Freedom of Information

12 Days of Open Government Resolutions
“Conventional wisdom may hold that resolutions are made to be broken. Here at OpenTheGovernment.org, though, we believe that there is an art to making resolutions that stick: be bold, but also decide to do something that you can reasonably accomplish in a year. From now through December 25, we’ll be proposing one resolution per day that the Obama Administration can use to make the federal government more open and accountable in the coming year.”
http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/3665

CRS Report – The Presidential Records Act: Background and Recent Issues for Congress
“This report discusses the PRA and examines policy options related to the capture, maintenance, and use of presidential records—with a focus on electronic presidential records.”
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R40238.pdf

Transparency Wrap-Up: 2012 Edition
“This year saw clear and important accomplishments in government transparency in several areas, such as improved whistleblower protections and progress on the numerous open government commitments made under the Open Government Partnership. There was, however, a missed opportunity for U.S. leadership at the Rio+20 environmental summit. And we are concerned that undue industry influence in certain regulatory arenas may be reducing public access to information. For example, a proposed rule would allow water companies to report on the quality of local water supplies in online formats only. And state laws requiring natural gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking often allow confidential business information exemptions that are so broad as to undermine the laws. Nonetheless, at the federal level, 2012 was a year of continuing progress for open government.”
http://www.ombwatch.org/transparency-wrap-up-2012-edition

Census encourages other agencies to share data collection system
“The Census Bureau is improving its data collection, saving money and helping other agencies do the same – and, according to its leadership, enhancing value for its customers. How? By putting one of its biggest surveys online.”
http://fcw.com/articles/2012/12/19/census-survey-online.aspx

The E-Gov Act’s legacy
“Much of today’s progress in digital government can be traced back to the E-Government Act of 2002. At a Dec. 17 Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event on the “past, present and future of federal e-government,” several former officials who were present at the legislation’s creation noted that it laid the foundation for the current Digital Government Strategy, cybersecurity standards and even much of the shared-services efforts related to IT acquisition.”
http://fcw.com/articles/2012/12/17/egov-legacy.aspx

Pennsylvania Governor Corbett Unveils PennWATCH Transparency Website
“Governor Tom Corbett ushered in a new era of transparency and accountability in state government today with the launch of Pennsylvania’s transparency website, known as PennWATCH at http://www.pennwatch.pa.gov.”
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/governor-corbett-unveils-pennwatch-transparency-website-184304731.html

Congress Permits Reclassification of Restricted Data
“Certain nuclear weapons-related information that has been removed from the category of Restricted Data (RD) and designated as Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) can now be restored to the RD category, under a provision approved by Congress in the FY 2013 national defense authorization act. Until now, the removal of information from the Restricted Data category was irreversible, being prohibited by the Atomic Energy Act.  That prohibition is nullified by the new legislation.”
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/12/rd_reclass.html

A look at money, transparency and policy since Citizens United v. FEC
“The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling has left an indelible mark on U.S. politics. Since the January 2010 ruling, outside groups and organizations have been able to promote their own special interests with neither accountability nor transparency. In the nearly three years since the ruling a flood of secretive money has washed over campaigns, super PACs have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and little has been done in the way of implementing policy to reveal the source of all donors. We’re taking a look back at the events since Citizens United v. FEC and created a timeline highlighting the milestones. These events cover four categories: Courts (major court rulings and cases), Disclose (legislation around greater disclosure of political contributions and spending), Super PACs (trend and news for independent expenditure only committees) and FEC (decisions made by the Federal Election Commission).”
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/12/18/a-look-at-money-transparency-and-policy-since-citizens-united-v-fec/

FOIA Lawsuits Increase During Obama Administration
“A new study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has found that there were more court complaints asking federal judges to force the government to abide by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) during the first term of the Obama Administration than there were in the last term of President Bush.”
http://foiaproject.org/2012/12/20/increase-in-foia-lawsuits-during-obama-administration/

CRS Report – The Protection of Classified Information: The Legal Framework
“This report provides an overview of the relationship between executive and legislative authority over national security information, and summarizes the current laws that form the legal framework protecting classified information, including current executive orders and some agency regulations pertaining to the handling of unauthorized disclosures of classified information by government officers and employees. The report also summarizes criminal laws that pertain specifically to the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, as well as civil and administrative penalties. Finally, the report describes some recent developments in executive branch security policies and legislation currently before Congress (S. 3454).”
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RS21900.pdf

