Part-Time Policy Wonk

From Government Computer News:

Government agencies are finally catching on to the World Wide Web. Ten years ago, most government executives saw the Web as a sort of electronic brochure. Now they have come to realize that the Web can be the primary form of interaction with constituents. . .

. . . So when we sought to compile a list of the best government Web sites, we looked for those that offered more than information — we looked for those offering services. We also kept an eye out for sites that reflect the needs of the constituents.

Posted by Anne at 08:40 PM | Permalink

From Yahoo! News:

A panel of federal appeals court judges pushed a U.S. government lawyer on Wednesday to answer why FBI letters sent out to Internet service providers seeking information should remain secret.

A panel of three judges from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether a provision of the Patriot Act, which requires people who are formally contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for information to keep it a secret, is constitutional.

Posted by Anne at 08:40 PM | Permalink

From the San Francisco Examiner:

The Frederick County Commissioners voted to eliminate an English-only restriction on audio books bought by the Frederick County Public Libraries.

Four commissioners voted on the issue Tuesday after Commissioner Kai Hagen asked the board to reconsider the policy. John Thompson Jr. voted against the reversal.

The restriction was imposed last week on a routine funding request for about $411,000 worth of audio books on CD. The restriction only permitted foreign language instruction to be bought with the money in a language other than English.

Posted by Anne at 08:39 PM | Permalink

From the Guardian:

A court in Turkey has lifted a ban on YouTube, the video sharing website, after hundreds of sites voluntarily blocked themselves in protest at growing internet censorship.

Access to YouTube had been blocked since May in the latest of a series of bans triggered by the posting of videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish state.

Two previous bans have also been lifted but the latest decision comes after 412 web and blog sites, including the Turkish-English dictionary site, zargan.com, participated last week in an online protest.

They shut themselves temporarily after campaigners revealed that 853 websites in Turkey had been blocked as a result of court orders. Organisers said many of the orders were arbitrary and risked creating a climate of rising censorship.

Posted by Anne at 08:38 PM | Permalink

OCLC Press Release:

OCLC is piloting a new service for libraries that encourages librarians and other interested parties to discover and share information about the copyright status of books.

The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry is a community working together to build a union catalog of copyright evidence based on WorldCat, which contains more than 100 million bibliographic records describing items held in thousands of libraries worldwide. In addition to the WorldCat metadata, the Copyright Evidence Registry uses other data contributed by libraries and other organizations.

Digitization projects continue for books in the public domain, but books whose copyright status is unknown are destined to remain in print and on shelves until their status can be determined. The process to determine copyright status can be lengthy and labor intensive. The goal of the Copyright Evidence Registry is to encourage a cooperative environment to discover, create and share copyright evidence through a collaboratively created and maintained database, using the WorldCat cooperative model to eliminate duplicate efforts.

Posted by Anne at 08:37 PM | Permalink

From CNN:

Believe the conspiracy theories: Out of sight and without your knowledge, governments truly are filtering what you see on the Internet.

The recent conflict between Georgia and Russia has highlighted many of the issues at play with Internet filtering, as its increasing use by governments raises serious doubts about the freedom of the Web.

Georgian authorities blocked most access to Russian news broadcasters and Web sites after the outbreak of the conflict, and both sides reported Web sites being blocked, removed or attacked as the situation unfolded.

Posted by Anne at 08:44 PM | Permalink

From Kable's Government Computing:

The National Archives will start copying and making available online all central government website content from November.

The organisation will expand its existing arrangement with the not-for-profit European Archive in Paris, so it will take copies of the content from 1,800 central government websites approximately three times a year.

The European Archive already copies 50 or 60 UK government sites, which are freely available. This will be expanded from November, with the results available in the New Year.

Posted by Anne at 08:42 PM | Permalink

From The Boston Globe:

Barry Canton, a 28-year-old biological engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has posted raw scientific data, his thesis proposal, and original research ideas on an online website for all to see.

To young people primed for openness by the confessional existence they live online, that may not seem like a big deal.

But in the world of science - where promotions, tenure, and fortune rest on publishing papers in prestigious journals, securing competitive grants, and patenting discoveries - it's a brazen, potentially self-destructive move. To many scientists, leaving unfinished work and ideas in the open seems as reckless as leaving your debit card and password at a busy ATM machine.

Canton is part of a peaceful insurgency in science that is beginning to pry open an endeavor that still communicates its cutting-edge discoveries in much the same way it has since Ben Franklin was experimenting with lightning.

Posted by Anne at 08:40 PM | Permalink

From New Scientist:

"This data allows investigators to identify suspects, examine their contacts, establish relationships between conspirators and place them in a specific location at a certain time."

So said the UK Home Office last week as it announced plans to give law-enforcement agencies, local councils and other public bodies access to the details of people's text messages, emails and internet activity. The move followed its announcement in May that it was considering creating a massive central database to store all this data, as a tool to help the security services tackle crime and terrorism.

Meanwhile in the US the FISA Amendments Act, which became law in July, allows the security services to intercept anyone's international phone calls and emails without a warrant for up to seven days. Governments around the world are developing increasingly sophisticated electronic surveillance methods in a bid to identify terrorist cells or spot criminal activity.

Posted by Anne at 08:39 PM | Permalink

From AlterNet:

Bush has vowed to sprint through the final five months of his Administration, and you better believe him. Because he is pulling all the bureaucratic levers in the Executive Branch to advance his right-wing agenda. Unable to accomplish his goals legislatively, Bush is trying to get them done by fiat.

If you look at proposed regulatory changes at the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, and the Justice Department you get a sense of how vast this hustle is. . .

. . . Today, the most important publication in America is the Federal Register.

That's where Bush has to publish his intentions to alter federal regulations.

And his intentions, by now, are all too clear.

Posted by Anne at 08:37 PM | Permalink

From redOrbit.com:

This Symposium was convened to assess how, in this new age of environmental law, scholars, advocates, policy makers, journalists, and other interested members of the public can gain access to and harness information about our environment. My modest role is to provide an overview of federal right-to-know laws, including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and to ask whether these statutes ensure that environmental information is made available to the public in a timely and dependable way.

Posted by Anne at 08:36 PM | Permalink

From the Mercury News:

The White House is missing as many as 225 days of e-mail dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves office, according to an internal White House draft document obtained by the Associated Press.

The nine-page outline of the White House's e-mail problems invites companies to bid on a project to recover the missing electronic messages.

Posted by Anne at 08:33 PM | Permalink

From PC World:

The U.S. Air Force is using Web 2.0 technologies to better support its missions despite wariness about security, a civilian technology official of the service said last week.

The new techniques, including blogs, wikis and personal profiles, are coming out of an initiative by Air Force Knowledge Now (AFKN), a resource provided on the Department of Defense (DOD) intranet. They're helping service members and civilian employees find the information they need more quickly and are now being shared with members of the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines, according to Randy Adkins, director of the Air Force's Center of Excellence for Knowledge Management.

Posted by Anne at 08:28 PM | Permalink

From the Center for Digital Government:

Winners of the 2008 Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards have been announced by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government! The top state and local government Web portal and application awardees will be honored at the 12th annual Awards Gala on Sept.12 in Hollywood, Calif. Best of the Web recognizes the most innovative, user-friendly state and local government portals while the Digital Government Achievement Award recognizes outstanding agency and department Web sites and applications. Judges from all over the nation determined the winners.

Posted by Anne at 08:27 PM | Permalink

GPO Request for Mass Digitization Services:

To assist in implementing this strategic goal, GPO will set up free or near-free partnerships with a variety of sources for the purpose of digitizing the legacy collection. These partnerships may include but are not limited to, Federal depository libraries, Federal agencies, and private organizations. Throughout these endeavors, GPO will ensure that these materials are available, in the public domain, for no-fee permanent public access through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

In support of this plan, GPO issued a Request for Information (RFI) for Mass Digitization Opportunities. This RFI was announced through Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) in January 2008. The responses to the announcement were analyzed and led to the development of an RFP for Mass Digitization which was also posted on FedBizOpps on August 12, 2008. The RFP can be found here.

GPO is requesting proposals from industry specific to the digitization of publications that are within scope of GPO’s dissemination programs. GPO envisions a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship with a private or public sector participant(s) where the uncompressed, unaltered files created as a result of the conversion process are delivered to GPO at no cost to the Government. These files will serve as the digital master copies that will be preserved and used for the creation of access derivatives within FDsys. In exchange, the contractor or contractors shall be able to maintain a collection of files produced.

