From OMB Watch:
In November 2008, OMB Watch, together with a diverse set of organizations and individuals, presented Barack Obama (who was then President-elect) and Congress with recommendations on how to improve government transparency, advance Americans’ right to know, reform the regulatory process, and ensure that federal agencies are working to advance the public interest. The [...]
Archive of entries posted on April 2009
Obama at 100 Days — Assessments of Government Transparency and Regulatory Reform Efforts
Massive FBI Data-Mining Project Needs Congressional Oversight
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on Congress today to examine the Investigative Data Warehouse (IDW) — a massive FBI data-mining project that includes a billion records, many of which contain personal information on American citizens. Supporting its request, EFF provided Congress with its new report on IDW, published today with [...]
Obama Aide Looks to Open Source Government
From InternetNews.com:
The dream of an effective and open e-government, a great hope of the Obama administration, rides on the ability of government officials to emulate the Web 2.0 model in the private sector, where some of the biggest success stories have been built through a decentralized, crowd-sourced model, a White House official said today.
Here at [...]
GSA signs agreements with Web 2.0 providers
From Federal Computer Week:
The General Services Administration has negotiated terms of service agreements with Web 2.0 providers MySpace, Blist, Slideshare and AddThis allowing federal agencies to use the services, GSA officials have said. Agencies that want the services can sign onto the agreement, which is effective now.
Kundra talks Data.gov
From Government Computer News:
Government data prepared for public reuse should be offered in multiple-formats, be machine-readable and adhere as closely as possible to lightweight standards, advised federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, speaking at the 2009 Government Web Managers conference held this week in Washington.
In March, when Kundra assumed the role of federal CIO, he [...]
Official: “We’re Lazy About Classification”
From Secrecy News:
There is practically a universal consensus that the national security classification system has become dysfunctional and counterproductive. (Just what to do about it remains up in the air–more on that shortly).
That consensus was articulated again earlier this month in a speech by Joan Dempsey, formerly a senior Pentagon intelligence official, a Deputy Director [...]
Courts Give up Hope on Executive Branch State Secrets Claims
From OMB Watch:
In a blow to a key position held by the Bush and Obama administrations on executive branch power, an appeals court has ruled against the administrations on a major state secrets case. On April 28, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Boeing subsidiary Jeppeson DataPlan, which participated in flying [...]
FOIA Ombudsman Moves One Step Closer to Reality
From the Citizen Media Law Project blog:
Last month, we reported that President Obama had begun making good on his promise of reinvigorating the federal Freedom of Information Act (”FOIA”). One of the first tangible steps involved Attorney General Eric Holder instructing government agencies to favor release of documents to the public. Well, the good [...]
21st Century Crowbars Help Pry Open Government
From NPR:
The Obama administration is trying to usher in a new era of transparency in government — call it Government 2.0.
It has already set up a Web site where people can track how the hundreds of billions of dollars in the economic stimulus plan are being spent, and Obama promises that in the years to [...]
Information Needs in a Democracy: Request for Comment
From PBS:
In today’s media environment – with so many newspapers cutting back on editorial staff, and online media becoming more ever-present each day – do you have the information you need to accomplish your personal goals and to be an effective citizen?
The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy and PBS [...]