Public Policy

Top 10 donors make up a third of donations to super PACs

Contrary to expectations, the much-criticized court decisions that gave us "super PACs" have not led to a tsunami of contributions flowing from the treasuries of Fortune 500 corporations – at least not yet anyway.

What the Citizens United decision and a lower court ruling have done is make household names out of a bunch of relatively unknown, very wealthy conservatives. Of the top 10 donors to super PACs so far in the 2012 election cycle, seven are individuals – not corporations – and four of those individuals are billionaires.

http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/04/26/8753/top-10-donors-make-third-donations-super-pacs?utm_source=iwatchnews&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=rss

Open Government Plans 2.0: Some Agencies Make Strides, Others Just Go Through the Motions

On April 9, federal agencies across the government released updates of their Open Government Plans, a key component of President Obama’s Open Government Initiative. With delegates from 53 countries converging last week in Brazil for the first annual meeting of the global Open Government Partnership (OGP), now is a good time to take stock of the renewed commitments in the updated plans and evaluate the government’s progress on the road to implementation. Overall, the results have been mixed.

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/04/agencies-release-open-gov-20-plans-doj-forgets-to-copy-edit.html

CA Legislators Allow Wireless Industry to Continue "Working Day and Night" Selling You Out in Secret

EFF, along with the ACLU of Northern California, is a sponsor of the California Location Privacy Act of 2012 (SB 1434), a bill that would require California law enforcement officers and agencies to seek a search warrant before obtaining electronic location information. Yesterday, the bill passed through the California Senate Committee on Public Safety and is now on its way to the full Senate for consideration. But when it gets there, it will be missing a major, important piece of its text: its reporting requirement.

Its certainly no surprise that there’s opposition whenever a bill proposes making it harder for law enforcement to get information. But in the case of SB 1434, the opposition came from a surprising place: the wireless industry.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/ca-legislators-allow-wireless-industry-continue-working-day-and-night-selling-you

DATA Act Passes House, Moves on to Senate

Today, the House passed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act (H.R. 2146), by a voice vote with strong bipartisan support. The bill to strengthen the transparency of federal government spending was sponsored by Oversight and Government Reform committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and 13 other representatives.

OMB Watch released a statement applauding the DATA Act’s passage.

http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12057

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Open Access

Harvard Releases Metadata Into Public Domain

Harvard is making more than 12 million catalog records from its 73 libraries publicly available under a Creative Commons public domain license, the university announced today.

The records can be bulk downloaded from Harvard in the standard MARC21 format, and are available for programmatic access by software applications via API at the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/04/metadata/harvard-releases-metadata-into-public-domain/

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Freedom of Information

Govt Appeals Court-Ordered Release of Classified Document

Government attorneys said yesterday that they would appeal an extraordinary judicial ruling that required the release of a classified document in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The document in question is a one-page position paper produced by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) concerning the U.S. negotiating position in free trade negotiations. It was classified Confidential and was not supposed to be disclosed before 2013.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/ciel_appeal.html

Lt. Col. Danny Davis, Camp Lejeune Documentary and Other Whistleblowers Honored at Ridenhour Awards

Eileen Foster, a former senior executive for the national’s largest mortgage provider, Countrywide Financial, didn’t plan on getting labeled a whistleblower. She was hired to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by company employees. But when she did her job and revealed large-scale fraud within the company—the kind that led to the 2008 financial crash—she was fired for telling the truth.

Foster was one of the truth-tellers honored yesterday at the 9th annual Ridenhour Prizes. The ceremony recognizes those who champion the truth and uphold the spirit of Ron Ridenhour, the former U.S. Army helicopter gunner who exposed the My Lai Massacre based on accounts he had heard from fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War.

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/04/jerry-ensminger-lt-col-danny-davis-and-other-whistleblowers-honored-at-ridenhour-awards.html

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Internet Access

The Internet will be a fad with little value

He thought the Internet had no future. Merely a fad. A passing fancy.

MPR News reporter Curtis Gilbert recently stumbled upon a gem from the MPR archives, a 1995 interview with Stoll by MPR host Paula Schroeder.

"STOLL: I’d say it’s not that important. I think it’s grossly oversold and within two or three years people will shrug and say, ‘"Uh yep, it was a fad of the early 90′s and now, oh yeah, it still exists but hey, I’ve got a life to lead and work to do. I don’t have time to waste online."’

http://lisnews.org/the_internet_will_be_a_fad_with_little_value

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Privacy Issues

Mobile Payments Can Expose More Consumer Data and Weaken Privacy Laws

Get ready for mobile payments to change how we make in-store purchases and how companies collect information about us. Nearly all the major smartphone manufacturers, Internet service providers (ISPs), credit card issuers, and tech companies are gearing up to provide consumers with mobile payment services.

