[SLA-SF] Intersect Alert, August 28, 2006

Mon Aug 28 20:55:07 PDT 2006

Freedom of Information

How Many and Where Were the Nukes?

What the U.S. Government No Longer Wants You to Know about Nuclear Weapons During the Cold War

"The Pentagon and the Energy Department have now stamped as national security secrets the long-public numbers of U.S. nuclear missiles during the Cold War, including data from the public reports of the Secretaries of Defense in 1967 and 1971, according to government documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive. Pentagon and Energy officials have now blacked out from previously public charts the numbers of Minuteman missiles (1,000), Titan II missiles (54), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (656) in the historic U.S. Cold War arsenal, even though four Secretaries of Defense (McNamara, Laird, Richardson, Schlesinger) reported strategic force levels publicly in the 1960s and 1970s."

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB197/index.htm

Improving FOIA Operations

Read Scott A. Hodes' LLRX column on FOIA and Executive Order 13392.  His conclusion:

"I believe FOIA operations will not significantly improve until:

·         the Congress passes legislation that ties up lose ends caused by the march of technology and fully funds FOIA operations at agencies to reduce backlogs; and 

·         High level agency officials support FOIA Offices in their agencies by making sure they get the support they need on the various troublesome issues in those agencies. Hopefully someone will get the message and a real effort to improve FOIA operations in the near future."

http://www.llrx.com/columns/foia34.htm

Costs of Secrecy Skyrocket to $9 Billion

"The annual financial costs attributable to the national security classification system reached a record high of $9.2 billion in 2005 according to a new report (pdf) from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). Classification-related costs include not merely the direct costs of classifying information, which are modest, but also the derivative costs of the personnel security clearance system, physical security for classified material, classified computer security, and more. Most of these costs are incurred within government, but some are due to the handling of classified information within industry."

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

See 2005 Report on Cost Estimates for Security Classification Activities," Information Security Oversight Office, August 2006.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/2005costs.pdf

GPO dots the i's on a new performance-based contract

"The Government Printing Office has awarded a contract to Harris, an international communications and information technology company, to develop the agency's first Web-based document distribution system. The contract, more so than the project for which GPO awarded it, has procurement analysts talking."

http://www.fcw.com/article95640-08-14-06-Print

Intellectual Property Issues

The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material in the Digital Age

"This foundational white paper reports on a year-long study by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, examining the relationship between copyright law and education. In particular, we wanted to explore whether innovative educational uses of digital technology were hampered by the restrictions of copyright. We found that provisions of copyright law concerning the educational use of copyrighted material, as well as the business and institutional structures shaped by that law, are among the most important obstacles to realizing the potential of digital technology in education."

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=923465

Orwellian

Officials Seek Broader Access to Airline Data

"United States and European authorities, looking for more tools to detect terrorist plots, want to expand the screening of international airline passengers by digging deep into a vast repository of airline itineraries, personal information and payment data. A proposal by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would allow the United States government not only to look for known terrorists on watch lists, but also to search broadly through the passenger itinerary data to identify people who may be linked to terrorists, he said in a recent interview."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/washington/22data.html (registration required)

Public Policy

EPA Begins Closing Libraries Before Congress Acts on Plan

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving ahead this summer to shut down libraries, end public access to research materials and box up unique collections on the assumption that Congress will not reverse President Bush's proposed budget reductions, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA's own scientists are stepping up protests against closures on the grounds that it will make their work more difficult by impeding research, enforcement and emergency response capabilities."

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=731

SLA Denounces EPA Decision To Close Libraries Before Congressional Action

"The Special Libraries Association (SLA) announced today its continued grave concern with the actions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as they move to begin closing the network of 27 EPA libraries and information centers across the country. These closures will terminate public access to important research materials and environmental impact information on the assumption that Congress will not reverse President Bush's proposed budget reductions when they return from recess in mid-September. In an August 15, 2006 document, "EPA FY 2007 Library Plan", EPA indicates that it will begin immediately implementing President Bush's proposed budget cuts for the next fiscal year, which begins in October, without waiting for Congress to act.  "We are extremely disappointed to hear that the leadership at EPA is acting without Congressional approval on the closure of its libraries," said SLA Chief Executive Officer Janice R. Lachance.  

http://www.capwiz.com/sla/issues/alert/?alertid=8987716

Library of Congress undergoing workforce transformation

"With 40 percent of its librarians eligible for retirement by 2010, the Library of Congress is trying to retrain and adjust its workforce while preparing to digitally preserve its extensive collection of print and broadcast media."