Posted by Anne at 08:26 PM | Permalink

From Secrecy News:

By resisting congressional requests for documents, the Bush Administration has effectively diminished Congress’s oversight power, as the review of government policy is often replaced by lengthy contests over access to records.

In the final six months of the current Administration, for example, the Senate Judiciary Committee still finds itself unable to gain access to influential records of the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) relating to interrogation, detention and torture.

Posted by Anne at 08:25 PM | Permalink

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

In a victory for small-time music copiers over the entertainment industry, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that copyright holders can't order one of their songs removed from the Web without first checking to see if the excerpt was so small and innocuous that it was legal.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose was the first in the nation to require the owner of the rights to a creative work to consider whether an online copy was a "fair use" - a small or insignificant replication that couldn't have affected the market for the original - before ordering the Web host to take it down.

Posted by Anne at 08:24 PM | Permalink

From the Law Librarian Blog:

The number of citizen bloggers jailed in 2007 has drastically risen from 2006, according to researchers at the University of Washington. "Last year, 2007, was a record year for blogger arrests, with three times as many as in 2006. Egypt, Iran and China are the most dangerous places to blog about political life, accounting for more than half of all arrests since blogging became big," said Phil Howard, an assistant professor of communication. With his students, Howard prepared the World Information Access Report, which documents sources and consequences of social inequality in the information age.

Posted by Anne at 08:22 PM | Permalink

From Information World Review:

The government is being urged to scrap the expensive 10-yearly paper-based census and rely instead on locally-collated information from increased data sharing.

A report from think tank New Local Government Network (NLGN) claims the change would produce more reliable statistics at half the £500m cost of issuing, collecting and processing hand-written forms distributed to every household in the UK once every decade.

Posted by Anne at 08:21 PM | Permalink

Press Release:

[August 1, 2008] This week Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) introduced H. R. 6662, legislation to permit media coverage of military commemoration ceremonies and memorial services conducted by the United States Armed Forces for service members who have died on active duty, and the arrival of the remains of fallen service members at military installations in the United States. . . . . . “Without a loved one serving in the military, it is sometimes possible for Americans to overlook the sacrifices that have been made – and continue to be made – by members of the Armed Forces on behalf of our Nation. By once again permitting access to accredited members of the media at military commemoration ceremonies, memorial services conducted by the Armed Forces, and the arrival of the remains of fallen service members at U.S. military installations, this legislation would honor those who have given their lives in defense of our Nation.”

Posted by Anne at 08:20 PM | Permalink

From Kable Government Computing:

The National Archives has finished its Seamless Flow Programme to automate the preservation of electronic government records

The programme has developed tools and processes aiming to create a seamless process, so information created by government can be gathered by the Archives, stored and – when allowed – released online.

Posted by Anne at 08:55 PM | Permalink

SEC Press Release:

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox today unveiled the successor to the agency’s 1980s-era EDGAR database, which will give investors far faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.

The new system is called IDEA, short for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. Based on a completely new architecture being built from the ground up, it will at first supplement and then eventually replace the EDGAR system. The decision to replace EDGAR marks the SEC’s transition from collecting forms and documents to making the information itself freely available to investors to give them better and more up-to-date financial disclosure in a form they can readily use.

Posted by Anne at 09:01 PM | Permalink

From Federal Computer Week:

How does the government manage data that was born digital, meaning it was created in electronic form? Organizations as varied as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the White House, open-government groups, and House members have recently offered recommendations for managing the growing volume of such information. Their approaches underscore the differences of opinion about how much responsibility and power various entities should have over future federal recordkeeping.

Posted by Anne at 08:19 PM | Permalink

From All Things Considered:

People who use the Internet to talk to friends, set up free e-mail accounts or buy concert tickets are often unknowingly helping to digitize vast libraries of old books and newspapers.

That's because more than 40,000 Web sites — including popular ones such as Ticketmaster, Facebook and Craigslist — are using a new kind of security program called reCAPTCHA.

Posted by Anne at 08:16 PM | Permalink

From EUObserver.com:

The European Commission has urged member states to step up efforts to make Europe's cultural heritage available to citizens at a mouse click.

Plans for a European digital library containing books, paintings, music, film and photographs are already underway but progress on making works digitally available has been slow with funding problems and lack of technical know-how dragging the ambitious project down.