While this will create interesting and convenient new apps, mobile payments will also provide more consumer data to more companies than traditional offline credit card transactions. Without strong user privacy controls, mobile payments may turn your cell phone into a magnet for telemarketing, spam, and online behavioral advertising.

https://www.cdt.org/blogs/harley-geiger/2304mobile-payments-can-expose-more-consumer-data-and-weaken-privacy-laws

CDT Statement on Passage of CISPA

The Center for Democracy & Technology is disappointed that CISPA passed the House in such flawed form and under such a flawed process.

We worked very hard in cooperation with the Intelligence Committee to develop amendments to narrow some of the bill’s definitions and to limit its scope. We are very pleased that those amendments were adopted, leaving the bill better for privacy and civil liberties than it was going into the process.

However, we are also disappointed that House leadership chose to block amendments on two core issues we had long identified – the flow of information from the private sector directly to NSA and the use of that information for national security purposes unrelated to cybersecurity.

https://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/cdt-statement-passage-cispa

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Intellectual Property Issues

Library Associations File Brief in Defense of Fair Use

Last Friday, the Association of Research Libraries, the American Library Association, and the Association of College and Research Libraries filed a friend of the court brief to defend the fair use rights of libraries. The brief responds to the Authors Guild’s extraordinary arguments in a lawsuit against the Hathi Trust and several member libraries.

http://policynotes.arl.org/post/21695785549/library-associations-file-brief-in-defense-of-fair-use

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International Outlook

Palestinian Authority Found to Block Critical News Sites

According to a report from Ma’an News published today, the Palestinian Authority has ordered the blocking of websites belonging to eight news outlets critical of President Mahmoud Abbas. The report states that technicians at PalTel—the largest ISP in the West Bank—tweaked their proxy server and web cache daemon to block the sites, while other ISPs are using similar setups.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/palestinian-authority-found-block-critical-news-sites

ACTA in the EU: We Can’t Call it Dead Yet

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was dealt a major blow on April 12 when MEP David Martin, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the agreement and member of the Committee responsible for delivering the recommendation to European Parliament to adopt or reject the agreement, announced that he would be recommending a "no" vote. While the prospects of the European Parliament ratifying the agreement seems to have fortunately lessened, it does not mean that it’s a fait accompli that the European Parliament will reject ACTA. As we’ve noted before, ACTA is a plurilateral agreement designed to broaden and extend existing intellectual property enforcement laws to the Internet. It was negotiated in secret by a handful of countries, in a process that intentionally bypassed the checks and balances of existing international IP norm-setting bodies without any meaningful input from national parliaments, policymakers, or their citizens.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/acta-eu-we-cant-call-it-dead-yet

Freedom of Information

 Classified Info in Criminal Trials, and More from CRS

from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood

Former CIA officer John C. Kiriakou is to be arraigned today on charges of leaking classified information to the press in violation of the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act — charges that he denies.  See The Case of An Accused Leaker: Politics or Justice? by Carrie Johnson, National Public Radio, April 13.

A newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service discusses Protecting Classified Information and the Rights of Criminal Defendants: The Classified Information Procedures Act, April 2, 2012.

Another newly updated CRS report finds that federal agencies spent $750.4 million last year to pay for “advertising services.”  But though non-trivial, it seems that this amount was less than was spent for such purposes in any previous year since 2003.

The term advertising is not strictly defined in budget documents, and may include various forms of public relations, public service notices, and the like. “Government advertising can be controversial if it conflicts with citizens’ views about the proper role of government,” the CRS report stated. “Yet some government advertising is accepted as a normal part of government information activities.”

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/classified_trials_crs.html

Week of Action On CISPA Preceding “Cybersecurity Week” in the House
from Center for Democracy & Technology – Keeping the Internet Open, Innovative and Free by CDT

We need cybersecurity legislation, not surveillance legislation.

Leslie Harris – President & CEO, CDT

Security & Surveillance, Cybersecurity

Washington – This week CDT is participating in a “week of action” urging Internet users to ask their Members of Congress to amend parts of CISPA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act—that pose serious threats to privacy.

Other groups joining in the week of action include The Constitution Project, American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Free Press, Reporters Without Borders, Sunlight Foundation, TechFreedom, and others.

EFF opposes CISPA on Hackers and Founders Panel

from Deeplinks by dan

Yesterday, EFF participated in a panel discussion about CISPA moderated by CNET’s Declan McCullagh and put on by Hackers and Founders. We were happy to have the opportunity to do so, and although we disagreed quite a bit with a key proponent of the bill, House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee staffer Jamil Jaffer, one area where we agreed is that more people should read the text of the bill. Let’s not let this legislation rush through right when people are starting to question it—if Jamil and other staffers stand behind the bill, why not give it another week or two to let the public debate mature?

