FBI Launches New Electronic Reading Room
The Vault is a new "electronic reading room" at fbi.gov. It contains more than 2,000 documents that have been scanned from paper into digital copies including more than 25 new files that have been released to the public but never added to the FBI website, dozens of records previously posted but removed as requests diminished, and files from the FBI's previous electronic reading room. Check out:
Hat tip to Sabrina I. Pacifici: FBI Launches New Electronic Reading Room, (April 03, 2011). Continue readingLive blogging Depository Library Conference Spring 2011 #dlc11s
We'll be live blogging once again at the Spring 2011 Depository Library Conference from San Antonio, TX. With a new Public Printer and Superintendent of Documents, the discussions are sure to be interesting. The 3 plenary sessions will be especially interesting and include discussions on PACER, future needs and goals of the FDLP and a weds morning session on permanent public access to digital material with a panel from HathiTrust, Internet Archive, GPO staff and Chris Brown. The twitter hashtag #dlc11s and #dlc11 will show up in the live blog so we hope many of the attendees will tweet their thoughts and comments. Twapper Keeper now has a subscription model, so the only archive of tweets will be the live blog. If anyone would like to volunteer to be a DLC reporter and use CoverItLive to track the conference, please contact me ASAP at freegovinfo AT gmail DOT com.
Federal Reserve releases secret loan documents
Bloomberg has obtained previously secret loan documents from the Federal Reserve Bank and has made those documents available for download (see zip file link below).
- Fed Will Release Bank Loan Data as Top Court Rejects Appeal, By Greg Stohr and Bob Ivry, Bloomberg (Mar 21, 2011). The order marks the first time a court has forced the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed from its oldest lending program, the 98-year-old discount window. The disclosures, together with details of six bailout programs released by the central bank in December under a congressional mandate, would give taxpayers insight into the Fed's unprecedented $3.5 trillion effort to stem the 2008 financial panic.
- Fed Releases Discount-Window Loan Records During Crisis Under Court Order, By Craig Torres, Bloomberg (Mar 31, 2011). The Federal Reserve released thousands of pages of secret loan documents under court order, almost three years after Bloomberg LP first requested details of the central bank's unprecedented support to banks during the financial crisis.
- Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak, By Bradley Keoun and Craig Torres, Bloomberg (Apr 1, 2011).
Bloomberg News is posting the Fed documents here for subscribers to the Bloomberg Professional Service as well as online at www.bloomberg.com.
- zip file [135 MB, unzips to 175 MB and 894 PDF files].
- The Bank Run We Knew So Little About, By GRETCHEN MORGENSON, New York Times (April 2, 2011)
Threats to Open Government
As noted here, many of the Obama administration's top open government initiatives (including USASpending.gov, Data.gov, FedRAMP, paymentaccuracy.gov, Apps.gov/now, and IT Dashboard) are set to be turned off in May or June. Here are two good articles that cover the issues very well:
- Why Cutting E-Gov Funding Threatens American Jobs, by Beth Simone Noveck, Huffington Post (March 25, 2011).
- Congress weighs deep cuts to funding for federal open government data platforms, by Alex Howard, GovFresh, (April 1, 2011).
OMB prepares for open gov sites to go dark in May
This is just too depressing! OMB prepares for open gov sites to go dark in May By Jason Miller Executive Editor Federal News Radio
Many of the Obama administration's top open government initiatives are set to be turned off by May 31. Government sources confirm that the Office of Management and Budget is planning to take seven websites dark in two months because of a lack of funding. One government official, who requested anonymity because they didn't get permission to discuss the topic, said funding will begin to run out on April 20 for public sites IT Dashboard, Data.gov and paymentaccuracy.gov. The source said OMB also is planning on shutting down internal government sites, including Performance.gov, FedSpace and many of the efforts related the FEDRamp cloud computing cybersecurity effort. The official said two other sites, USASpending.gov and Apps.gov/now, will run through July 30 but go dark soon after.[HT to John Wonderlich at Sunlight Foundation!] Continue reading