Posted by Anne at 08:15 PM | Permalink

Library of Congress Press Release:

The Library of Congress, the California Digital Library, the University of North Texas Libraries, the Internet Archive and the U.S. Government Printing Office today announced a collaborative project to preserve public United States Government web sites at the end of the current presidential administration ending January 19, 2009. This harvest is intended to document federal agencies' online archive during the transition of government and to enhance the existing collections of the five partner institutions.

Posted by Anne at 08:14 PM | Permalink

From Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is rapidly downsizing its environmental capabilities by forcing scores of Denver-based specialists to go into retirement under threat of layoff, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This massive lame duck restructuring will force the next administration to contract for the eliminated functions.

Reclamation manages millions of acre feet of water, primarily with dams and reservoirs, in 17 Western states. Job reductions are concentrated in its Technical Services Center (TSC) in Denver where nearly one-third of the 500 jobs are now or will soon be eliminated. Among the services being cut are –

• Drinking Water Protection. The Expeditionary Unit Water Purification program creates potable water following disasters, such as the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, but has lost key staff;
• Scientists, Laboratories and Library. The Center’s world renowned library and laboratories are being drained of all employees. In addition, the ax is falling heavily on science positions, such as hydrologists, soil scientists and seismologists; and
• Environmental Studies. Reclamation is rapidly discarding both its capacity to assess environmental effects of its water projects and its ability to analyze impacts on recreation, historical and cultural resources, as well as the social and economic consequences of its actions.

Posted by Anne at 08:12 PM | Permalink

From the BBC:

Plans to give local councils and other public bodies the power to monitor e-mail and internet traffic have been branded a "snoopers' charter".

The government wants to make it mandatory for phone and internet companies to store all information on personal web use for 12 months.

Posted by Anne at 08:10 PM | Permalink

From the New York Times:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general’s office into the bureau’s improper collection of telephone records through “emergency” records demands issued to phone providers.

The records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters’ phone records were considered relevant.

Posted by Anne at 08:08 PM | Permalink

From the New York Times:

A federal judge on Thursday authorized the F.B.I. to search two public library computers used late last month by Bruce E. Ivins, the Maryland scientist blamed in the 2001 anthrax killings, to read about the investigation into the attacks. . .

. . . Library officials turned over the computers voluntarily to the F.B.I. last week. The Justice Department said it believed it needed a search warrant to examine the contents, and two warrants were approved Thursday by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia.

Posted by Anne at 08:14 PM | Permalink

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 comply, restoring only minimal holdings in small spaces, in some cases no larger than the lavatories in the buildings they occupied.

In February 2008, a Federal Labor Relations Board arbitrator sustained grievances filed by the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238 on behalf of all affected agency employees, finding that EPA acted “unilaterally without the benefit of” employee input in reducing access to seven of its ten regional libraries. The arbitrator ordered EPA to bargain with AFGE Council 238 on library conditions.

The two parties reached a Memorandum of Agreement on July 10, 2008 which became final today [August 11th].

Posted by Anne at 08:10 PM | Permalink

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 law presents for digital preservation.

Posted by Anne at 08:08 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Anne at 08:07 PM | Permalink

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 the controversy that has surrounded it.

Posted by Anne at 08:06 PM | Permalink

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 into their computer databases to be accessed by the public online. As a result of the delay, donors can bundle contributions in the final, critical weeks of a campaign - providing the funds necessary for last minute negative attack ads or push polls - with absolute anonymity.

The Senate is considering a bill, S.233, that would require candidates for the Senate to file reports electronically. The bill is widely supported by Senators on both sides of the aisle.

Posted by Anne at 07:52 PM | Permalink

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 $3.5 million for the Law Library of Congress and its own separate line item in the Federal budget beginning in FY 2010. It will also establish the Charles H.W. Meehan Law Library Support Program, which will allow outside funding to be raised and provided to the Law Library for new enhanced services, such as interlibrary loan and electronic document delivery.

Posted by Anne at 07:49 PM | Permalink

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 out that many sites - such as those sympathising with Tibetan groups - could still not be accessed.

Posted by Anne at 07:47 PM | Permalink

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 companies, demanding to know whether they track where their users go online and use that information to deliver personalized advertising.

Among the companies receiving the letters were Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AT&T, Comcast, Qwest Communications International, Verizon Communications, Time Warner's AOL unit and Time Warner Cable. The companies were given a week to respond.