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0806/081606cdpm3.htm

Presidential Signing Statements and Executive Power

Abstract: "A recent debate about the Bush administration's use of presidential signing statements has raised questions about their function, legality, and value. We argue that presidential signing statements are legal and that they provide a useful way for the president to disclose his views about the meaning and constitutionality of legislation. Although President Bush has challenged more statutory provisions in signing statements than prior administrations have, his signing statements are similar in many respects to the signing statements issued by prior presidents, such as President Clinton. In addition, basic tenets of positive political theory suggest that signing statements do not undermine the separation of powers or the legislative process and that, under certain circumstances, they can provide relevant evidence of statutory meaning."

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=922400

Intellectual Freedom

BioMed Central opens access to Chemistry articles

"Open access publisher BioMed Central has launched Chemistry Central, a site that the London based company hopes will see chemistry become as prolific in the open access arena as physics. Access to Chemistry Central, and its sister site BioMed Central is available through a newly-launched portal, Open Access Central, which will provide a single point of access to all the publisher's open access journals. A new site, PhysMath Central, is also planned for physics and mathematics."

http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2162758/biomed-central-opens-access

The Economics of Open-Access Journals

Abstract: "A new business model for scholarly journals, open access, has gained wide attention recently. An open-access journal's articles are available over the Internet free of charge to all readers; revenue to cover publication costs comes from authors' fees. In this paper, we present a model of the journals market. Drawing upon the emerging literature on two-sided markets, we highlight the features distinguishing journals from examples economists have previously studied (telephony, credit cards, etc.). We analyze the efficiency of equilibrium author and reader fee schedules for various industry structures and for various assumptions about journals' objective functions. We ask whether open-access journals are viable in these various economic environments."

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=914525

International Outlook

Access to Information Canada: Annual Report, Information Commissioner, 2005-2006

"Countless individuals reported that senior officials, both political and administrative, find various ways to deny providing information to the public."

http://www.infocom.gc.ca/reports/2005-2006-e.asp

Three Internet users freed in Vietnam after nine months

"Three Vietnamese arrested last October for engaging in an Internet discussion about democracy have been freed after almost nine months in detention, a global media watchdog said."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/17082006/323/three-internet-users-freed-vietnam-nine-months-watchdog.html

Canada sets key hearings on online music sales

"Hearings that could dramatically alter the way labels and publishers share online music revenue in Canada begin September 6. The proceedings, before the Copyright Board of Canada in Ottawa, will mark the first time the federal-appointed tribunal considers rates for the online sale of music."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-08-20T032238Z_01_N19414772_RTRUKOC_0_US-CANADA.xml

Google refuses to hand over data to Brazilian authorities

"Brazilian prosecutors have asked a federal judge for permission to file a civil lawsuit against Google Inc., alleging it was withholding user information required for a separate criminal investigation. The prosecutors want Google to pay a $US61 million fine and asked that if it refuses to comply with its information request, its Brazilian unit be dissolved. . . The prosecutors want a federal judge to order Google to hand over user information on those Orkut pages that are being investigated for promoting crimes."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/google-refuses-to-hand-over-data-to-brazilian-authorities/2006/08/23/1156012595746.html

Internet Access

Internet Archive settles suit against Wayback Machine

"The Internet Archive is off the hook in a lawsuit accusing it of negligence for allowing old Web pages to be viewed using the Wayback Machine, which archives pages unless Web site owners specifically ask that they be excluded from the database."

http://news.com.com/2061-10803_3-6109451.html

Federal student aid site exposes borrowers' data

"The U.S. Department of Education has disabled the online payment feature for its Federal Student Aid site, following a security breach that could affect up to 21,000 borrowers. Federal Student Aid recipients who between Sunday and Tuesday accessed one of six Web pages on the Department of Education site may have had their personal information exposed to others, said Lesley Pool, a spokeswoman for software company Affiliated Computer Services."

http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6109405.html

Public records are easy targets for ID thieves

"The state's record keepers must delete sensitive personal information from government websites. Until that's done, many Floridians are in danger of having their identities stolen."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/15371751.htm

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