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/eff-opposes-cispa-hackers-and-founders-panel

Public Policy

AHRQ Will No Longer Participate in the NIH Parent Funding Opportunity Announcements related to Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy

from NIH Funding Opportunities (Notices, PA, RFA)

Notice NOT-HS-12-009 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HS-12-009.html

Public Structures Save Lives

from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by admin

April 17, 2012—Today is Tax Day, and many Americans may be wondering how government uses the revenue it raises from income taxes. One example can be found in the National Weather Service and its Storm Prediction Center. These public structures, funded with our tax dollars, forecasted this past weekend’s violent tornado outbreak in the Plains and the Midwest days ahead of time. Thanks to this advance warning, the National Weather Service helped save countless lives and prevented millions of dollars worth of damage to military aircraft in the face of more than 100 tornadoes spread across several states. The bottom line: public structures save lives.

http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12047

Privacy Concerns

GAO Completes an “Intelligence-Related” Review

from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood

Following years of controversy, the Government Accountability Office this week released an unclassified version of its long-awaited report on FBI Counterterrorism.

The report itself comes as an anti-climax, but it is the first GAO report involving intelligence-related matters to be completed since the issuance of an intelligence community directive last summer which authorized GAO to gain access to certain intelligence agency information.  As such, it may herald a growing role for GAO in intelligence oversight.

Given the FBI’s and the Justice Department’s stubborn resistance to this GAO review, which was suspended for two years as a result, one might have expected the resulting report to address matters of the greatest significance and sensitivity — perhaps dealing with infiltration of mosques, allegations of entrapment, unauthorized domestic surveillance, or something along those lines.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/gao_fbi_ctd.html

Secret Systems Clutter the Electromagnetic Spectrum

from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood

The difficulty that the military has in allocating the efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum for military operations is aggravated by the fact that some of those uses — involving intelligence platforms and sensors — are secret even from military planners themselves, a new Pentagon doctrinal publication notes.

“Coordination with intelligence units and agencies can be challenging for many reasons, to include classification issues, disparate data formats, and separate technical control or reporting channels,” the publication states.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/em_clutter.html

“Traitor,” A Whistleblower’s Tale

from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood

Jesselyn Radack’s memoir “Traitor: The Whistleblower and the American Taliban” presents the moving story of a young attorney’s unexpected encounter with official misconduct, and the excruciating ordeal that ensued when she decided to challenge it.

In 2001, Ms. Radack was a Justice Department attorney and specialist in legal ethics.  In response to an official inquiry, she advised that the newly captured John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” should not be interrogated without an attorney present — which he then was anyway.  When Department officials publicly denied having received any such legal advice, and even destroyed evidence to the contrary, she exposed the deception.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/traitor.html

Open Access

State Agency Databases

From GODORT
Jump to: navigation, search

In every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information – information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content is available on search engines, but much of it is part of the invisible web.

Since July 2007, librarians and other government information specialists have been working on identifying and annotating these databases in one place. We’ve chased across fifty state web sites so you don’t have to!

Information here changes from time to time. Check out our last seven days’ or 14 days’ worth of activity. Another parallel project of note is the State Blue Books project.

http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases

April 18, 2011 Charity and Security Network newsletter

from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by ssazawal

1. The Threat Behind the Homegrown Threat
2. Overcoming Islamophobia through Charity, Advocacy and Education
3. Private funding: An Emerging Trend in Humanitarian Giving
4. Governments Not the Only Major Players in Global Assistance

Public Structures Save Lives

from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by admin

April 17, 2012—Today is Tax Day, and many Americans may be wondering how government uses the revenue it raises from income taxes. One example can be found in the National Weather Service and its Storm Prediction Center. These public structures, funded with our tax dollars, href=”http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/04/some-thoughts-about-yesterdays.html” target=”_blank”>forecasted this past weekend’s violent tornado outbreak in the Plains and the Midwest days ahead of time. Thanks to this advance warning, the National Weather Service helped save countless lives and prevented millions of dollars worth of damage to military aircraft in the face of more than 100 tornadoes spread across several states. The bottom line: public structures save lives.

Image by flickr user Frank Peters, used under a Creative Commons license.

EPA Releases Open Government Plan 2.0

from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by admin

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other major federal agencies released updated versions of their Open Government Plans on April 9. The EPA’s Open Government Plan 2.0 discusses its ongoing efforts to increase transparency and instill a culture of greater openness through activities designed to increase participation in rulemaking, allow greater public access to EPA data, and speed the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests.

http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12050

International Outlook

Countries Fail at Regulating Money-in-Politics, Regardless of How Weak or Solid their Laws
from RSSfeed by Global Integrity

Washington D.C., Friday, March 30, 2012 Regardless of how weak or sophisticated their political financing regulations are, countries around the world are equally failing to effectively regulate the flow of money into politics, a new report finds. The Global Integrity Report: 2011, a major investigative study of 31 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends globally.

Twenty-nine countries out of a 31-country sample scored less than 60 on a 100-point scale on questions assessing the effectiveness of laws regulating individual and corporate donations to political parties, as well as the auditing of those donations and campaign expenditures. Government monitoring agencies tasked with enforcing such laws typically lack investigative power and often have little to no authority to impose sanctions.

http://www.globalintegrity.org/pressroom/global-integrity-report-2011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+globalintegritycommons+%28Global+Integrity%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

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.

Public Policy
Darrell Issa: Possibly ‘billions’ in GSA waste
Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who will hold a hearing Monday on the General Services Administration “culture of wasteful spending,” said the agency may be squandering “perhaps billions of dollars.”

“What we expect to find [in the hearing] is, again, what you have is a pattern, a pattern that may have begun under the Bush administration… it’s likely it’s a pattern of behavior that is costing the American people hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of dollars, and setting a bad example for the rest of the federal workforce,” said Issa on CBS’s “This Morning.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75181.html#ixzz1sFg00A1L

Republicans to slash food stamps
From food stamps to child tax credits and Social Service block grants, House Republicans began rolling out a new wave of domestic budget cuts Monday but less for debt reduction — and more to sustain future Pentagon spending without relying on new taxes.

Going into November’s election, President Barack Obama’s signature health care and financial market reforms are again favorite targets. And with as many as six House committees involved, the whole budget drill can resemble “Casablanca” with Claude Rains’s Captain Renault ordering his men: “Round up the usual suspects!”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75190.html

Internet Access

 Guest Post: Google’s Relationship with the NSA, EPIC and the Public’s Right to Know
from The FOIA blog by scott hodes
For the very first time ever, the FOIA blog has a guest blogger.  Our guest blogger is Fiona Causer.  She is currently a student pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies. She enjoys writing and seeks to use it as a vehicle to convey ideas and engage others in discussing relevant issues of our day.  Ms. Causer writes about the current FOIA lawsuit EPIC has with the NSA concerning the NSA’s relationship with Google.  The opinions in the article are solely those of Ms. Causer.

Google’s Relationship with the NSA: EPIC and the Public’s Right to Know

Along with American individuals being granted the rights to freedom of speech, privacy and various others as stipulated in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights, the American public, through the Freedom of Information Act, also has a right to know whether companies with services they utilize on a daily basis, such as Google, are in dealings with the U.S. government.  While this does present some legal obstacles of how to handle properly, attorneys and paralegals still must learn to tackle these issues head-on. Fortunately, the wide availability of law and online paralegal  resources on the Internet make accessing educational and applicable information a lot easier. But unfortunately, the task of creating change is still a tremendous challenge, especially if dealing with a Fortune 500 company and the U.S. government.

http://thefoiablog.typepad.com/the_foia_blog/2012/04/guest-post-googles-relationship-with-the-nsa-epic-and-the-publics-right-to-know.html

Privacy Concerns
Letter to DOJ on Ombudsman Role

from The FOIA blog by scott hodes

A number of non-profits have sent a letter to Tony West, the Acting Associate Attorney General asking him to clarify issues raised by the Department of Justice’s recent System of Records modifications in which it classified certain records maintained by the Office of Information Policy as records maintained by the agency in its role as a FOIA Ombudsman.

Last week, the Department issued a press release stating that it would modify the modification because these records concern “compliance inquiries” not actual FOIA Ombudsman duties.  The letter to West asks him to further clarify OIP’s role in intervening in FOIA matters that it considers “compliance inquiries.”
http://thefoiablog.typepad.com/the_foia_blog/2012/04/letter-to-doj-on-ombudsman-role.html
 

International Outlook
 Foreign Governments Barred From Some FOIA Requests

from The FOIA blog by scott hodes

Judge Ricarda Urbina of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled that a member of the U.K Parliment and a group composed of U.K. Parliment members are barred from making certain requests under the U.S. FOIA pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(E), an exception to FOIA that prohibits intelligence agencies from granting requests to all non-domestic government entities, their subdivisions and their representatives.  Further, the plaintiffs’ attorney was also barred from being a party allowed to bring the request because he was acting in his capacity as their counsel.  The Court found that while there was nothing barring the attorney from bringing the request in his own name and giving the documents to whomever he chose; he couldn’t under the law make the request in his clients’ names.
http://thefoiablog.typepad.com/the_foia_blog/2012/04/foreign-governments-barred-from-some-foia-requests.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

Dale Corson and Scientific Freedom: Dale R. Corson, a nuclear physicist who died last week, is best remembered as the Cornell University President who peacefully led his campus through the turmoil and upheaval of the Vietnam era.  But he also played an influential role in deliberations over the role of secrecy in scientific research.  from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood

Public Policy

Notice of Change in Participation of NIH Institutes and Centers in PAR-11-028 “Continued Development and Maintenance of Software (R01)”  On December 23, 2011, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) was dissolved and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) were established. As indicated in NOT-OD-12-026, all NCRR programs were transferred to other NIH ICOs. Additionally, the responsibility for all Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) in which NCRR participated is being transferred to other ICOs. Please visit the NCRR website for more information regarding the transfer of NCRR programs to other NIH ICOs.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74901.html#ixzz1rGzZ4yQC

Intellectual Property Issues

Some e-book publishers begin settlement talks; Apple holding out:  ars technica – “Three e-book publishers are nearing a settlement over an e-book price-fixing case in the US and Europe, according to sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal. But not everyone is on board—Apple and two other publishers are allegedly holding out, though the situation was described as “fluid” and could change as a lawsuit filing looms.”

