From Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:
Beginning in 2006, EPA management began a stealth campaign of closing its regional and technical libraries, ultimately eliminating library service in 23 states and scattering invaluable scientific collections. In December 2007, Congress ordered EPA to re-open the libraries, but by this spring it became apparent that EPA would only grudgingly [...]
Archive of entries posted on August 2008
EPA Library Restoration Pact Finalized
International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation
From the Queensland University of Technology:
This study focuses on the copyright and related laws of Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States and the impact of those laws on digital preservation of copyrighted works. It also addresses proposals for legislative reform and efforts to develop non-legislative solutions to the challenges that copyright [...]
Some Web Firms Say They Track Behavior Without Explicit Consent
From the Washington Post:
Several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Senate Report Scrutinizes the State Secrets Privilege
From Secrecy News:
A new report from the Senate Judiciary Committee examines the use of the state secrets privilege by the executive branch and describes the intent of new legislation to strengthen judicial review of its use in civil litigation.
The 53 page report summarizes the latest legal scholarship on the state secrets privilege, as well as [...]
Call on the Senate to Make Campaign Contribution Info Available Online Before the Election
From OpenTheGovernment.org:
Candidates for the House of Representatives and President have been filing contribution reports electronically for years, but the Senate still allows candidates to file paper reports with the Secretary of the Senate. After receiving the reports, the Secretary of the Senate delivers the reports in paper to the FEC, who then must input them [...]
Take Action Now! Support Funding for the Law Library of Congress
From AALL’s Washington Blawg:
As Congress heads home for August recess, please considering contacting your House Representative with an urgent request to co-sponsor H.R. 6589, the Charles H.W. Meehan Law Library Improvement and Modernization Act. This bill, which AALL and the American Bar Association have been working toward for years, will authorize a one-time, additional [...]
China lifts ban on Tiananmen sites
From the Guardian:
Websites on sensitive subjects such as the bloody crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 were accessible in the Chinese capital yesterday as the authorities lifted more internet restrictions in order to meet their Olympic Games commitments.
However, reporters questioned the International Olympic Committee’s claim that the issue had been ‘resolved’, pointing [...]
House committee seeks out Web tracking information
From the Mercury News:
A congressional committee wants the nation’s largest telecommunications and Internet companies to explain whether they target online advertising based on consumers’ search queries and Web surfing habits.
In an expanding inquiry into the state of consumer privacy on the Internet, House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders sent letters Friday to more than 30 [...]
FCC slaps cable giant
From the Mercury News:
A divided Federal Communications Commission has ruled that Comcast violated federal policy when it blocked Internet traffic for some subscribers and has ordered the cable giant to change the way it manages its network.
In a precedent-setting move, the FCC by a 3-2 vote Friday enforced a policy that guarantees customers open access [...]
Durbin Says Internet Giants Close to Agreement on Code of Conduct
Press Release:
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that a number of the largest American internet companies, human rights organizations and other stakeholders have reached agreement on a voluntary code of conduct that would govern internet companies operating in countries where internet freedom is restricted, like China. The participants are now reviewing the agreement [...]