From OMB Watch:
Sign on to the letter to Administrator Jackson urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect the public’s right to know by restoring the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), reversing Bush administration changes that reduced reporting on toxic pollution!
Archive of entries posted on February 2009
Sign on to restore the TRI program!
Automatic Wiretap? Data Retention Bills Proposed
From Public Knowledge:
Both the House and Senate have introduced bills that would require “electronic communications service providers” to store “all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user” of a temporary network address for two years. While the bulk of the bills are targeted at preventing child porn, this one provision creates [...]
Roswell library defends internet usage policy
From KOB.com:
One New Mexico library is defending its internet use policy against parents who say it gives kids full access to pornographic websites.
The Roswell Public Library has no restrictions on computer use.
Baghdad museum reopens 6 years after looting
From the Associated Press:
Iraq’s restored National Museum reopened Monday with a red-carpet gala in the heart of Baghdad nearly six years after looters carried away priceless antiquities as American troops largely stood by in the chaos of the city’s fall to U.S. forces.
The ransacking of the museum became a symbol for critics of Washington’s post-invasion [...]
Brown launches ‘recovery’ website
From the BBC:
The government is promoting its efforts to help the British economy through the recession with its own version of US President Obama’s “recovery” website.
Gordon Brown referred to the “real help now” website – listing action being taken around Britain – as the cabinet met in Southampton.
Eurojust to back member states authorities to monitor Skype conversations
From The Sofia Echo:
Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial co-operation unit, said on its website that it was ready to offer support to member states’ law enforcement authorities to monitor the use of internet telephony systems (VoIP) such as Skype.
The EUObserver quoted Eurojust spokesperson Joannes Thuy as saying that the “closer watch” would not affect “regular [...]
NZ Government calls delay on S92
From the National Business Review:
Score one for the black-out brigade: The government is to delay implementation of the controversial Section 92A of the Copyright Amendment (New Technologies Act) due to come into force February 28.
Prime Minister John Key announced at a post-cabinet press conference this afternoon that implementation of the controversial clause of the copyright [...]
Linked Out: A case that threatens the right of Web sites to link freely
From Slate:
Last April, startup real estate news site BlockShopper ran the headline “New Jones Day Lawyer Spends $760K on Sheffield” with a link to the bio for the lawyer in question—Jacob Tiedt—from the Web site of his law firm, Jones Day. In July, it ran a similar item about a home purchase by Dan Malone [...]
Bush library, policy center to share Wal-Mart-size building
From the The Dallas Morning News:
George W. Bush’s presidential library is taking shape in early designs, evolving from separate buildings at SMU into a single, multi-story complex with a policy institute nearly two-thirds bigger than first proposed.
The overall structure has grown to an estimated 207,000 square feet – akin to an average Wal-Mart Super Center [...]
Clinton presides over State Department 2.0
From Agence France Presse:
Barack Obama outdueled Hillary Clinton on the Web during their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.
But Secretary of State Clinton is giving President Obama a run for the money in the latest Web 2.0 sweepstakes.
The former first lady has taken to digital diplomacy with a vengeance, contributing to DipNote, the slick State [...]