Privacy Concerns

The World Bank’s New Position on Citizen-Generated Geo-Data :Two weeks ago, we were excited to read that the World Bank took a public position explicitly endorsing citizen mapping tools that keep control of citizen-generated geo-data in the hands of the folks that created it, not the organization providing the mapping tool used to generate the data. This statement was in direct response to months of concerns expressed by a range of organizations and experts, including Global Integrity, over the Bank’s deal with Google to provide quick access to Google Map Maker data for humanitarian purposes. That agreement, which has never been made public, seemed at times to endorse the use of Google’s Map Maker tool itself, which puts user-submitted geo-data in Google’s control. Jon Mitchell at ReadWriteWeb has a nice wrap-up and summary of the issues here.
« Back to your recommended feeds

Twitter, Facebook meet Big Brother:  Federal agencies have realized they can mine social media for intel to help thwart potential terrorist strikes, keep tabs on domestic protests and better help citizens after a natural disaster. But privacy groups are clamoring for Congress to intervene, likening it to Big Brother.
“That’s a gray area we’re all trying to define,” Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, told POLITICO. “The concept that the government would somehow be monitoring and storing inquiries of individual Web activities — many would find that disconcerting.”
from POLITICO.com: Congress by David Saleh Rauf
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74849.html#ixzz1rD3DVbAy
Open Access

International Outlook
20 Demands on the future of access to EU documents: Campaign Update

Madrid, 25 March 2012 – Since the 20 demands on the future of the EU access to documents Regulation were launched for civil society sign-on on 7 March 2012, 3 European Information Commissioners, 67 Non-governmental organisations and 6 Civil Society Coalitions representing 249 organisations have joined the campaign.

The 20 demands are presented to the Member State representatives working on the revision of the EU access to documents Regulation before each of their inter-governmental meetings at the Working Party on Information (WPI).

http://www.access-info.org/en/european-union

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

UK’s MySociety Releases How-To Guides, Source Code for Open Government Activists
“MySociety.org, the group behind several civic and democratic websites in the United Kingdom, this year is stepping up its effort to help people in other countries build websites based on its model with a project called DIY mySociety. MySociety.org has lauched websites such as WhatDoTheyKnow.com, a site helping people in the UK to send Freedom of Information requests, TheyWorkForYou, a parliamentary monitoring site, and FixMyStreet, which helps people report problems like potholes in their local area.”
http://techpresident.com/news/21967/uks-mysociety-releases-how-guides-source-code-open-government-activists

Is the Justice Dept. Attempting to Usurp OGIS’s Role as FOIA Ombudsman?
“Earlier this week, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) wrote a strongly worded letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, urging the Justice Department to clarify its recent notice of proposed changes to the Department’s Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) system of records. DOJ’s proposed modifications included several references to the Department’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) serving as “Ombudsman” in disputes between federal agencies and individual FOIA requestors. This designation would seem to clash with Leahy and Cornyn’s OPEN Government Act of 2007, which specifically established the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) within the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as FOIA ombudsman.”
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/03/is-the-justice-dept-attempting-to-usurp-ogiss-role-as-foia-ombudsman.html

DOJ Responds to POGO Post on Department’s Proposed Changes to System of Records
“We were pleased to receive this response to our recent post on proposed changes to the Department of Justice’s system of records from the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs.”
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/03/doj-responds-to-pogo-post-on-departments-proposed-changes-to-system-of-records.html

Chicago’s Data Brain Trust Tells All
“Chicago considers itself to be leading in open data projects. Since Emanuel took office, the city has implemented projects to make Chicago data more accessible to the public such as with websites like Wasmycartowed.com and ChicagoBudget.org. More recently, the city, in combination with Cook County and Illinois, developed a “convergence cloud” so public data can be accessible across the three levels of government. Goldstein [Chicago's chief data officer] and Danielle DuMerer, a project manager for the Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology, discuss Chicago’s open data and what it takes to federate data across multiple jurisdictions.”
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Chicagos-Data-Brain-Trust-Tells-All.html

Public Policy

House set to move ‘online freedom’ bill
“A House subcommittee is scheduled to vote on a bill on Tuesday that aims to prevent U.S. companies from helping foreign regimes crack down on Internet freedom. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has been pushing the Global Online Freedom Act for several years, but the issue has gained more attention after countries including Egypt and Syria began shutting down Internet access and blocking websites to quell popular uprisings.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/217927-house-set-to-move-online-freedom-bill

2011 Legislative Scorecards Now Available from ALA
“National Library Advocacy Day (NLLD) is right around the corner, and to help prepare for your advocacy efforts, we’ve created the 2011 ALA scorecards. Did your representative support school libraries in the Senate or the House? Did your senator co-sponsor a bill that would help school libraries? Did your representative sign onto a key letter requesting support for school libraries? Our scorecards are the definitive way to answer these and other questions.”
http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/03/2011-legislative-scorecards-now-available-from-ala/

