest Internet Censorship Law With SOPA-Style Blackout

The United States, Russia, and Malaysia have all recently protested proposed Internet censorship laws by having websites "go dark," to demonstrate what the web would look like without them. Today Jordanian netizens have launched their own Internet blackout.
More than a hundred and fifty websites have gone dark to protest a draft bill to amend the Press and Publications Law, framed by the government as anti-pornography legislation, but which activists say will restrict Internet freedom and negatively affect the rights of Jordanian citizens.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/jordanians-protest-internet-censorship-law-sopa-style-blackout

——————————-

Libraries

Librarians are Completely Awesome

Here’s the thing about librarians: they are the only people I know who are incredibly excited TO DO YOUR WORK FOR YOU. As online resources become more complex, we need wise humans to help act as guides. Librarians know how to do that better than you do. Ask them for help. They also, typically, are warm, curious, helpful people.
For any doctoral students out there thinking of starting a new research project, I strongly encourage you to make your university reference librarian your first stop. I’ve had great luck with municipal librarians and with government archivists as well.
It takes a village to raise a research project.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2012/08/librarians_are_completely_awesome.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.

Digital History

Alexandria 2.0: One Millionaire’s Quest to Build the Biggest Library on Earth

Here’s the problem with libraries. They catch on fire really easily. As such, they were the prized targets of the invading hordes of antiquity. They were one-man, one-torch jobs. But the hordes didn’t prize the library only for how powerfully it burned. Back in those days, if you wanted to kill a culture, you killed its library. All it took was one chucklehead with a flaming stick to annihilate thousands of years of accumulated knowledge. And it happened often.

"If this is what happens to libraries, make copies," says Brewster Kahle. Kahle took the library of libraries – the internet – and made a couple of copies of it, and keeps making copies.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/brewster-kahle/

———————————-

Freedom of Information

British charity calls for ’50 Shades of Grey’ book burning

A British charity has called for a burning of the book "50 Shades of Grey" by E.L. James. Wearside Women in Need, which focuses on domestic violence, has asked readers to drop off books for a planned bonfire on Nov. 5.
A mega-bestseller, "50 Shades of Grey" features Anastasia, a naive college student who has an affair with a handsome billionaire who introduces her to sado-masochistic sex. Random House, which published the book in Britain, insists the sex in the book is not abusive but "entirely consensual."

http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-jc-british-charity-calls-for-50-shades-of-grey-book-burning-20120823,0,5503067.story

———————————-

Publishing

The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy

TODD RUTHERFORD was 7 years old when he first understood the nature of supply and demand. He was with a bunch of other boys, one of whom showed off a copy of Playboy to giggles and intense interest. Todd bought the magazine for $5, tore out the racy pictures and resold them to his chums for a buck apiece. He made $20 before his father shut him down a few hours later.
A few years ago, Mr. Rutherford, then in his mid-30s, had another flash of illumination about how scarcity opens the door to opportunity.
In the fall of 2010, Mr. Rutherford started a Web site, GettingBookReviews.com. At first, he advertised that he would review a book for $99. But some clients wanted a chorus proclaiming their excellence. So, for $499, Mr. Rutherford would do 20 online reviews. A few people needed a whole orchestra. For $999, he would do 50.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?_r=2&hp&pagewanted=all

———————————-

Public Policy

FEC Approves Wireless Companies to Cut Campaign Text Donations

Today [Aug. 22, 2012], the Obama Campaign announced it was launching a text-to-donate fundraising campaign. Last week, the Federal Election Commission approved this type of fundraising for federal campaigns. During the review of the rules, wireless carriers asked for permission to block any campaigns that "espouse views that may harm the wireless service providers’ brands." While the FEC did not include this language in its advisory opinion, it did grant carriers wide latitude to refuse service by measuring a campaign against the carriers’ own "established business requirements."
The Federal Election Commission has granted wireless carriers the ability to cut off text message fundraising to candidates that take positions counter to the carriers’ business interest.

http://www.publicknowledge.org/fcc-approves-wireless-companies-cut-campaign-text-

EFF Tells Obama’s IP Czar To Stand Up For Internet Users

Recently, EFF sent comments to Victoria Espinel, the Obama Administration’s "IP Czar," to help shape how U.S. tax dollars are spent on enforcing copyright, trademark, and patent laws for the next two years.
EFF said that when the government encourages (or goads) private companies into making private "voluntary" agreements to cut down on online infringement, the government should insist on the same protections for free speech, privacy, transparency, and due process.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/eff-tells-obamas-ip-czar-stand-internet-users

FCC Broadband Report Shows That Broadband Deployment, Adoption, and Competition are Still Inadequate

Today [Aug. 21, 2012], the FCC issued its Eighth Broadband Report. 19 million Americans still do not have access to wired broadband. The Internet is the primary way that many Americans communicate, stay informed, and manage their lives. Yet many others have access to wired broadband, but don’t subscribe to it. The broadband that is available to them may be too slow, and not much of an improvement over their wireless or dial-up connections. Or it may be too expensive. Or they just might not see its value. Whatever the causes, more needs to be done to close the broadband gap.

http://www.publicknowledge.org/fcc-broadband-report-shows-broadband-deployment-ad

———————————-

Open Access

How to #FreeTHOMAS: A report on implementing bulk access

Today we are pleased to release a report on improving public access to legislative information. The report is the result of a collaborative effort that was prompted by the House Leadership’s recent statement endorsing bulk access and the questions raised in a committee report accompanying the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill. The report is the latest in the ongoing, multi-year effort to improve how Congress releases legislative information to the public. It provides a roadmap to implementing bulk access to legislative information.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/08/24/how-to-freethomas-a-report-on-implementing-bulk-access/

———————————-

International Outlook

Syrian Activists Launch Petition to Reform Export Controls on Technology

EFF has long contended that existing export controls – maintained by the Departments of Treasury and Commerce – hinder the ability of activists in countries like Syria to communicate. Restrictions on the use of hosting services, antivirus tools, and even circumvention technology make the already-unsafe Syrian Internet even less safe for users. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has repeatedly circumvented sanctions for the purpose of surveilling citizens. These controls are not only ineffective, they’re counterproductive.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/syrian-activists-launch-petition-reform-export-controls-technology

———————————-

Privacy Issues

Better Policies for De-Identified Health Data

The staggering amount of personal health data now being collected for treatment or billing purposes has a life beyond the doctor’s clipboard. That data is collected, stripped of personally identifying information ("de-identified") and re-used in ways that are vital for medical breakthroughs, improving patient care, or predicting public health trends. And it’s just as valuable when used for targeted marketing campaigns or eliminating inefficiencies in the healthcare industry.
HIPAA restricts uses of identifiable health information for secondary purposes; but information that is de-identified per HIPAA standards is largely not subject to federal regulation. As a result, de-identified health data is in high demand.

https://www.cdt.org/blogs/deven-mcgraw/2108better-policies-de-identified-health-data

CA Location Privacy Bill Passes Assembly

Location privacy scored a victory today when the California Assembly overwhelmingly passed an EFF-sponsored location privacy bill, SB 1434, on a bipartisan vote of 63-11.
The bill would require law enforcement to obtain a search warrant anytime it requests location information from an electronic device. It codifies the Supreme Court’s decision from earlier this year in United States v. Jones, which ruled that the installation of a GPS device for purposes of law enforcement investigation requires a search warrant. Having passed both chambers of the California legislature by a combined vote of 93-17, and assuming the Senate concurs with the version of the bill passed by the Assembly, the bill will soon land on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/ca-location-privacy-bill-passes-assembly-next-stop-governor-brown

———————————-

Intellectual Property Issues

Who inherits your iTunes library?

Many of us will accumulate vast libraries of digital books and music over the course of our lifetimes. But when we die, our collections of words and music may expire with us.
Someone who owned 10,000 hardcover books and the same number of vinyl records could bequeath them to descendants, but legal experts say passing on iTunes and Kindle libraries would be much more complicated.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-inherits-your-itunes-library-2012-08-23

UNESCO Says Monopolization of Information Puts Barriers to a Better Life

Governments are pushing for stronger intellectual property measures that excessively favor entertainment and pharmaceutical industries through international fora such as World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – by trying to create new rights for Broadcasters, and more pressingly, through international agreements such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Many in civil society are fighting back and are calling attention to the crucial need to enable and facilitate content to enter the public domain. UNESCO has been a big supporter of this initiative, standing up against the privatization of knowledge and the great risk it poses to improving quality of life around the world.
Information, media, and educational professionals, as well as government executives and members of the public met at the International Conference Media and Information Literacy for Knowledge Societies in Moscow, Russia last June. UNESCO, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and other state and non-state agencies held this conference in order to raise awareness of the significance, scale, and topicality of media and information literacy advocacy.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/unesco-says-information-monopoly-puts-barriers-to-better-life

