[SLA-SF] Intersect Alert, August 9, 2006

Wed Aug 9 20:49:40 PDT 2006

Freedom of Information

University Support for Public Access Act Expands

"Just one week after more than two dozen leading universities declared their strong support for the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (S.2695), provosts from an additional 23 universities added their backing in a letter issued by the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) and in individual correspondence. This brings the total to at least 48 universities that have gone on record as favoring the measure."

http://www.arl.org/sparc/oa/LibraryGroupsCommendProvosts_06AUG.pdf

FAS Wins FOIA Lawsuit Over NRO Budget Documents

"In a rare victory for public access to intelligence agency records, a federal court yesterday ordered (pdf) the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to process its FY 2006 budget request for release under the Freedom of Information Act."

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/07/fas_wins_foia_lawsuit_over_nro.html

GPO Takes Major Step Toward Creating Digital Information Management System

"Today the U.S. Government Printing Office took a major step towards ensuring the American public has a one-stop site to access Government information that is authentic, version-controlled and permanently-available by announcing the selection of Harris Corporation to help develop a world-class Future Digital System."

http://www.gpo.gov/news/2006/06news21.pdf

Air Force Lab Will Not Fund Controversial FOIA Study

"The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) said this week that it will not administer a grant to a San Antonio, Texas law school to study state freedom of information laws."

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/08/air_force_lab_will_not_fund_co.html

Intellectual Property Issues

Google reveals payment deal with AP

"Google has agreed to pay the Associated Press for use of its news stories and pictures, according to a statement released by the two companies on Wednesday. The deal settles a dispute between Google and the AP and has implications for a lawsuit Google is facing from the Paris-based Agence France Presse news agency, which sued the search powerhouse last year for allegedly infringing its copyrights on Google News."

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6102109.html

Orwellian

Bond Legislation Targets Intelligence Leaks 

"U.S. Senator Kit Bond, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, today introduced legislation aimed at cracking down on intelligence leaks by government employees or contractors by making it easier for the government to prosecute and punish those who make public America's sensitive intelligence programs. . . Bond's bill is the exact language included previously in the FY 2001 intelligence authorization bill. The bill, including the leak language, was passed by Congress, but was vetoed by President Clinton."

http://bond.senate.gov/press_section/record.cfm?id=260599

Justice orders release of records in national security letter case

"Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg yesterday ordered full disclosure of records in a court battle between FBI terrorism investigators and Connecticut librarians."

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=17235

Reauthorized Patriot Act Still Unconstitutional, ACLU Says

"The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union announced today that they have returned to court to challenge the constitutionality of the reauthorized Patriot Act's National Security Letter (NSL) provision. The provision permits the FBI to prohibit anyone who receives an NSL from disclosing that the FBI has sought or obtained information from them."

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nationalsecurityletters/26404prs20060807.html

Public Policy

Classified intelligence bills often are unread

"Nearly all members of the House of Representatives opted out of a chance to read this year's classified intelligence bill, and then voted on secret provisions they knew almost nothing about. The bill, which passed by 327 to 96 in April, authorized the Bush administration's plans for fighting the war on terrorism. Many members say they faced an untenable choice: Either consent to a review process so secretive that they could never mention anything about it in House debates, under the threat of prosecution, or vote on classified provisions they knew nothing about. Most chose to know nothing."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/08/06/classified_intelligence_bills_often_are_unread/

Homeless in Mass. sue over library policy

"Robert Bombard has always been a voracious reader. He worked at the city library as a teenager and was a volunteer there as an adult. Even when he served two years in jail on a drug charge, he did his time working in the lockup's library. . . So when Bombard went to check out more than two volumes after spending a day as a volunteer at Worcester's main library branch last summer, he was shocked when they told him no. "They said 'Oh, no _ you live at a shelter,' right in front of everybody," he said. "It made me feel like a second-class citizen.""

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080900235.html

Internet Access

Senate Ratified Convention on Cybercrime

"Called by many the "world's worst Internet Law," the Senate ratified the Convention of Cybercrime last week, five years after the US signed it. Why so controversial? The treaty mandates that Internet providers must cooperate with electronic searches and seizures, and that one country must conduct electronic surveillance "in real time" on behalf of another government even if citizens of the complying country are not suspected of committing a crime under their law. For example, the FBI would be required to monitor you even when your actions are not covered under any federal criminal law if China requests it because China believes you have committed a cybercrime under Chinese law."

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2006/08/senate_ratified.html

AOL apologizes for releasing search data that compromises user privacy

"AOL released the Internet search terms that more than 650,000 of its subscribers entered over a three-month period and admitted Monday that what it originally intended as a gesture to researchers amounted to a privacy breach and a mistake. Although AOL had substituted numeric IDs for the subscribers' real user names, the company acknowledged the search queries themselves may contain personally identifiable data."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/15219507.htm

A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749

"It did not take much investigating to follow that data trail to Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn, Ga., frequently researches her friends' medical ailments and loves her three dogs. "Those are my searches," she said, after a reporter read part of the list to her."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?ei=5090&en=f6f61949c6da4d38&ex=1312776000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Take Action

Urge Senators to Support Network Neutrality Provisions in Communications Reform Bill 

"Hearings have been held on the current version of S. 2686 by the Senate Commerce Committee, where efforts to amend it with meaningful net neutrality provisions failed by an 11-11 vote. The August recess begins August 7th and runs through Labor Day. Your Senators will be back in your states, and this presents an excellent opportunity to take a hands on approach to this issue, especially if your Senator is running for re-election. Attend a rally, schedule a meeting at your Senator's district office, or, at the very least, send them an email. Urge them not to support any communications reform bill unless it includes meaningful net neutrality provisions. Also, be sure to personalize your message so that it relates specifically to your institution and your patrons."

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/aa07262006.html

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