Big Data is a Big Deal
“Today, the Obama Administration is announcing the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative.”  By improving our ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data, the initiative promises to help accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning. To launch the initiative, six Federal departments and agencies will announce more than $200 million in new commitments that, together, promise to greatly improve the tools and techniques needed to access, organize, and glean discoveries from huge volumes of digital data. Learn more about ongoing Federal government programs that address the challenges of, and tap the opportunities afforded by, the big data revolution in our Big Data Fact Sheet.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/29/big-data-big-deal

Global Integrity Report: U.S. joins countries that fail to effectively implement money-in-politics rules
“Regardless of how weak or sophisticated their political financing regulations are, countries around the world are equally failing to effectively regulate the flow of money into politics, a new report finds. The Global Integrity Report: 2011, a major investigative study of 31 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends globally. . . The United States scored just 29 out of 100 on the effectiveness of its party financing regulations and 25 out of 100 in its ability to effectively regulate contributions made to individual political candidates. Those scores represent a significant decrease from 2009, the last year Global Integrity covered the US, and reflect the negative impact of the “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision in early-2010 that loosened the controls over private money flowing into US elections. Despite that backsliding, the US remains at the head of the pack when it comes to the disclosure of political finance information to the public (94 out of 100).”
http://www.globalintegrity.org/blog/GIR11

Privacy Concerns

FTC Issues Final Commission Report on Protecting Consumer Privacy
“The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s chief privacy policy and enforcement agency, issued a final report setting forth best practices for businesses to protect the privacy of American consumers and give them greater control over the collection and use of their personal data. In the report, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: Recommendations For Businesses and Policymakers,” the FTC also recommends that Congress consider enacting general privacy legislation, data security and breach notification legislation, and data broker legislation.”
http://ftc.gov/opa/2012/03/privacyframework.shtm

International Outlook

Draft Spanish access to information law contains excessive exceptions and falls below international standards
“The Spanish government today opened for public consultation the draft “Law on Transparency, Access to Public Information, and Good Governance”. Specialist NGO Access Info Europe welcomed the law and unprecedented consultation but noted that serious improvements are needed to bring the law into line with international standards, in particular by revising the definition of information which establishes excessive exceptions thereby excluding large quantities of information from the right to request access.”
http://www.access-info.org/en/spain-coalicion-pro-acceso/230-draft-spanish-access-to-information-law-contains-excessive-exceptions-and-falls-below-international-standards-

Transparency International Russia follows the money in the €100 billion state procurement sector
“Under a new law, companies in Russia’s mаssive state-owned business sector must now publish rules for purchasing and service contracts, and report all public contracts worth 2500 Euros or more. Transparency International Russia will take advantage of this new openness to track the estimated $100 billion of state sector buying power — an amount equivalent to 10 per cent of Russia’s GDP. The new law is meant to improve transparency and accountability of state-run firms, which have gained a reputation for being closed to public scrutiny, almost inaccessible for many federal and local government departments.”
http://blog.transparency.org/2012/03/27/transparency-international-russia-follows-the-money-in-the-e100-billion-state-procurement-sector/

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

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.

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.

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.

Freedom of Information

National Security Archive Files a FOIA Request to Find Out Why the CIA is Attempting to Price Out Declassification Reviews
“On September 23, 2011 the CIA launched a covert attack on Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) by entering new regulation changes into the Federal Register, which gouge requesters with outrageous fees for submitting MDR requests. While the CIA no doubt wanted to avoid the publicity the Department of Justice received after their ill-conceived FOIA regulations, the draconian regs are garnering attention. . . So who came up with this anti-openness regulation? And how did they explain it as a good idea – especially during Obama’s “new era of open government?” To follow the paper trail and disclose the CIA’s internal justifications for these astronomical price increases, today the National Security Archive filed a FOIA request with the CIA for all “emails, memos, position papers, or power point presentations” about the CIA’s decision to change its MDR regulations.”
http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/archive-files-a-foia-request-to-find-out-why-the-cia-is-attempting-to-price-out-declassification-reviews/

Groups Protest CIA’s Covert Attack on Public Access
“More than 30 organizations [including SLA] joined the National Security Archive and OpenTheGovernment.org in protesting the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) recent decision to charge the public outrageous fees for the opportunity to challenge secrecy claims. The fees, which can run requesters up to $72 per hour even if no information is found or released, effectively cut off access to a system that researchers, historians, public interest advocates and others have used successfully to challenge the CIA’s extreme secrecy — the Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) process.”
http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/3372

National Security Counselors Sues the CIA for Ignoring Freedom of Information Laws
“At the same time that 36 organizations are attempting to use political and bureaucratic pressure to force the rollback of damaging MDR regulations at the CIA, Kel McClanahan of the National Security Counselors has filed a lawsuit against the Agency in the United States District Court of the District of Columbia. It is important to note that the National Security Counselors case is broader than just the MDR fee issue. It attacks the CIA’s willful and intentional violation of federal law in regard to MDR and the Freedom of Information Act.  Below is a brief summary of the complaint’s key points.”
http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/national-security-counselors-sue-the-cia-for-ignoring-freedom-of-information-laws/

