[SLA-SF] Intersect Alert, May 22, 2006

[Anne Barker]

Freedom of Information

 

Lugar, Specter, Dodd & Schumer Introduce Free Flow of Information Act

"Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) today introduced the Free Flow of Information Act, a bill seeking to protect the public's right to information through a free press. This legislation would provide appropriate protections for professional journalists and their employers from having to reveal information that a journalist learned under a promise of confidentiality and in the course of carrying out news-gathering functions."

http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3487

 

Intellectual Freedom

 

Speakers at Convocation on Humanities Warn About Privatization of Materials

"A joint convocation held by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Association of American Universities to assess the state of the humanities drew over 200 scholars and administrators -- as well as two prominent Congressional advocates for arts and letters -- to a hotel here on Friday. . . 

 

. . . Paul N. Courant, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, argued that such trends are leading to "a pervasive inaccessibility of cultural materials." 


"The humanities are at risk here," he said at one of the convocation sessions.  "We risk losing our own source material. There will be a hole in our history." 



He recommended that universities wage an aggressive campaign to defend and extend the "fair use" provisions of copyright law. 


"Scholarship is fair use," Mr. Courant declared.  "Period.""

http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/05/2006051506n.htm (registration required)

 

Orwellian

 

Ex-NSA Chief Assails Bush Taps

"Former National Security Agency director Bobby Ray Inman lashed out at the Bush administration Monday night over its continued use of warrantless domestic wiretaps, making him one of the highest-ranking former intelligence officials to criticize the program in public, analysts say. "This activity is not authorized," Inman said, as part of a panel discussion on eavesdropping that was sponsored by The New York Public Library. The Bush administration "need(s) to get away from the idea that they can continue doing it.""

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70855-0.html?tw=wn_index_2

 

New Congressional Research Service Report on Phone Tapping - Government Access to Phone Calling Activity and Related Records: Legal Authorities

"This report will summarize statutory authorities regarding access by the Government, for either foreign intelligence or law enforcement purposes, to information related to telephone calling patterns or practices. Where pertinent, we will also discuss statutory prohibitions against accessing or disclosing such information, along with relevant exceptions to those prohibitions."

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL33424.pdf

 

Public Policy

 

Congress Begins Pressure, Could Block EPA Library Cuts

"The proposed 80 percent cut in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) library budget is causing Congress to take notice, especially after a recent meeting between library representatives and several EPA staff members suggested that the agency has planned far too little for the transition. A subcommittee of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has restored $5 million to the president's budget request for EPA, including funds for libraries, said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association's Washington Office. The issue also was raised by Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT) at the recent confirmation hearing of an EPA official.  "Congress is definitely sending signals to EPA, saying we do not approve of this," Sheketoff told LJ."
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6336380.html

 

Internet Access

 

New York park goers to get free Internet Wi-Fi

"New York's Central Park and a number of other public spaces will become public Internet hubs starting this summer when the city's parks begin offering free wireless net access, the city government said. We expect Central Park to be launched in July, and the rest of the parks in the late summer," the Department of Parks and Recreation said. Among those green spaces going on-line for public Wi-Fi access will be Washington Square, Union Square, Brooklyn's Prospect Park and Flushing Meadows."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060516/ts_alt_afp/afplifestyleusinternet_060516202303

 

Politicos propose new action on Net neutrality

"The push for new laws mandating Net neutrality principles appears to be gaining steam on Capitol Hill. The leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released a five-page bill on Thursday that would embed new provisions requiring so-called network neutrality in existing federal antitrust laws."

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6074108.html

 

Snowe, Dorgan Introduce Bill to Preserve Internet Freedom

"U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today introduced legislation that would preserve the open and democratic character of the Internet. The Internet Freedom Preservation Act would ensure that all content, applications and services are treated equally and fairly on the Internet by prohibiting broadband network operators from blocking, degrading, or prioritizing service on their networks."

http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=255904

 

International Outlook

 

Library of Burned Books to Recall Nazi Barbarism 

"A German foundation plans to create a "library of burned books" to honor authors persecuted by the Nazis. It has been 73 years since the Nazis instituted their public book burnings in more than 50 cities. About 10,000 so-called "un-German" titles went up in flames and disappeared from public life. Most of the authors were persecuted and had to flee the country and some even murdered. In order to remember such barbarism and victimization of authors, the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies in Potsdam is launching a "library of burned books.""

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2018048,00.html

 

 

 

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