[SLA-SF] Intersect Alert, June 19, 2006

Mon Jun 19 07:45:15 PDT 2006

The Intersect Alert is now available as a blog!  I will continue to send these weekly-ish e-mail newsletters, but I have also mirrored the Intersect Alert as a blog.  I have been maintaining it for a while now before announcing it to be certain I'd be able to keep up with it, so you'll notice it is already populated by lots of entries.  Everything that is in the Intersect Alert will also be found in the blog.  However, the blog will be updated more frequently than once a week (usually - give me a break, I was at the conference!).  Additionally, the blog entries will have more detail and I will include entries that follow-up on stories previously found in the Intersect Alert.  You can find this blog, named "Part-Time Policy Wonk", at http://platypi.com/policywonk.

Additionally, if you are so inclined as to read about my experiences at the SLA conference, I have posted my thoughts on several of the sessions I attended at http://platypi.com/midwesterngirl/.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Freedom of Information

CIA Claims the Right to Decide What is News; Archive Sues to Break FOIA Fee Barrier for Journalists

"The National Security Archive today [June 14, 2006] filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), challenging the Agency's recent practice of charging Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) fees to journalists pursuing news. The FOIA says that "representatives of the news media" can be charged only copying fees since they help to carry out the mission of the law by disseminating government information; but the CIA last year began claiming authority to assess additional fees if the Agency decides any journalist's request is not newsworthy enough. In adopting this new practice, the CIA reversed its prior 15-year practice of presumptively waiving additional fees for news media representatives, including the National Security Archive."

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20060614/index.htm

Groups urge support for bill creating new database for OMB

"Spending watchdogs and social conservatives are backing a Senate bill that would make it easier to track how the government spends taxpayer money. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), would direct the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create a website, accessible to the public, that would list every entity that receives federal grants or contracts."

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/061306_omb.html

Intellectual Property Issues

House panel OKs digital licensing bill

"A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Thursday approved a digital copyright bill that critics say could imperil home-use copying of music and video recording devices like TiVo. The Section 115 Reform Act, or SIRA, introduced by Texas Republican Lamar Smith, attempts to overhaul a piece of copyright law that established a complex system of "mechanical royalties" for record companies, recording artists, songwriters and publishers in exchange for the right to reproduce and distribute their music."

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6081874.html

Stanford professor sues Joyce's estate

"A Stanford University professor on Monday sued James Joyce's estate for refusing to give her permission to use copyrighted material about the "Ulysses" author and his daughter on her Web site. In the lawsuit, Carol Shloss, an acting English professor and Joycean scholar, challenged the estate's assertion that she would be infringing on its ownership of Joyce's image by quoting his published works, manuscripts and private letters on her scholarly site. Instead, Shloss accused Joyce's grandson, Stephen James Joyce, and estate trustee, Sean Sweeney, of destroying papers, improperly withholding access to copyrighted materials and intimidating academics to protect the Joyce family name."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/gossip/14802672.htm

The New Yorker has a much longer article on Stephen Joyce's policies on access to James Joyce's materials: The Injustice Collector - Is James Joyce's grandson suppressing scholarship?

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060619fa_fact

U.C. system signs on to Microsoft book-scan project

"Two leading research institutions haven issued library cards to Microsoft so the software giant and search up-and-comer can scan their collections. The University of California and the University of Toronto libraries have agreed to lend their collections of out-of-copyright material held in trust. In concert with the Open Content Alliance, Microsoft will scan and index the materials for use in its Windows Live Book Search, according to a Microsoft statement issued Friday."

http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6082258.html

The Fair Use Network is Launched

"Information and resources to help artists, scholars, activists, and everyone else who contributes to culture and political debate defend their rights to fair use under copyright and trademark law. The Fair Use Network was created because of the many questions that artists, writers, and others have about "IP" issues. Whether you are trying to understand your own copyright or trademark rights, or are a "user" of materials created by others, the information here will help you understand the system - and especially its free-expression safeguards."

http://fepproject.org/

Orwellian

Court Ruling Threatens Civil Liberties, Technology Innovation

"A federal appeals court today [June 9, 2006] ruled 2-1 that telephone regulators and the FBI can control the design of Internet services in order to make government wiretapping easier. The decision, which is damaging both to civil liberties and technology innovation, came in a case in which CDT joined with a coalition of universities, libraries, public interest groups and Internet companies to oppose an August 2005 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission. In that ruling, the FCC extended to the Internet the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a law Congress intended to apply only to the telephone network."

http://www.cdt.org/headlines/899

Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites

"'I am continually shocked and appalled at the details people voluntarily post online about themselves.' So says Jon Callas, chief security officer at PGP, a Silicon Valley-based maker of encryption software. He is far from alone in noticing that fast-growing social networking websites such as MySpace and Friendster are a snoop's dream. New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19025556.200

Networking Experts Warn Against Government Eavesdropping

"A group of computer scientists today warned that a federal regulation that requires Internet service providers-possibly including colleges-to re-engineer their networks to make it easier for law-enforcement officials to eavesdrop on Internet-based phone calls could make networks more insecure and could harm technological innovation. Among those sounding the alarm were Vinton Cerf, who helped design the Internet, and computer-security experts Matt Blaze, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Steven Bellovin, of Columbia University."