Democratic senators want super PAC crackdown
“Senate Democrats are calling on the Federal Election Commission to crack down on super PACs, arguing that voters deserve more information about who is funding independent political advertisements. Eleven Democrats on Tuesday sent a letter to FEC Chairwoman Caroline Hunter, urging the commission to enact broad disclosure and disclaimer rules in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision that struck down limits on corporate and union contributions to the outside groups.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73136.html

DoD Reports “Impressive Strides” in Updating Classification
“The Department of Defense said it has cancelled more than 300 of its 1800 classification guides as a result of the ongoing Fundamental Classification Guidance Review.  The defunct guides can no longer be used to authorize the classification of national security information. “The Department has continued to make impressive strides in updating our Security Classification Guides (SCGs) and remains focused on ensuring that guidance reflects current operational and technical circumstances relevant to the protection of properly classified information,” DoD told the Information Security Oversight Office in a February 16, 2012 interim report.”
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/02/dod_strides.html

Public Policy

Are Librarians Encouraging Public Libraries to Abide by COPPA?
“The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was created to prevent corporations from collecting data about children without parental permission. This law explicitly does not apply to public institutions, non-profits, and government agencies. Yet, many public institutions not only choose not to collect data about children; they forbid children from accessing information without parental permission. Much to my surprise, this includes many public libraries. Dear Librarians… Will you help explain something to me?”
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2012/02/20/libraries-coppa.html

Regulations.gov: Remaking Public Participation
“On January 18, 2011, the President issued Executive Order 13563, in which he directed regulatory agencies to base regulations on an “open exchange of information and perspectives” and to promote public participation in Federal rulemaking.  The President identified Regulations.gov as the centralized portal for timely public access to regulatory content online. In response to the President’s direction, Regulations.gov has launched a major redesign, including innovative new search tools, social media connections, and better access to regulatory data.  The result is a significantly improved website that will help members of the public to engage with agencies and ultimately to improve the content of rules. The redesign of Regulations.gov also fulfills the President’s commitment in The Open Government Partnership National Action Plan to “improve public services,” including to “expand public participation in the development of regulations.” This step is just one of many, consistent with the National Action Plan, designed to make our Federal Government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/02/21/regulationsgov-remaking-public-participation

San Francisco Launches The 2012 Innovation Portfolio, From Open Taxi Data To Beta Tests In City Hall
“San Francisco may not have intended to be become the startup mecca that it is today, but now the city government is working hard to make itself as friendly as possible to tech entrepreneurs. Makes sense, considering that there are 1,539 tech companies and 30,000 tech jobs in the city now — a number that’s been growing fast as older industries like high finance continue to suffer through the recession. What that means is this. Mayor Ed Lee, who came to power last year with heavy support from the local tech scene, is announcing a new initiative today at the TechFellow awards ceremony, that has some intriguing ideas for making the city itself more relevant to the booming industry within it. Broadly, the so-called 2012 Innovation Portfolio is trying to do everything from helping founders by making it easier to complete the paperwork for creating a company, to giving developers new access to city data, to introducing new ways for citizens to share their opinions with the city, to actually testing out tech products at City Hall itself.”
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/22/sftech/

Open Access

Groups Oppose Bill that Threatens to Cut Off Access to Taxpayer-Funded Research
“On February 9, thirty organizations, including SLA, sent a letter to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in opposition to the Research Works Act (H.R.3699), a bill designed to roll back a hard-fought-for policy that secured no-fee public access to NIH’s taxpayer-funded research, and also to block the development of similar policies at other federal agencies.”
http://slaconnections.typepad.com/public_policy_blog/2012/02/groups-oppose-bill-that-threatens-to-cut-off-access-to-taxpayer-funded-research.html

Letter From 90 Research Organizations Sent to Congress Opposing Research Works Act
“The undersigned organizations and institutions write to express our strong concerns with H.R. 3699, the Research Works Act, which has been referred to your Committee. This bill would impede public access to valuable research results from work funded by federal agencies.”
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/lt_opresearchworksact_24feb12.pdf

Australia to make health research open access
“While America seriously considers the insane Research Works Act (banning the open publication of publicly-funded research), Australia is moving in the other direction. Its National Health and Medical Research Council has announced that all funded research will be made available to the public starting July.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/21/nhmrc_going_open_access/

Privacy Concerns

Government Pressures Twitter to Hand Over Keys to Occupy Wall Street Protester’s Location Data Without a Warrant
“On October 1, 2011, over 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. Most of the protesters, including Malcolm Harris, were charged with the mundane crime of disorderly conduct, a “violation” under New York law that has a maximum punishment of 15 days in jail or a $250 fine. And yet on the basis of a charge no more consequential than speeding ticket, the New York City District Attorney’s office sent a poorly worded subpoena to Twitter requesting “any and all user information, including email address, as well as any and all tweets posted for the period of 9/15/2011-12/31/2011″ regarding Mr. Harris’ Twitter account, @destructuremal. Unsurprisingly, the government wanted to keep it quiet, but thankfully Twitter didn’t listen. Instead, as it has consistently warned law enforcement, Twitter notified Mr. Harris, who through his lawyer, Martin Stolar of the National Lawyers Guild, has moved to challenge the subpoena in court.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/malcolm-harris-occupy-wall-street-twitter-government-pressure

We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Calls for A Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights for the Digital Age
“Today at the White House, the Obama Administration unveiled a blueprint for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights to protect consumers online. . . In a related announcement, leading Internet companies and online advertising networks in the Digital Advertising Alliance came to the White House to commit to using Do Not Track technology now available in most major web browsers to make it easier for users to control online tracking.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/02/23/we-can-t-wait-obama-administration-calls-consumer-privacy-bill-rights-digital-age

Internet Access

New CRS Report – Internet Governance and the Domain Name System: Issues for Congress (R42351)
“Currently, the U.S. government, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Department of Commerce, enjoys a unique influence over ICANN, largely by virtue of its legacy relationship with the Internet and the domain name system. A key issue for Congress is whether and how the U.S. government should continue to maximize U.S. influence over ICANN’s multistakeholder Internet governance process, while at the same time effectively resisting proposals for an increased role by international governmental institutions such as the U.N. The outcome of this debate will likely have a significant impact on how other aspects of the Internet may be governed in the future, especially in such areas as intellectual property, privacy, law enforcement, Internet free speech, and cybersecurity. Looking forward, the institutional nature of Internet governance could have far reaching implications on important policy decisions that will likely shape the future evolution of the Internet.”
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42351.pdf

The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom
“On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year’s end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish “international control over the Internet” through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices. If successful, these new regulatory proposals would upend the Internet’s flourishing regime, which has been in place since 1988. . . Today, however, Russia, China and their allies within the 193 member states of the ITU want to renegotiate the 1988 treaty to expand its reach into previously unregulated areas. Reading even a partial list of proposals that could be codified into international law next December at a conference in Dubai is chilling.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204792404577229074023195322.html

How Internet Companies Would Be Forced to Spy on You Under H.R. 1981
“Online commentators are pointing to the Internet backlash against H.R. 1981 as the new anti-SOPA movement. While this bill is strikingly different from the Stop Online Piracy Act, it does have one thing in common: it’s a poorly-considered legislative attempt to regulate the Internet in a way experts in the field know will have serious civil liberties consequences. This bill specifically targets companies that provide commercial Internet access – like your ISP – and would force them to collect and maintain data on all of their customers, even if those customers have never been suspected of committing a crime. Under H.R. 1981, which has the misleading title of Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011, Congress would force commercial Internet access providers to keep for one year a “log of the temporarily assigned network addresses the provider assigns to a subscriber to or customer of such service that enables the identification of the corresponding customer or subscriber information under subsection (c)(2) of this section.”  Let’s break that down into simple terms.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/how-internet-companies-would-be-forced-spy-you-under-hr-1981

Intellectual Property

Young people’s free-wheeling view of copyrighted material shaping its future distribution
“Young people want their music, TV and movies now — even if it means they get these things illegally. A recent Columbia University survey found, in fact, that 70 per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they had bought, copied or downloaded unauthorized music, TV shows or movies, compared with 46 per cent of all adults who’d done the same. With such an entrenched attitude, what can be done about widespread online piracy? Certainly law enforcement has gone after scofflaws like these, hitting them with fines and, in some cases, even jail time. Congress is considering controversial anti-piracy bills that would, among other things, forbid search engines from linking to foreign websites accused of copyright infringement. And there are lawsuits pitting media heavyweights against Internet firms — notably Viacom’s billion-dollar litigation against YouTube. But here’s a radical notion to consider: What if young people who steal content weren’t viewed as the problem?”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-bc-us–onlinepiracy-youth,0,3316423.story

EU suspends copyright treaty ratification
“The European Commission, facing opposition in city streets, on the Internet and in the halls of parliament, has suspended efforts to ratify a new international anti-counterfeiting agreement, and instead will refer it to Europe’s highest court to see whether it violates any fundamental EU rights. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht asserted Wednesday that an opinion from the European Court of Justice would clear away the fog of misinformation surrounding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, known as ACTA.”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_INTERNET_PROTESTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-22-10-27-11

International Outlook

This Isn’t a Hoax: Pakistan Requests Proposals for a National Filtering and Blocking System
“The Pakistani government is looking for new ways to censor the Internet. This week, the Pakistani Telecommunication Authority (PTA) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development, deployment and operation of a “National Level URL Filtering and Blocking System,” calling on institutions to submit by March 2nd a feasible proposal that would allow the government to institute a large-scale filtering system. Shockingly, the RFP requires: “Each [filtering] box should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs (concurrent unidirectional filtering capacity) with processing delay of not more than 1 milliseconds.” While content filtering and blocking has existed in Pakistan for the past few years, it has been executed manually and has thus been inconsistent and intermittent. The state’s latest effort to subsidize a comprehensive, automated censorship regime is deeply troubling.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/not-a-hoax-pakistan-requests-proposals-national-filtering-and-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.