[SLA-SF] Intersect Alert, May 15, 2006

Mon May 15 20:32:20 PDT 2006

Freedom of Information

House Panel Challenges Smithsonian

"Bluntly rejecting the Smithsonian Institution's defense of its recent television deal with Showtime Networks, the House Appropriations Committee yesterday demanded further information on the contract, which members of the committee have said limits access and 'may be incompatible with the trust placed in the Smithsonian.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/arts/11smit.html

Congress urged to help make more 'sensitive' information public

"The top official in charge of establishing information sharing polices for the government told lawmakers Wednesday he believes there could be a drastic reduction in the number of categories used to restrict information from the public, but Congress might have to pass legislation to get it done. Thomas McNamara, who became program manger for creating a new national information sharing environment only two months ago, said federal agencies do not have any legal justification for most information they withhold from the public."

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0506/051106cdam1.htm

NIH Has Little to Celebrate on 1st Anniversary of Its Open-Access Policy, but Changes May Be on Way

"The public-access policy of the National Institutes of Health marked its first anniversary last week, and all involved in the debate agree that it has failed to create free online access to the biomedical literature. Open-access proponents are rejoicing because that failure has created new momentum to strengthen the policy. That momentum further worries the policy's early detractors -- mostly publishing groups that fear a loss of revenue if the contents of their journals are free online. They are lobbying to keep things just as they are." 

http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=gPWHZkyHdNbDpGwvhfTdhVVQbyKJKy2Q

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., writes about government secrecy in the blog, The Huffington Post

"It is awfully cold in Washington, D.C., these days, and the arrival of Spring is not going to change the frigid temperature beginning to grip the nation's capital. Washington, D.C., is fast becoming a cold, cold place under this President and his Administration. The Big Chill is on and it's becoming an ice age for the People's right-to-know. . . The President and his Administration are doing everything possible to impose censorship. They know that secrecy is the fastest, most effective way to silence dissent."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jim-mcdermott/the-big-chill_b_20747.html

Protecting the Nation's Memory

"You may have read that the National Archives and Records Administration has allowed some federal agencies to withdraw declassified documents from public view. That the Smithsonian Institution has signed an agreement with Showtime Networks to create an on-demand cable-television channel. That the Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to search the papers of the late investigative journalist Jack Anderson. But have you thought about what those controversies mean taken together?"

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i37/37b02001.htm (subscription required)

Intellectual Freedom

Congress targets social network sites - Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA)

"MySpace and other social-networking sites like LiveJournal.com and Facebook are the potential targets for a proposed federal law that would effectively require most schools and libraries to render those Web sites inaccessible to minors, an age group that includes some of the category's most ardent users. . . [Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick,] and fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on Wednesday endorsed new legislation that would cordon off access to commercial Web sites that let users create public "Web pages or profiles" and also offer a discussion board, chat room, or e-mail service."

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6071040.html

Orwellian

DOJ Drops Wiretap Investigation

"The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers security clearance. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax Wednesday to Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York saying it was closing its inquiry because without clearance it could not examine department lawyers' role in the program."

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,70879-0.html

FBI Acknowledges: Journalists Phone Records are Fair Game

"The FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is increasingly  seeking reporters' phone records in leak investigations. "It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in the Bush administration," said a senior federal official. The acknowledgement followed our blotter item that ABC News reporters had been warned by a federal source that the government knew who we were calling."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/fbi_acknowledge.html

Public Policy

Energy Advisory Board Abolished

"The Department of Energy's decision to disband its principal scientific advisory committee next month is the latest example of the Bush Administration's refusal to listen to outside, independent scientific advice, critics told C&EN on April 10. . . Kent J. Bransford, national president of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, says the decision is 'not a surprise' and is consistent with 'the Administration's tendency to ignore outside scientific input.'"

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i16/8416doeboard.html

Website Launches Feature to Locate Disclosure Filings By State Legislators

"The Center for Public Integrity has launched a new "In Your State" tool. Accessible by link from the Center's home page, the In Your State feature provides easy access to all Center research and analysis on a particular state... users can view the actual disclosure filings of the given state's legislators, including nearly 7,000 reports filed by legislators in 2005 that the Center posted on its Web site today."

http://www.public-i.org/iys/

Internet Access

Philadelphia City Council approves wireless Internet project

"City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a plan to blanket the city's 135 square miles with a high-speed wireless Internet connection, a measure that mayor is expected to sign soon. If the system is fully deployed by the third quarter of 2007 as planned, Philadelphia would be the first large city to have its own wireless Internet network. EarthLink Inc. will build, operate and maintain the network under a 10-year contract."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14556671.htm

International Outlook

Legalise personal music copying, says BPI

"The British music industry is to recommend to the Government that consumers be allowed to legally copy music without fear of prosecution. The BPI, the body that represents British record companies, believes copyright on CDs and records should be changed to allow consumers to copy music if it is for personal use." 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/05/07/cnbpi07.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2006/05/07/ixcitytop.html

Baidu launches China's version of banned Wikipedia

"China's biggest Internet search site, Baidu.com, has launched a Chinese-language encyclopedia inspired by the cooperative reference site Wikipedia, which the communist government bars China's Web surfers from seeing. The Chinese service, which debuted in April, carries entries written by users, but warns that it will delete content about sex, terrorism and attacks on the government."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14564915.htm

Take Action

Save the Toxic Release Inventory 

"Congress is about to vote on an amendment that would stop the EPA from destroying our nation's premier tool for public notification about toxic pollution. The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) annually provides communities with details about the amount of toxic chemicals released into the air, land, and water. The information enables groups and individuals to press companies to reduce their pollution, resulting in safer, healthier communities. Late last year, EPA proposed three changes to TRI, each of which would leave you in the dark about dangerous pollution in your community. The agency wants to:

  a.. Cut this successful annual program in half by eliminating every other year of reporting;
  b.. Allow companies to pollute ten times as much before being required to report the details about how much toxic pollution was produced and where it went;
  c.. Permit facilities to hide information on low production of persistent bioacculuative toxins (PBTs), which are dangerous even in small quantities because they are toxic, persist in the environment, and build up in people's bodies.

The Pallone-Solis Toxic Right-To-Know Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill (that decides funding levels for the EPA) would prohibit the EPA from spending any money to implement the changes. By using the "power of the purse strings," lawmakers could stop the dangerous cuts.

Tell your representative to support the Pallone-Solis Toxic Right-To-Know Amendment and stop the EPA from moving forward with these dangerous proposals. Congress needs to know how much you care about this program."

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ombwatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3766

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