From the Seattle Times:
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, “now permits the executive branch of [...]
Archive of entries posted on September 2007
Judge rules two provisions of USA Patriot Act unconstitutional
The Washington Post Introduces the Fact Checker
About the Fact Checker:
The purpose of this website, and an accompanying column in the Post, is to “truth squad” the national political debate in the period leading up to the 2008 presidential election. Our goal is to shed as much light as possible on controversial claims and counter-claims involving important national issues, such as the [...]
Writing on those who wrote the laws – Librarian is celebrating state’s legislative history
From the New Jersey Star-Ledger:
In the annals of New Jersey legislative history, Harry Runyon stands alone. Literally.
As voters in 1920 elected the first women and African-American lawmakers to the Assembly, Runyon was the only Democrat in the 60-seat house. Runyon, a World War I veteran from Belvidere, became a one-man political caucus. There have been [...]
British Library faces threat to treasures
From the Guardian Unlimited:
The public’s free access to many of the most important original documents in world literature held at the British Library is under threat because of funding cuts.
In an article in The Observer, the chief executive of the world-renowned institution today urges the government to protect the centuries-old resource – ‘the mind and [...]
New Legislation Would Reform National Security Letters
From the Center for Democracy & Technology:
Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John Sununu (R-NH) have introduced a bill to reform National Security Letters — demands issued by FBI agents without a judge’s approval to compel disclosure of financial, telephone, Internet and other records. Under the proposed NSL Reform Act, the FBI could still use an [...]
European eGovernment Award Winners Announced
From Government Technology:
Winners of the European eGovernment Awards were announced today at the Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Lisbon. The city of Amsterdam from The Netherlands, the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform of Norway, the city of Besancon from France and the portal of the Federal Government of Germany each picked up one of the [...]
President Bush Signs the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007
From the OpenCongress blog:
In a major victory for all, President Bush today quietly signed into law S.1, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. While this bill is by no means a cure-all for the corruption and secrecy that has plagued Congress in recent years, It is a huge first step in the [...]
Senator blocks presidential-records bill
From the Seattle Times:
Senate officials have confirmed that a Republican senator is secretly blocking a bill that would reverse President Bush’s 2001 executive order allowing former presidents to seal their records indefinitely. . .
. . . The House approved a bill to overturn the Bush order in March, on a 333-93 vote, far more than [...]
Right to Know Day 2007 – September 28th
International Right to Know Day was established to mark the founding on 28 September 2002 of the global Freedom of Information Advocates Network. It was first celebrated on 28 September 2003, and 2007 will see the 5th International Right to Know Day.
The aim of Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of every individual’s [...]
The Countdown is On to Save School Libraries!
From ALA’s District Dispatch:
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor will soon be considering reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In order for the SKILLs Act to be included in NCLB – that is, to place a state-certified school library media specialist in every school – each member of [...]