From the Washington Post:
A long-simmering debate over whether the results of government-funded research should be made freely available to the public could take a big step toward resolution as members of a House and Senate conference committee meet today to finalize the 2008 Department of Health and Human Services appropriations bill.
At issue is whether scientists [...]
Archive of entries posted on November 2007
Open Access to Research Funded by U.S. Is at Issue
IG’s NOS Report Prompts Questions and Answers
From The Gazette, the internal newsletter of the Library of Congress, and posted on the Library of Congress Blog:
The Librarian of Congress and the Library’s senior managers summoned to a House Administration Committee hearing on Oct. 24 countered members’ suggestions that they take their cues from Wal-Mart, Target or UPS on how to control [...]
States failing FOI responsiveness
From the Better Government Association and National Freedom of Information Coalition:
Freedom of information laws are only as good as the response mechanisms built into the laws themselves. After all, if citizens can’t take action to enforce their right of access shy of filing suit, what good are FOI laws?
When it comes to responsiveness measures, not [...]
In West Virginia – Public Shut Out of Records
From The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register:
West Virginia’s Legislature has carved out nearly 100 exceptions to the state’s public records and open meetings laws since crafting them three decades ago, a review by The Associated Press has found.
From the results of regulatory probes to the location of endangered wild animals and rare plants, lawmakers have steadily [...]
SLA Sends Letter Opposing Proposed Closing of Sandia National Laboratories Research Library
SLA Press Release:
Sandia is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, and is managed by Lockheed Martin. It is government owned and contractor operated. Funding is provided by the Department of Energy, with other major funding through the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.
Special Libraries Association (SLA), [...]
FOIA Facts – FOIA Litigation: When A Loss Isn’t Always A Loss
From LLRX:
If you look at FOIA litigation in only the context of who ultimately wins a case, you would come to the conclusion that the government routinely is the complete victor. That conclusion, however, would be wrong.
The results of FOIA litigation are much more than just a judge’s opinion for one of the two sides [...]
Yahoo in apology on China
From the Financial Times:
A top Yahoo official who has come under fire for the company’s role in the 2004 imprisonment of a dissident in China apologised on Thursday for failing to tell US lawmakers that Yahoo knew more about the case than he initially acknowledged in testimony last year.
Michael Callahan, Yahoo’s executive vice president and [...]
Librarians Say Surveillance Bills Lack Adequate Oversight
From the Washington Post:
A little-remarked feature of pending legislation on domestic surveillance has provoked alarm among university and public librarians who say it could allow federal intelligence-gathering on library patrons without sufficient court oversight.
Draft House and Senate bills would allow the government to compel any “communications service provider” to provide access to e-mails and other [...]
Another Snag for Electronic Filing Bill
From the Washington Post:
The Senate appears deadlocked over legislation that would require members to file their campaign finance forms electronically — the method used by their House counterparts, presidential candidates and the majority of state lawmakers.
Instead of submitting forms electronically, senators print their reports and deliver them to the clerk’s office. The staff there scans [...]
FedSpending.org’s Offspring
From the Sunlight Foundation:
Earlier this month, Texas released a state spending database. The database, “Where the Money Goes,” allows citizens to search state spending by agency and recipient. The Houston Chronicle, makes the point that the bill that created this database was “modeled after federal legislation passed last year.” The Coburn-Obama bill’s teeth went all [...]