———————————-

Libraries

Former Library of Congress auditor says he was harassed, then fired for being gay

Peter TerVeer was an up-and-coming auditor for the Library of Congress’s inspector general’s office. His boss liked him so much he tried to set him up with his single daughter, TerVeer says.
But when the boss discovered TerVeer was gay after learning from his daughter TerVeer "Liked" a Facebook page for same-sex parents, the supervisor harassed him with religious-based homophobia – and eventually got him fired, TerVeer alleges in a federal lawsuit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/former-library-of-congress-auditor-says-he-was-harassed-then-fired-for-being-gay/2012/08/22/8ef9b088-ec82-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_blog.html

NY Library To Adopt Ad-Supported Toilet Paper

Toilet paper printed with advertisements will appear in the bathrooms of the Port Chester-Rye Brook, NY, Public Library in October. The paper is 100 percent recycled, two-ply, and printed with soy-based ink. Venues that use the paper receive it for free, making it a potentially attractive way for cash-strapped libraries to reduce spending. (Advertisers pay $99 for 20,000 advertisements that appear on approximately 160 rolls.)

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/08/managing-libraries/ny-library-to-adopt-ad-supported-toilet-paper/

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.

Expanding Your Career Potential

Part 1 of 2

Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 6:00 – 7:30 PM

a webinar presented by
SLA President-Elect Deb Hunt and David Grossman

TThese are tough times, but librarians, archivists and other information professionals possess many marketable skills that may be easily adapted to access, organize and unlock the value within the paper, digital and knowledge information assets for their organization or their clients.

The workshop offers practical advice to help information professionals assess and expand their existing skill sets and develop new areas of expertise to broaden their career potential, maximize their earnings in their current position or gain that competitive edge for landing their next job.

You will learn how to:
Plan and jump-start your next career move
Acquire 33 essential skills for career growth
Create a dynamite resume
Develop YOUR own personalized road map for career advancement

Our presenters have designed their material to allow each webinar session to stand alone and provide value for those who can attend only one session while not duplicating material for those who are able to attend both sessions. [The second session will be held on November 13. See the SLA-SF Events web page for separate registration.]

SLA Program Costs:
$35 for SLA members, $70 for non-members/guests, and $30 for students/retirees/between jobs members.

Where:
GoToWebinar, hosted by SLA (You will need a PC with internet access and a phone. The link and call information will be provided after registration payment.)

Registration:
REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Mail-In Registration

Expanding Your Career Potential

Part 2 of 2

Tuesday, November 13, 2012, 6:00 – 7:30 PM

a webinar presented by
SLA President-Elect Deb Hunt and David Grossman

These are tough times, but librarians, archivists and other information professionals possess many marketable skills that may be easily adapted to access, organize and unlock the value within the paper, digital and knowledge information assets for their organization or their clients.

The workshop offers practical advice to help information professionals assess and expand their existing skill sets and develop new areas of expertise to broaden their career potential, maximize their earnings in their current position or gain that competitive edge for landing their next job.

You will learn how to:
Plan and jump-start your next career move
Acquire 33 essential skills for career growth
Create a dynamite resume
Develop YOUR own personalized road map for career advancement

Our presenters have designed their material to allow each webinar session to stand alone and provide value for those who can attend only one session while not duplicating material for those who are able to attend both sessions. [The first session will be held on October 2. See the SLA-SF Events web page for separate registration.]

SLA Program Costs:
$35 for SLA members, $70 for non-members/guests, and $30 for students/retirees/between jobs members.

Where:
GoToWebinar, hosted by SLA (You will need a PC with internet access and a phone. The link and call information will be provided after registration payment.)

Registration:
Please register online or ensure your mail-in registration form and check are received no later than Friday, November 9, 2012.

Mail-In Registration

Rediscovering the New Deal — In Libraries and in the Field

Presented by Dr. Gray Brechin
Author, Historian, and Lecturer

Thursday, September 13, 2012, 5:30 – 8:00 PM

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley

The Living New Deal Project has, for eight years, been inventorying and mapping the vast legacy of New Deal public works first in California and then in the United States. Project founder and scholar Dr. Gray Brechin will describe the unprecedented effort to locate the innumerable artifacts left by the WPA, CCC, PWA, and other alphabet soup agencies that helped to lift the nation out of the last depression as well as the invaluable role that librarians and archivists have played in exhuming a lost civilization built by our forebears.

