From Federal Computer Week:
The Government Printing Office has awarded a contract to Harris, an international communications and information technology company, to develop the agency’s first Web-based document distribution system. The contract, more so than the project for which GPO awarded it, has procurement analysts talking.
Archive of entries posted on August 2006
GPO dots the i’s on a new performance-based contract
Costs of Secrecy Skyrocket to $9 Billion
Secrecy News reports:
The annual financial costs attributable to the national security classification system reached a record high of $9.2 billion in 2005 according to a new report (pdf) from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO).
Classification-related costs include not merely the direct costs of classifying information, which are modest, but also the derivative costs of the [...]
Improving FOIA Operations
Read Scott A. Hodes’ LLRX column on FOIA and Executive Order 13392. His conclusion:
I believe FOIA operations will not significantly improve until:
• the Congress passes legislation that ties up lose ends caused by the march of technology and fully funds FOIA operations at agencies to reduce backlogs; and
• High level agency officials support FOIA Offices in [...]
Presidential Signing Statements and Executive Power
Abstract:
A recent debate about the Bush administration’s use of presidential signing statements has raised questions about their function, legality, and value. We argue that presidential signing statements are legal and that they provide a useful way for the president to disclose his views about the meaning and constitutionality of legislation. Although President Bush has challenged [...]
The Economics of Open-Access Journals
Abstract:
A new business model for scholarly journals, open access, has gained wide attention recently. An open-access journal’s articles are available over the Internet free of charge to all readers; revenue to cover publication costs comes from authors’ fees. In this paper, we present a model of the journals market. Drawing upon the emerging literature on [...]
Public records are easy targets for ID thieves
From the Miami Herald:
The state’s record keepers must delete sensitive personal information from government websites. Until that’s done, many Floridians are in danger of having their identities stolen.
SLA Denounces EPA Decision To Close Libraries Before Congressional Action
Special Libraries Association Press Release:
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) announced today its continued grave concern with the actions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as they move to begin closing the network of 27 EPA libraries and information centers across the country. These closures will terminate public access to important research materials and environmental impact [...]
Federal student aid site exposes borrowers’ data
From News.com:
The U.S. Department of Education has disabled the online payment feature for its Federal Student Aid site, following a security breach that could affect up to 21,000 borrowers.
Federal Student Aid recipients who between Sunday and Tuesday accessed one of six Web pages on the Department of Education site may have had their personal information [...]
Internet Archive settles suit against Wayback Machine
From News.com:
The Internet Archive is off the hook in a lawsuit accusing it of negligence for allowing old Web pages to be viewed using the Wayback Machine, which archives pages unless Web site owners specifically ask that they be excluded from the database.
Library of Congress undergoing workforce transformation
From Government Executive magazine:
With 40 percent of its librarians eligible for retirement by 2010, the Library of Congress is trying to retrain and adjust its workforce while preparing to digitally preserve its extensive collection of print and broadcast media.