Public Policy

CA State Senator Proposes Constitutional Amendment for Library Funding
“California State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) introduced an amendment to the state constitution which would make it easier for local governments to raise funds for public libraries. The amendment would reduce the percentage of votes needed to pass such a measure from the two-thirds supermajority currently needed to 55 percent, though still more than a simple majority. The amended threshold would be more in line with what is required in California to pass K-12 school bond measures. General purpose tax measures that may be used to fund general local services require only a simple majority vote to pass.”
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/12/funding/ca-state-senator-proposes-constitutional-amendment-for-library-funding/

Internet Access

COPPA Rule Brings Regs Up to Date . . . but Who Must Comply?
“Just in time for the holidays, the Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited revision to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (the COPPA Rule) has finally been released.  The new Rule, which aims to update the federal requirements for data collection by operators of websites directed to children under 13, includes a number of changes that should give parents a better idea about the types of information being collected about their children by site operators and provide them with more modern means of providing their consent. Changes to the definition of “personal information” – including the addition of IP address and geolocation information – reflect the changing reality of online data collection since COPPA was first enacted, but we have persistent concerns that changes to the definition of sites “directed to children” significantly expand COPPA’s scope.”
https://www.cdt.org/blogs/emma-llanso/2012coppa-rule-brings-regs-date-who-must-comply

European Human Rights Court: Internet Restriction Violates Freedom Of Expression
“The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled this week that “restriction of Internet access without a strict legal framework regulating the scope of the ban and affording the guarantee of judicial review to prevent possible abuses amounts to a violation of freedom of expression.””
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/12/20/european-human-rights-court-internet-restriction-violates-freedom-of-expression/

2012 in Review: A Year in Digital Freedom
“As the year draws to a close, EFF is looking back at the major trends influencing digital rights in 2012 and where we are in the fight for free expression, innovation, fair use, and privacy. From SOPA blackouts to huge wins for location privacy, from government surveillance to new absurdity in software patent suits, 2012 was a huge year for digital freedom. And thanks to the support of our members, EFF remains at the forefront of these issues. As we move into 2013, we’ll be publishing a series of articles revisiting watershed moments in 2012, adding new links to this series below.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/12/2012-review-year-digital-freedom

Digital History

2013 NZ Web Harvest
“The National Library exists and has a social responsibility to preserve New Zealand’s social and cultural history, whether in the form of books, newspapers and photographs, or of websites, blogs and videos. The planned New Zealand Web Harvest 2013 recognises the importance of the internet in all areas of New Zealand society and culture by taking a ‘snapshot’ of the whole .nz domain as it exists on the web in February 2013. The Library has conducted two previous harvests, in October 2008 and April 2010.”
http://natlib.govt.nz/publishers-and-authors/web-harvesting/2013-nz-web-harvest

Intellectual Property

British Library welcomes announcement on copyright exceptions
“The British Library today welcomes the announcement by Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, outlining new exceptions to the UK’s copyright framework. In particular, the Library welcomes the exceptions that will now allow:

• Digital preservation of its collections including, for the first time, sound and film
• Non-commercial research copying of in-copyright sound and audiovisual content
• Non-commercial text and data mining of content that an organisation has purchased or has lawful access to
• The digitisation of its analogue collections for access on the premises”

http://pressandpolicy.bl.uk/Press-Releases/British-Library-welcomes-announcement-on-copyright-exceptions-5e4.aspx

Privacy Issues

Government Attorneys Agree With EFF: New ‘Counterterrorism’ Database Rules Threaten Privacy of Every American
“Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on how a little-known government agency—the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)—got the keys to government databases full of detailed, personal information of millions of innocent Americans. Using the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with officials, the Journal obtained emails and other information detailing how the massive new spying program, which the Attorney General signed off on in March, was approved by the White House in secret—over strenuous objections from government privacy lawyers.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/12/government-attorneys-agree-eff-new-counterterrorism-database-rules-threaten

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