In addition to his work with the Living New Deal Project, Dr. Brechin is currently a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Department of Geography.

Dr. Brechin will have his award winning book “Imperial San Francisco” on hand to sell and sign.
http://graybrechin.net/

SLA Program Costs:
$25 for SLA members, $50 for non-members/guests, and $20 for students/retirees/between jobs members.

Menu:
A variety of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres will be served, as will non-alcoholic beverages. Beer and wine will be available for purchase from a no-host bar

Agenda:
5:30 – 6:30 PM Check-in and networking
6:30 – 8:00 PM Presentation by Gray Brechin, followed by Q&A

Registration: Registration for this event is closed.

Mail-In Registration

Take Action!

Take Action to Support Ethiopian Blogger Eskinder Nega

EFF was dismayed to learn that Ethiopian journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega had been sentenced to eighteen years in prison under a sweeping and overbroad Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. More than one hundred other Ethiopians, including nine journalists, have been sentenced under the vague law. Individuals and organizations in the U.S. that wish to offer support for Eskinder Nega and freedom of expression in Ethiopia have several options. They can:

• Sign PEN American Center’s petition, which automatically an email to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Minister of Justice Berhanu Hailu.
• Send appeals by mail to Ethiopian officials and their local Ethiopian Embassy or Consulate.
• Contact their elected official, urging them to take a stand for freedom of expression in Ethiopia, a US ally.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/take-action-support-ethiopian-blogger-eskinder-nega

———————————-

Public Policy

Counties Across the Country Use an Array of Voting Technology

Across the United States, there are thousands of voting jurisdictions, most of which are responsible for deciding how elections will be conducted. In an attempt to present an up-to-date breakdown of voting technology in every county in the United States, a group of News21 reporters set about verifying and collecting information for every jurisdiction and verifying it with every state in the country.

http://votingrights.news21.com/interactive/voting-technology-county/

Several Top Federal Contractors are also Top Polluters

Whenever someone puts out a best/worst ranking of corporations, the first thing the Project On Government Oversight does is check to see if any of the contractors in our Federal Contractor Misconduct Database are in it. This week, the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst published its fourth Toxic 100 Air Polluters list of the worst corporate air polluters in the United States. Sure enough, it ranks Textron and General Electric, respectively, as the second and third worst air polluters. Sixteen other contractors in our database also made the top 100.

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/08/top-federal-contractors-are-also-top-polluters.html

California Suspends Open Meetings Law to Save Money

In June, the California state legislature suspended the state’s open meetings law, which requires cities and other agencies to publish the agendas of public meetings before they occur and make the minutes of these meetings available to citizens after they occur. In suspending the law, the state is sacrificing not only a fundamental element of a democratic society, but a vital tool that can actually save money.

http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12171

———————————-

Intellectual Property Issues

A Push Grows Abroad for Open Access to Publicly Financed Research

Researchers, publishers, and librarians have spent a lot of this year firing up the longstanding debate over access to published research. You’ve probably heard the big questions: Who gets to see the results of work the public helps pay for, when should they get to see it, and who’s going pay for it? This summer, the fervor has gone global, with policy makers in Britain, elsewhere in Europe, and in Australia signaling that they’re ready to come up with some answers. Details vary from country to country and proposal to proposal, but the overall warming trend looks very clear.

http://chronicle.com/article/Push-for-Open-Access-to/133561/

DMCA overkill: NASA video of Mars removed from YouTube

Hours after NASA’s successful landing on Mars of its Mars rover, one of NASA’s official clips from the mission was pulled from YouTube, and replaced with a notice from the video site indicating that the "video contains content from Scripps Local News, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."

The video was replaced and Scripps apologized, but it is an example of how the scale are tipped in favor of the "content industry" and even obvious, public-domain content gets caught in the privatization of information trap.

http://freegovinfo.info/node/3759

———————————-

Freedom of Information

39% of Office of Legal Counsel Opinions Kept from the Public

The Department of Justice is withholding from online publication 39% (or 201) of its 509 Office of Legal Counsel opinions promulgated between 1998 and 2012, according to a Sunlight Foundation analysis. This apparently conflicts with agency guidance on releasing opinions to the public.

