House passes FISA bill without telecom immunity!
After the Senate, on Tuesday, February 12, 2008, passed a FISA reform bill that included immunity for telecom companies from being sued for participating in the unconstitutional NSA wiretapping program, the House of Representatives today passed a version of the FISA bill *without* telecom immunity! There is sure to be much negotiation and politicking from the administration as the two bills go to the [w: United States Congress Conference committee]. Stay tuned and be sure to contact your Congressional representatives and let them know that telecom immunity is NOT OK! Continue reading
Yale researchers, Verizon use P2P to speed downloads
Here at FGI, we've been interested in [w: Peer-to-peer] (P2P) technologies for quite a while --I wrote a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) backgrounder (PDF) in 2004 for the Librarians Assn of the University of CA. P2P architecture (a structure much like the FDLP!), an extremely efficient method of digital distribution, offers great advantages for libraries in preserving and giving access to government information. