Lunchtime listen: video of Carl Malamud at Gov2.0 summit
In case you missed last week's lunchtime listen of Carl Malamud at the gov2.0 summit, the video's now been put online. Check it out. I defy anyone to say he wouldn't make a great public printer!
Privacy: Flash video has its own cookies, even at the Whitehouse
A group of researchers has released a report on 'Flash cookies' -- persistent identifiers used by popular Adobe Flash presentations on the web.
- Soltani, Ashkan, Canty, Shannon, Mayo, Quentin, Thomas, Lauren and Hoofnagle, Chris Jay, Flash Cookies and Privacy (August 10, 2009).
This is a pilot study of the use of 'Flash cookies' by popular websites. We find that more than 50% of the sites in our sample are using flash cookies to store information about the user. Some are using it to 'respawn' or re-instantiate HTTP cookies deleted by the user. Flash cookies often share the same values as HTTP cookies, and are even used on government websites to assign unique values to users. Privacy policies rarely disclose the presence of Flash cookies, and user controls for effectuating privacy preferences are lacking.For advertisers and others who want to track user behavior, the ability of users to control, block, and delete traditional HTTP cookies is a problem. The authors quote one company as saying that while all advertisers use HTTP cookies for targeted advertising, "cookies are under attack." That same company announced that it had, "developed a backup ID system for cookies set by web sites, ad networks and advertisers, but increasingly deleted by users.... [These cookies] cannot be deleted by any commercially available anti- spyware, mal-ware, or adware removal program. They will even function at the default security setting for Internet Explorer." See also:
- You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again, By Ryan Singel, Wired (August 10, 2009).
- Local Shared Object Wikipedia.
Health Insurance Coverage: 2008
A new report in the Census Bureau's Current Population Report P60 series reports on health insurance coverage. The report is based on data from the Current Population Survey.
- Health Insurance Coverage: 2008 (press release, etc.)
- Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008. By Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-236, September 2009. [pdf]
AP reports on Cyber Cemetery
The Associated Press (AP) has a story out today covering the Cyber Cemetery project at the University of North Texas Libraries. I came across a version at the Federal News Radio website, but I imagine it has been picked up elsewhere: Government Web sites kept alive at Cyber Cemetery, 14 September 2009. Continue reading
W3C Draft: Publishing Open Government Data
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has posted a first draft of their eGovernment Working Group's guidelines for governments putting data on the Web, Publishing Open Government Data. (And hey! It's not in PDF format.) The W3C posted this notice on their website on September 9:
Today, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announces a draft work plan for the eGovernment Interest Group, whose mission is to document, advocate, coordinate and communicate best practices, solutions and approaches to improve the interface between citizens and government through effective use of Web standards. The draft charter, in review by the W3C community until the end of September, focuses on two topics: Open Government Data (OGD), and Education and Outreach. In line with its anticipated focus on Open Government Data, the group also announces today a first draft of Publishing Open Government Data, which provides step-by-step guidelines for putting government data on the Web. Sharing data according to these guidelines enables greater transparency; delivers more efficient public services; and encourages greater public and commercial use and re-use of government information. Learn more about the W3C eGovernment Activity.[hat tip DB/eCitizen] Continue reading