OLC opinions are the Justice Department’s authoritative legal advice to the executive branch on questions central to the functioning of government. Publication of opinions allow Congress and the public to review executive branch determinations on the lawfulness of policy options, thereby providing information necessary for oversight, historical, and precedential purposes.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/08/15/39-of-office-of-legal-counsel-opinions-kept-from-the-public/

BART’s Cell Phone Shutdown, One Year Later

A year ago this week, responding to planned protests throughout the BART system, the transit authority cut off cell phone service in four stations in downtown San Francisco. BART acknowledged the problem with their actions, and in October of last year promised to introduce a new policy restricting the circumstances under which it could manipulate communications networks.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/barts-cell-phone-shutdown-one-year-later

———————————-

Privacy Issues

ACLU sues FBI for tracking memos

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to force the FBI to reveal internal memos on GPS tracking.

The ACLU requested the documents, which provide guidance to FBI agents about using GPS devices to track suspects, last month under the Freedom of Information Act, but the FBI has yet to respond.

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/243825-aclu-to-sue-fbi-for-memos-on-gps-tracking

Court Dismisses Case Based on State Secrets Privilege

A federal court yesterday dismissed a lawsuit which alleged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had engaged in unlawful surveillance of Muslim residents of southern California. The court granted the Obama Administration’s claim that the state secrets privilege precluded litigation of the case.

The plaintiffs in the case contended that the FBI had "conducted an indiscriminate ‘dragnet’ investigation and gathered personal information about them and other innocent Muslim Americans in Southern California based on their religion." The government said various aspects of the subject were too sensitive to be addressed in open court.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/08/fazaga_ssp.html

Hackers Steal, Encrypt Health Records and Hold Data for Ransom

As more patient records go digital, a recent hacker attack on a small medical practice shows the big risks involved with electronic files.

The Surgeons of Lake County, located in the affluent northern Illinois suburb of Libertyville, revealed last month that hackers had burrowed deeply into its computer network, infiltrating a server where e-mails and electronic medical records were stored.

But unlike many other data breaches, the hackers made no attempt to keep their presence a secret. In fact, they all but fired a flare to announce the break-in, taking the extreme step of encrypting their illicit haul and posting a digital ransom note demanding payment for the password.
The doctors turned the server off and notified the authorities, refusing to pay.

http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/2012-08-10-hackers-steal-encrypt-health-records-and-hold-data-for-ransom/

———————————-

International Outlook

This Week In Internet Censorship: Activists Convicted in Oman, Malware in Nepal, and Wiretapping Bloggers in Russia

More Activists Convicted on Protest-Related Charges in Oman: The dozens of writers, activists, and bloggers who have been arrested on charges connected to their calls for greater freedoms in Oman in May and early June of 2012 have been brought to trial, convicted, and sentenced in recent weeks.
Nepalese Government Website Compromised, Altered to Serve Malware: Last week, Websense reported on its Security Labs Blog that its security researchers had detected the compromise of two Nepalese government websites.
Russian Government Wiretaps Dissident Blogger Alexei Navalny: When Russian anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny found a bug hidden inside the wall molding in his office last week, he was not surprised. Russian security services have a long history of extensive surveillance of activists and dissidents, especially those who was outspokenly critical of the Putin regime. Before calling the police, Navalny posted this video of himself and his colleagues taking the surveillance device apart.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/week-internet-censorship-activists-convicted-oman-malware-nepal-and-wiretapping

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.

A New Member Happy Hour!

Thursday, August 30, 2012, 5:30-7:30 PM

The Irish Bank

10 Mark Lane, San Francisco

The event will be free for new and prospective members*, students, and for seasoned members who bring along one or more prospective member. The fee for all others is $10.

One drink ticket will be given to each attendee. Appetizers will also be provided.

To register as a FREE attendee, please e-mail Shelli Owens at academic@sanfrancisco.sla.org and include the information from the mail-in form.

Registration: Online registrations and mailed checks need to be received by August 27th.

Mail-In Registration

Open Access

OCLC recommends Open Data Commons Attribution License

OCLC is recommending that member institutions that would like to release their catalog data on the Web do so with the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-BY). The license allows users to share, copy, distribute, modify, transform and build upon a database, provided that users "attribute any public use of the database, or works produced from the database, in the manner specified in the license," according to ODC’s simple language summary.

http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/08/metadata/oclc-recommends-open-data-commons-attribution-license/

Intellectual Property Issues

Embedding copyright-infringing video is not a crime, court rules

Embedding a copyright-infringing video on another Web site is not illegal, a court ruled yesterday.

