HealthCare.Gov launched
HealthCare.gov was launched on July 1 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It aims to be, in the words of the press release, "an innovative new on-line tool that will help consumers take control of their health care by connecting them to new information and resources that will help them access quality, affordable health care coverage.... HealthCare.gov is the first website to provide consumers with both public and private health coverage options tailored specifically for their needs in a single, easy-to-use tool." Continue reading
New maps, charts, tables from BLS’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
A very nice new online application from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
- Introducing the QCEW State and County Map Application The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has developed an interactive state and county map application available at http://beta.bls.gov/. The application displays geographic economic data through maps, charts, and tables, allowing users to explore employment and wage data of private industry at the National, State, and county level. Throughout this application, URLs are specific to the data displayed, so links can be bookmarked, reused, and shared. The application includes maps, charts, tables, and a link to standard BLS data tables and graphs.
- QCEW State and County Map
White House Proposes Internet Identity Scheme
Here are some links to stories and opinions about last week's announcement of a The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The announcement: The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. Posted by Howard A. Schmidt on June 25, 2010, The White House Blog. The draft strategy itself: National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace - Creating Options for Enhanced Online Security and Privacy, Department of Homeland Security (June 25, 2010)
- White House Proposes Vast Federal Internet Identity Scheme by Lauren Weinstein (June 25, 2010). "a rather chilling document -- tellingly hosted on Department of Homeland Security servers -- that proposes the creation of a vast, federally-led Trusted identities in Cyberspace infrastructure that would potentially reach into nearly every aspect of Internet use, from financial transactions to comments on blogs."
- White House wants to help you "blog anonymously". By Jon Stokes. ars technica (June 29, 2010)
- Analysis: Three privacy initiatives from the Office of Management and Budget. by Andy Oram, O'Reilly Radar, (Jun 28, 2010). "I can understand the strategy's reliance on PKI as the only social structure available to back up assertions of identity. But this is the wobbly leg of the table that holds up the OMB proposal. The document should recognize the flaws of PKI..."
Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Have questions about how the federal government is responding to the BP oil spill? This new web site seeks to provide answers.
- Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior.
The dynamic nature of the BP oil spill has been a challenge for a range of communities -- from hotel operators to fishermen to local community leaders.... GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse is a new online tool that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. Developed by NOAA with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior, the site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill's trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources -- such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships -- into one customizable interactive map. GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) a web-based GIS platform developed by NOAA and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center.Continue reading
Steven Aftergood on Wikileaks
Steven Aftergood from the Federation of American Scientists has a thoughtful review of Wikileaks on Secrecy News today. He says that some of what Wikileaks does is "not whistleblowing and it is not journalism. It is a kind of information vandalism" and that "calling WikiLeaks a whistleblower site does not accurately reflect the character of the project."
- Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review. by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (June 28th, 2010) From one perspective, WikiLeaks is a creative response to a real problem afflicting the U.S. and many other countries, namely the over-control of government information to the detriment of public policy. WikiLeaks has published a considerable number of valuable official records that had been kept unnecessarily secret and were otherwise unavailable... [but] WikiLeaks must be counted among the enemies of open society because it does not respect the rule of law nor does it honor the rights of individuals.