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=1332

Government Increasingly Turning to Data Mining

"The Pentagon pays a private company to compile data on teenagers it can recruit to the military. The Homeland Security Department buys consumer information to help screen people at borders and detect immigration fraud. As federal agencies delve into the vast commercial market for consumer information, such as buying habits and financial records, they are tapping into data that would be difficult for the government to accumulate but that has become a booming business for private companies."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402063.html

Officials Sued Over Phone Records Access

"The federal government sued the New Jersey attorney general and other state officials Wednesday to stop them from seeking information about telephone companies' cooperation with the National Security Agency. The unusual filing in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., is the latest effort by federal authorities to halt legal proceedings aimed at revealing whether and how often AT&T, Verizon and other phone companies have provided customer records to the NSA without a court order."

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Phone-Records-Lawsuit.html

Public Policy

Region 2 EPA Library Status

Fred Stoss posted the following message from a contact at the EPA Region 2 New York office to the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table Action Council listserv: 

"Fred
This is probably not the best news...but the first info in print I have come across.  It came in from our office of Policy and Management.
.....

Over the past several years, EPA has been looking at ways to modernize and improve the way it provides library services.   The use of the Internet and the increasing availability of documents online have changed the demand for library services and the manner in which they are delivered.  The Agency's 2007 budget includes a significant funding reduction for all EPA libraries, including the Region 2 library.  This required that the Region examine how a level of library services that could support the research needs of our environmental programs at a reduced funding level could be maintained.

Region 2 will continue to provide library services to all its employees. However, due to budget cuts, the Region will close its library reading room and regional staff will have limited access to the physical collection; public access to the library will also be discontinued.  The Region will not add any additional titles or resources to the physical collection and the Region 2 Library website will be removed from both the Internet and Intranet.  However, at this time, the Region has no plans to disperse the physical collection, which includes material taken from the Edison library that closed at the end of FY'04.

This represents another nail in the coffin reserved for the EPA Library Network. It should be noted that the closing of libraries, the loss of public access to the EPA Libraries, the reduction in services provided by these librarians, the loss of both EPA managerial staff and contract librarians is taking place before the end of the Federal fiscal year (FY '06 on September 30, 2006), and that any letter writing campaigns suggested by librarian professional associations are not preventing these actions from taking place."

International Outlook

Beijing reiterates that Net companies in China must abide by its laws

"China welcomes foreign Internet companies working in China, but they must respect and abide by the country's laws, including those on expression, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday. The comments by ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao followed remarks Tuesday by Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledging the Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14771304.htm

Google co-founder says company is staying in China

"Google Inc. is committed to doing business in China despite criticism the company has faced for abiding by Chinese government censorship restrictions, co-founder Sergey Brin said this week. On Tuesday, after a session with several U.S. senators to discuss telecommunications legislation, Brin made comments that prompted some journalists to speculate Google intended to change or eliminate its operations in China. In fact, he reiterated Google's intention to move ahead with its google.cn site -- a version of the leading Internet search engine that censors thousands of sites according to Chinese standards -- as well as its global google.com site."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060609/tc_nm/google_china_dc_1

Web accessibility soon mandatory in Europe?

"The 25 European Commission member states and nine accession countries have all signed up for a plan that could make accessibility in e-procurement mandatory. The 34 countries all signed an agreement in Riga, Latvia, on Wednesday, committing themselves to the "Internet for all" action plan, designed to ensure that the most Web-disadvantaged groups can get online."

http://news.com.com/2100-1036_3-6084113.html

Internet Access

Senate Negotiations Continue Over Net Neutrality

"Key senators who are planning to overhaul the nation's communications laws remain at odds on the controversial topic of Net neutrality. At a briefing for reporters Monday, Republican aides to the Senate Commerce Committee released a revised version of a sweeping telecommunications bill--but said the portions related to Net neutrality would not be available until later this week. An earlier version of the bill includes no Net neutrality regulations, reflecting the position supported by broadband providers such as Verizon Communications and AT&T."

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6082885.html

Mandatory Labeling Bill Threatens Free Speech on the Internet 

"New legislation allowing for the imprisonment of Web site operators who fail to label adult-oriented material -- including sexual health information -- would undermine First Amendment free speech protections and do nothing to protect children on the Internet. The Internet SAFETY Act (S. 3499) would require Web site operators who post adult-oriented material to place markers on every Web page containing such content. Violators would face prison terms up to 15 years. CDT believes the measure would have a profoundly damaging chilling effect, deterring bloggers, artists and even health advocates from posting legitimate information that could expose them to jail time."

http://www.cdt.org/headlines/901

I don't know why I haven't seen any mention of Google UncleSam in the few articles I've read about this, but. . .

Google to Launch Government Search Site

"It's finally happening: The ever-expanding Google Inc. is making its move on the federal government. Today the company plans to announce a new online product aimed at being a one-stop shop for searching federal government Web sites. The launch of Google U.S. Government Search, http://usgov.google.com , targets federal employees who often need to search across several government agencies."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402359.html

Take Action!

URGENT ACTION NEEDED on S. 2686, the Communications Reform Bill

Library advocates with members on the Senate Commerce Committee are asked to call Senators today:

Urge Senate Commerce Committee members to maintain Universal Service Fund/E-rate provisions and add network neutrality language during the pending markup of S. 2686 (see http://www.onlineadvocacy.net/ for full message points).

For those advocates without a Commerce Committee member, please contact your Senator and ask him or her to urge their Senate colleagues to support these two important issues. 

DEADLINE: Please contact Senators before the Committee markup -- currently scheduled for sometime between June 20-22, 2006.
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