Judge Richard Posner ruled at the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that MyVidster, a social video bookmarking site, did not infringe the copyright of Flava Works, a porn production company, when it embedded copyright-infringing versions of Flava Works content from third-party Web sites.

Both Google and Facebook filed papers in support of MyVidster. They argued that sites such as theirs should be seen as intermediaries only, and that they should not be held liable if someone uploads copyrighted material to their servers, claiming Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57485976-38/embedding-copyright-infringing-video-is-not-a-crime-court-rules/

Public Policy

Citizens United Hearing: A Conversation about Democracy and Transparency

The Project On Government Oversight has had a longtime interest in more transparency about federal contractors, including their influence through campaign spending and lobbying. Since the 2010 Citizens’ United vs. FEC ruling, that problem has only worsened.

The reason is that the ruling now allows federal contractors, along with other corporations and unions, to influence elections with unlimited campaign spending and not nearly enough disclosure.

On July 24, more than 400 people attended a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on responses to Citizens United and the rise of Super PACs. Subcommittee members and guest panelists called for greater inclusion of average American citizens in the campaign financing system and more disclosure of campaign spending. "Half of all super PAC money being spent in presidential elections [come] from 22 people, millionaires and billionaires buying their way in," said subcommittee chairman Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) in his opening remarks. "Can we still proclaim to be the world’s model for free elections with open debates when we allow 22 wealthy individuals to control the terms of that debate and silence the voices of others?"

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/08/citizens-united-hearing-a-conversation-about-democracy-and-transparency.html

How to Count Regulations: A Primer for Regulatory Research

The regulatory process is a politically charged arena, where the perception of over-regulating, or not regulating enough, can become a political liability.
However, one should look skeptically towards assertions about the degree of rulemaking, especially when those assertions include specific numbers. These claims are often based on research that can be structured so as to intentionally mislead. And beyond the political motivation in how one measures regulatory action, there are also many opportunities for genuine methodological error.
Despite recent improvements, the presentation of information on federal regulations is currently very convoluted: four different government websites present overlapping and incomplete pictures of the regulatory process. Sunlight Labs has been trudging through these sites for months, and we’d like to share what we’ve learned.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/08/08/how-to-count-regulations-a-primer-for-regulatory-research/

Census Bureau Releases Its First Mobile App Providing Real-Time Statistics on U.S. Economy

The U.S. Census Bureau today released its first-ever mobile application, "America’s Economy," which will provide constantly updated statistics on the U.S. economy, including monthly economic indicators, trends, along with a schedule of upcoming announcements. The app, which is currently available for Android mobile device users, combines statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-149.html

Privacy Issues

FTC Approves Final Settlement With Facebook

Following a public comment period, the FTC has accepted as final a settlement with Facebook resolving charges that Facebook deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public. The settlement requires Facebook to take several steps to make sure it lives up to its promises in the future, including by giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining their express consent before sharing their information beyond their privacy settings, by maintaining a comprehensive privacy program to protect consumers’ information, and by obtaining biennial privacy audits from an independent third party.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/031004.html#031004

FTC Gets Record Settlement from Google for Privacy Violation

The Federal Trade Commission today announced it has reached a record $22.5 million settlement with Google relating to charges that the company misled users of Apple’s Safari browser by telling them it would not place tracking "cookies" or show them targeted ads. In doing so, Google violated the terms of an earlier FTC privacy settlement. The FTC also charged that Google had implied to its users that it followed the Network Advertising Initiative’s self-regulatory code of conduct.

https://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/ftc-gets-record-settlement-google-privacy-violation

International Outlook

CDT Supports Brazil’s "Bill of Rights" for Internet Users

Tomorrow, a special committee in Brazil’s Congress will vote on the Marco Civil da Internet, a "bill of rights" for Internet users. If passed, the law would represent a paramount advance in country’s digital policymaking agenda.

The Marco Civil da Internet, or Civil Regulatory Framework for the Internet, establishes a clear set of rights and responsibilities for users, sets strong net neutrality principles, and shields Internet intermediaries from liability for illegal content posted by users.