Posted by Anne at 07:46 PM | Permalink

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 to the Internet.

The commission did not assess a fine, but ordered the company to stop cutting off transfers of large data files among customers who use a special type of "file-sharing" software.

Posted by Anne at 07:43 PM | Permalink

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 for final approval.

Posted by Anne at 07:42 PM | Permalink

From OMB Watch:

A bill to reduce and standardize Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) designations moved quickly through the House in July, passing in both committee and on the House floor just a single week after it was introduced by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA). This bill, along with a similar piece of legislation that focuses solely on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), now goes to the Senate where it may have a tougher time given the limited amount of legislative time left in this congressional session.

The Waxman-Davis bill, the Reducing Information Control Designations Act (H.R. 6576), gives new authority to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Under the bill, the Archivist of the United States must establish narrowly constructed standards for CUI designations that maximize public access to information as well as develop penalties for employees and contractors who repeatedly fail to comply. NARA is already the statutory designee for setting classification standards. The act also calls for random audits of unclassified information with control designations by the inspector general of each federal agency.

Posted by Anne at 07:39 PM | Permalink

From the Sunlight Foundation blog:

As required by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, the Clerk of the House launched an online database for current personal financical disclosures. The site only hosts PDF copies of these reports and is only searchable by member, not by anything they list on the reports.

Posted by Anne at 09:02 PM | Permalink

From Secrecy News:

The President would no longer be able to secretly modify or revoke a published executive order if a new bill introduced in the Senate yesterday becomes law.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Russ Feingold and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, responds to a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion that was revealed last year by Senator Whitehouse on the Senate floor. According to that unreleased opinion, “There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new Executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous Executive order. Rather than violate an Executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.”

What this means is that any published executive order may or may not actually be in effect. It may or may not correspond to the legal framework that governs the executive branch. The public has no way of knowing.

More information on the April 30th hearing on “secret law” can be found at: http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/08/04/20080430.htm.

The Executive Order Integrity Act of 2008 (S. 3405)

Posted by Anne at 08:58 PM | Permalink

From the New York Times:

Want to vet a baby sitter? Need to peek into the background of a prospective employee? Curious about the past of a potential date?

Last month, PeopleFinders, a 20-year-old company based in Sacramento, introduced CriminalSearches.com, a free service to satisfy those common impulses. The site, which is supported by ads, lets people search by name through criminal archives of all 50 states and 3,500 counties in the United States. In the process, it just might upset a sensitive social balance once preserved by the difficulty of obtaining public documents like criminal records.

Academics have a term for the old inaccessibility of records like those for criminal convictions: “practical obscurity.” Once upon a time, people in search of this data had to hire private investigators to navigate byzantine courthouses and rudimentary filing or computer systems, and to deal with often grim-faced legal clerks. In a way, the obstacles to getting criminal information maintained a valuable, ignorance-fueled civil peace. Convicts could start fresh after serving their time without strangers knowing their pasts, and there was little risk that unsophisticated researchers could confuse people with identical names.

Well, not anymore. The information on CriminalSearches.com is available to all comers.

Posted by Anne at 08:55 PM | Permalink

From the Guardian:

China has lifted blocks on several long-barred websites after criticism of their censorship.

The move, which followed overnight talks with the International Olympic Committee, means that sites including those of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the BBC Chinese language service are accessible in Beijing, Shanghai and possibly further afield.

The ban had been deeply embarrassing for the IOC, which had said that journalists would have the same internet access they had enjoyed at previous Olympics.

Posted by Anne at 07:36 PM | Permalink

From Ars Technica:

A political spat erupted in Washington, D.C., earlier this month over rules governing how members of Congress may use the Internet. House Republicans argued that proposed changes to the rules amounted to "new government censorship of the Internet," while Democrats said the charges were exaggerated. Whichever side is right or wrong, the fact remains that current rules governing official communications prohibit members of Congress from using video-sharing or social networking sites like YouTube, Flickr, or Facebook. As a result, many House members, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), are currently in violation of the rules.

Current rules do not allow members to post video or other content outside the house.gov domain. This thwarts members who wish to use YouTube and other services to host video. . .

. . . The Sunlight Foundation, a good-government group that advocates for transparency in government, also launched an online campaign at www.LetOurCongressTweet.org that demands sensible congressional web use rules.

Posted by Anne at 08:37 PM | Permalink