Freedom of Information

US government sends itself a takedown notice

As you may know, works of the U.S. Government are not protected by copyright in the U.S. (17 USC §105), but we often discover copyrighted government publications that one would reasonably think would be in the public domain and, more recently, we see works that were treated as public domain in print suddenly being treated as copyrighted when they are converted to digital. No matter how clear the law is, this can lead to confusing situations.
http://freegovinfo.info/node/3920

Open access: four ways it could enhance academic freedom

The power of funding alone should not be enough to override academic freedom, argues Curt Rice, nor does open access automatically skew the world of scholarship
http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2013/apr/22/open-access-academic-freedom-publishing

Order and Liberty: The DPLA Launches

I wasn’t entirely sure what the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) would look like when the long-awaited launch date of April 18 approached. The suspense is finally over: it looks great.
The DPLA is an effort to unify access to cultural assets of the nation and make them free to all. We are not the first country to try this; in fact we’re a bit behind, perhaps because we have a tradition of local library planning and support and because we don’t have a true national library.
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/order-and-liberty-dpla-launches#ixzz2SBtsGG8R

Owner, new CEO of Powell’s Books see strength in brick and mortar

It’s tough to think about how people will read in 50 years when you’re worrying about what they’ll read tomorrow. So after just a couple of years as chief executive of Powell’s Books, Emily Powell — granddaughter of the bookseller’s founder — told employees last month she would step down and focus on the Portland company’s long-term strategy in a quickly changing market.
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/04/owner_new_ceo_of_powells_books.html

Public Policy

3D-printed guns are inevitable

NEW YORK–For months, a debate has raged in the media and on Capitol Hill about whether or not society (and the law) should allow 3D-printed guns. After listening to Cody Wilson speak for a few minutes, one can’t help but come away feeling that the national discussion is moot: 3D-printed firearms are inevitable.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57581053-76/3d-printed-guns-are-inevitable/

Privacy Concerns

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

How do you explain to people that they are a YouTube sensation, when they have never heard of YouTube or the Internet? That’s a question we faced during our January visit to North Korea, when we attempted to engage with the Pyongyang traffic police. You may have seen videos on the Web of the capital city’s “traffic cops,” whose ballerina-like street rituals, featured in government propaganda videos, have made them famous online.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324030704578424650479285218

Feds Push for Backdoor Wiretap Capabilities

Washington – The Washington Post reported today that the FBI is seeking authority to require surveillance backdoors in all popular Internet products and services.
“A wiretapping mandate is a vulnerability mandate,” said CDT Senior Staff Technologist Joe Hall. “The unintended consequences of this proposal are profound. At the very time when the nation is concerned about cybersecurity, the FBI proposal has the potential to make our communications less secure. Once you build a wiretap capability into products and services, the bad guys will find a way to use it.”
https://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/feds-push-backdoor-wiretap-capabilities

Intellectual Property

Human genome: US Supreme Court hears patents case

The US Supreme Court has heard arguments questioning whether the human genome can be claimed as intellectual property. The case relates to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2009, and centres on whether companies should be able to patent genes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22157410

International Outlook

World Book Night 2013: half a million free books to be handed out

20,000 volunteers will hand out half a million books tonight as part of World Book Night 2013. The event, now in its third year, aims to promote literacy and share the joy of books with people who might not normally read.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10011224/World-Book-Night-2013-half-a-million-free-books-to-be-handed-out.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.

Freedom of Information

Is It Illegal To Unlock a Phone? The Situation is Better – and Worse – Than You Think

Legal protection for people who unlock their mobile phones to use them on other networks expired last weekend. According to the claims of major U.S. wireless carriers, unlocking a phone bought after January 26 without your carrier’s permission violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) whether the phone is under contract or not. In a way, this is not as bad as it sounds. In other ways, it’s even worse.
https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone

January 18th: Internet Freedom Day

Today, on the anniversary of the massive protests against the Internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA, a broad network of individuals and organizations are joining to celebrate Internet Freedom Day. The website InternetFreedomDay.net lists a variety of actions in support of the open Internet, including a new tradition asking Internet users to share something they love that should never be censored.
https://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/january-18th-internet-freedom-day

CDT Statement on Changes FTC Made to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule

Washington, DC — Today, the Federal Trade Commission unveiled its modifications to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) mandated by Congress in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. The new rules are scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2013. CDT supports the FTC’s effort to update COPPA to address the more sophisticated data collection practices on the modern Web. We also appreciate the careful balancing the FTC did to try to reconcile a wide array of concerns from civil society and industry.
https://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/cdt-statement-changes-ftc-made-childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule

Twitter’s New Transparency Report Shows Increase in Government Demands, Sheds Light on Copyright Takedowns

Yesterday, Twitter released its second semi-annual transparency report, which details the numbers behind every user data demand, censorship order and copyright takedown request that the micro-blogging site received in the second half of 2012.

As with Google’s transparency report last week, there was a clear increase in government demands for user data, with the United States leading the way by far. Censorship requests from around the world also increased. In addition, the report shed valuable light on the copyright takedown procedure that also often results in undue censorship.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/google-twitters-new-transparency-report-shows-increase-government-demands-sheds
 

Public Policy

EPA’s New Soot Rule Will Save Lives, Health Care Costs, and the Environment

In December 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new national clean air standard for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), commonly referred to as soot. These microscopic particles are often emitted from diesel engines and power plants. When inhaled, the particles lodge deep inside the lungs and can cause asthma, acute bronchitis, heart attack, stroke, and even premature death, especially in vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly. EPA moved forward to strengthen the standard after new data confirmed that the standard set in 1997 did not adequately protect the public.
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/new-soot-rule-will-save-lives-health-care-costs-and-environment

Congress Sets Stage for Second Budget Showdown

On Jan. 23, the House of Representatives sidestepped a battle over the debt ceiling and prepared itself instead for a coming fight over sequestration and a possible government shutdown. The No Budget, No Pay Act (H.R. 325), passed by the House, suspends the debt ceiling until May 18 and ties congressional pay to passage of budget resolutions in the House and Senate by April 15.
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/congress-sets-stage-for-second-budget-showdown

Small Businesses, Public Health, and Scientific Integrity: Whose Interests Does the Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration Serve?

This report examines the activities of an independent office within the Small Business Administration: the Office of Advocacy. The Office of Advocacy has responsibility for ensuring that federal agencies evaluate the small business impacts of the rules they adopt. Scientific assessments are not “rules” and do not regulate small business, yet the Office of Advocacy decided to comment on technical, scientific assessments of the cancer risks of formaldehyde, styrene, and chromium. By its own admission, Advocacy lacks the scientific expertise to evaluate the merits of such assessments.
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/office-of-advocacy-report

Privacy Concerns

Facebook Graph Search: Privacy Control You Still Don’t Have

Facebook’s Graph Search has certainly caused quite a stir since it was first announced two weeks ago. We wrote earlier about how Graph Search, still in beta, presents new privacy problems by making shared information discoverable when previously it was hard—if not impossible—to find at a large scale. We also put out a call to action—and even created a handy how-to guide—urging people to reassess their privacy settings.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/facebook-graph-search-privacy-control-you-still-dont-have

Critical Fixes for the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

In the wake of Aaron Swartz’s tragic death this month, EFF has been working with a coalition of legislative staffers and experts on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to finalize a proposal for changes that would make major improvements to the law. We’ve written a series of posts outlining our ideas as they’ve developed, but that analysis has built on the foundation of the intricacies of the law. Here are the three areas of the CFAA that we’ve zeroed in on. We believe it’s critical to fix them
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/these-are-critical-fixes-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act

International Privacy Day: Anti-Surveillance Success Stories

January 28 marks International Privacy Day. Different countries are celebrating this day calling attention to their own events and campaigns. This year, EFF is honoring the day by sharing some advocacy strategies utilized by human rights advocates and activists from Argentina, the UK, Canada, and the United States, that have helped to defeat overreaching surveillance proposals that threaten civil liberties.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/international-privacy-day-anti-surveillance-success-stories https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone

Intellectual Property

Lenz v. Universal: This Baby May Be Dancing To Trial

After years of litigation, it appears Stephanie Lenz may have a chance to tell her story to a jury. Back in 2007, you’ll remember, she posted a video to YouTube of her children dancing and running around in her kitchen with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” playing in the background. A few months later, Universal Music Corp. used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s rapid-fire takedown process to get the video removed from YouTube, claiming that it infringed copyright law. With help from EFF and Keker & Van Nest, Lenz fought back. She filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to hold Universal accountable for misrepresenting that her fair use video violated copyright law. Late last week, Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a ruling in the case that sent contradictory signals on the future of fair use under the DMCA.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/lenz-v-universal-baby-may-be-dancing-trial-0 https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone

International Outlook

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 Chap

We’re well into the third quarter of my year as President, and while we still have some exciting events coming up, the Executive Board is thinking hard about next year.  David Grossman and the Nominating Committee are very close to completing their recruiting for next year’s Executive Board, Hilary Schiraldi is beginning to sketch out next year’s program schedule, and Anne Barker and I are working on filling out the Advisory Council.  You’ll be hearing more from Anne on that front, but, in keeping with my “Community” theme, I encourage you all to take on leadership roles in the organization to the extent that you are able.  I’ve found that the relationships I’ve developed through my involvement in the organization pay dividends later.

Already it has been an eventful year.  Cathy Solomon and Jonathan Leff have done excellent work as our new Archives Chairs, establishing electronic archives for our digital records, and compiling much needed lists of our past award winners.  Shelli Owens, our Academic Relations Chair, has diligently worked through contact lists for information schools with distance learning programs so we can improve our outreach to local students from distant schools.  Our Hospitality Chair, Sarah Cook, has found some fantastic new venues for our chapter events.  And Chris Orr, our Professional Development Chair, has established the chapter’s capability to provide webinars for our members.

We’ve had some challenges as well, most notably in relation to our newsletter, Bayline.  We were all excited to move from a PDF file to a blog, and integrate Bayline into our new website.  Unfortunately, we lost our  editor in the midst of the transition, and this has resulted in less frequent Bayline updates than we’d like.  Special thanks go to Heather Gamberg for supporting Bayline in addition to her work as Secretary.  Bayline will clearly be an area of focus for 2013, as the newsletter is a critical tool for keeping us all in touch with one another and recording our chapter history.

We still have plenty of opportunities to meet and get together this year.  On November 13^th, we’ll have part 2 of Deb Hunt and David Grossman’s professional development program “Expanding Your Career Potential”.  Later in November, we’ll have our second tour of the year (location is still TBA), and finally, on December 18^th we’ll have our annual Holiday Party, once again at Thirsty Bear brewpub, but this year incorporating our annual awards ceremony.  Watch for details on that event.

Finally, I want to let you know about a change in pricing for next year’s events.  For several years, the chapter has used its funding reserves to subsidize the cost of chapter events, keeping the standard registration fee at an affordable $25 for members.  The board still feels that subsidizing events is an appropriate use of chapter reserves; however, the losses we sustained on events this year are simply not sustainable.  Therefore, the board has agreed that the standard registration fee for 2013 will be $30 for members.  The non-member and student/unemployed rates will stay the same at $50 and $20, respectively.  The chapter will still be underwriting events at those rates, but at a level that will allow us to continue subsidies into the future.

I look forward to seeing you all at the holiday party!

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

It’s not too early to start planning for SLA 2012 in Chicago. This year the Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO will be held July 15 – 18 at the McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Early bird registration opens on February 27. Click on the links below for conference and accommodations information.

SLA 2012 Conference page

SLA 2012 Registration and Fees page

SLA 2012 Hotel Reservations

Explore Chicago – Official Tourism Site

If you missed the professional development session that chapter members Deb Hunt and David Grossman did for us last year, you can catch them online!

Click the link for information and registration:

Expand Your Career Potential: Increase Your Expertise, Compensation and Career Satisfaction
January 12 & 19, 2012

Mimi

What: Navigating Your Career Roadmap, Detours and Rough Roads

When: December 15, 2:00pm EST

Where: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/941040761

Jill Hurst-Wahl will talk about career paths for information professionals and handling bumps in the road:

For more info: http://www.wearelibrarians.com/?p=546