The Marco Civil is also unique in that it was developed in a highly participatory style. Lawmakers were not the only entities involved in drafting the law–academic experts, civil society groups, and Internet users had a critical role in developing the law’s text as well.

https://www.cdt.org/blogs/ellery-biddle/0708cdt-supports-brazils-bill-rights-internet-users

Digital History

U. Nevada Library Offers 3D Printing Across the Board

The DeLaMare Science & Engineering Library at the University of Nevada, Reno, has become the first academic library in the U.S. to offer 3D printing and scanning services to all students and the community at large. Using specialized software to create 3D drawings, students can now print these objects on one of two 3D printers at DeLaMare – a Stratsys uPrint acquired in May and a 3DTouch, which can also produce multicolored objects.

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/08/academic-libraries/u-nevada-library-offers-3d-printing-across-the-board/

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

Anti-Leak Measures in Senate Bill Target Press, Public
“The Senate Intelligence Committee markup of the FY2013 Intelligence Authorization Act, which was officially filed yesterday, devotes an entire title including twelve separate provisions to the issue of unauthorized disclosures of classified information, or leaks. But several of those provisions aim to disrupt the flow of unclassified information to the press and the public rather than to stop leaks of classified information. . . The bill was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee by a vote of 14 to 1, with Sen. Ron Wyden in opposition.  The text of the bill is here. The accompanying Committee report including commentary on each provision and Sen. Wyden’s dissent may be found here.”
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/07/press_public.html

Transparency missing in Arizona’s legislature
“. . . Technology is in theory giving Arizonans unprecedented access to the Legislature, with documents posted online and meetings captured on video. But lawmakers are short-circuiting the public process, critics say, in two key areas: the budget and “strike-everything” amendments, which completely swap out the contents of a bill, often for something entirely different.”
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/08/01/10493/transparency-missing-arizonas-legislature

Is Brown (Act) Out in California? Time May Tell
“City councils, public commissions, county and school boards and special district governing bodies in California may continue to hold their meetings in the figurative “sunlight,” as well they should. But in an action that has received little notice except for niche blogs, the 59-year-old “Brown Act,” the state open meetings law that compels them to hold most deliberations, discussions and decision-making sessions in public, was largely eviscerated four weeks ago.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-f-bunting/jerry-brown-act_b_1707724.html

What is an Unauthorized Disclosure?
“The anti-leak provisions proposed by the Senate Intelligence Committee in the pending FY2013 intelligence authorization act have been widely criticized as misconceived and ill-suited to achieving their presumed goals. But they also suffer from a lack of clarity and an absence of definitions of crucial terms.”
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/08/unauthorized_disclosure.html

4 Big Cities Launch Shared Data Platform
“The Twitterverse was abuzz Wednesday, Aug. 1, about a new layer of data from local governments being added to the federal government’s open data portal, Data.gov. Cities.data.gov now features data sets from four of America’s largest cities — Chicago, Seattle, New York and San Francisco.”
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/4-Big-Cities-Launch-Shared-Data-Platform.html

Palo Alto looks to use open data to embrace ‘city as a platform’
“In the 21st century, one of the strategies cities around the world are embracing to improve services, increase accountability and stimulate economic activity is to publish open data online. The vision for New York City as a data platform earned wider attention last year, when the Big Apple’s first chief digital officer, Rachel Sterne, pitched the idea to the public. This week, the city of Palo Alto in California joined over a dozen cities around the United States and globe when it launched its own open data platform. The platform includes an application programming interface (API) which enables direct access through a RESTful interface to open government data published in a JSON format.”
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/08/palo-alto-looks-to-use-open-data-to-embrace-city-as-a-platform.html

Public Policy

With New Funding, DPLA Sets Sights on Search
“The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded $1 million to fund the creation of the infrastructure for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) last week, and the organization will now turn its focus toward developing a way to search across the many disparate collections involved with the project.”
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/07/digital-libraries/with-new-funding-dpla-sets-sights-on-search/

Internet Access

FTC Seeks Comments on Additional Proposed Revisions to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
“The Federal Trade Commission is publishing a Federal Register Notice seeking public comments on additional proposed modifications to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. In updating the Rule to keep current with technology advances, in September 2011, the FTC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on proposed changes to the Commission’s COPPA Rule. The Commission received 350 comments. In response to those comments and informed by its experience in enforcing and administrating the Rule, the FTC now proposes to modify certain definitions to clarify the scope of the Rule and strengthen its protections for the online collection, use, or disclosure of children’s personal information.”
http://ftc.gov/opa/2012/08/coppa.shtm

Digital History

US Executive Branch Closure Crawl
“The State of the Federal Web Report issued in late 2011 noted that Federal agencies planned to eliminate or merge several hundred domains, as part of the President’s Campaign to Cut Waste. The goal was to reduce outdated, redundant, and inactive domains. As part of this work, the .gov Task Force overseeing the process asked members of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) to archive and preserve all .gov Executive branch domains slated to be decommissioned or merged. NDSA members immediately agreed that an important step in this process was to preserve the content of these sites as part of our national digital heritage – instead of simply eliminating them.”
http://freegovinfo.info/node/3746

Privacy Concerns

Cybersecurity Amendments Would Modernize 25-Year-Old Privacy Law
“Two amendments to the Senate cybersecurity bill now being debated would require government agents to get a warrant before reading a person’s email or secretly tracking someone through their mobile phone.  The amendments, if adopted, would be a huge privacy gain and address a long-standing civil liberties goal of modernizing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the 25-year old law setting rules for when government agents can access our electronic communications and other private data. The amendments, one from Senator Leahy and another from Senator Wyden, would implement reforms sought by a diverse coalition from across the political spectrum. Supporters include AT&T, Google, the ACLU, Americans for Tax Reform, EFF, and IBM, among others.”
https://www.cdt.org/blogs/greg-nojeim/0108cybersecurity-amendments-would-modernize-25-year-old-privacy-law

Intellectual Property

Statement of the Library Copyright Alliance on Limitations and Exceptions
“The Library Copyright Alliance expresses appreciation to Member States for your thoughtful discussions regarding limitations and exceptions for these three broad areas that affect the daily work of libraries: VIP, libraries, and education. We strongly oppose language in the proposed text for Article D of SCCR/23/7 regarding the provision of aggregated data to rightsholders. It would invite publishers to second-guess the procedures of libraries as authorized entities, to challenge the quality and quantity of the records kept or the appropriateness of transactions, and to threaten litigation when they see an increase.”
http://www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/bm~doc/lca_wipo-limitexept25jul12.pdf

Divergent Approaches To Copyright Reform Emerge In Europe
“Two very different views of copyright reform emerged this week, one from a report commissioned by the UK government, the other from a French citizens’ advocacy group. The former envisions an intricately linked system of digital rights exchanges and databases to streamline copyright licensing, the latter broad, “non-market” sharing of protected works between individuals, among other things. Whether either approach is feasible remains to be seen, and, as always, the devil’s in the details, lawyers say.”
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/08/03/divergent-approaches-to-copyright-reform-emerge-in-europe/

Library associations, EFF file friend of the court brief in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc.
“On August 1, 2012, members of the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) (the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries and Association of College and Research Libraries), together with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), filed a friend of the court brief (pdf) in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., a lawsuit in which authors allege that Google violated copyright by scanning books to create Google Book Search (GBS), a search tool similar to its Internet search engine. The LCA/EFF brief defends GBS as permissible under the doctrine of fair use, a flexible right that allows copying without payment or permission where the public benefit strongly outweighs the harm to individual rightsholders.”
http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/08/library-associations-eff-file-friend-of-the-court-brief-in-authors-guild-v-google-inc/

Google should pay $750 a book, say authors in copyright case
“Authors suing Google over the digitization of their books have asked a New York court to order the Internet company to pay $750 for each book it copied, distributed or displayed. The authors’ filing was lodged in federal court in the Southern District of New York last month, but was only made public on Friday. In the filing, the Authors Guild, whose president is novelist-lawyer Scott Thurow, urged the court to rule that Google’s digitization project does not constitute “fair use” under copyright law.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/03/net-us-google-copyright-lawsuit-idUSBRE8721T320120803

International Outlook

From the UK: Archives for the 21st Century in action: refreshed
“The National Archives has published an updated action plan for archives to replace our existing Archives for the 21st Century in action. This action plan reflects the changing context in which the archives sector is operating and sets out The National Archives’ commitment to the archives sector in light of our new leadership role, as well as actions we believe archives should take over the next three years.”
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/748.htm

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.

By Judy Bolstad, Editor

————————————————————-

Congratulations to Alys Tryon!

Alys Tryon is pleased to announce that she’s accepted a position in the library at Lane Powell, PC in Portland, Oregon. She’s excited to work as a professional librarian, learn her new colleagues, and return to her home town, aka the Land of Powell’s. She’s immensely grateful for all the support, both professional and personal, she’s received from all the members of the Bay Region Chapter during a particularly difficult and chaotic year. She looks forward to keeping in touch with everyone, and wants you all to know that every one of you makes her proud to be part of such an awesome profession!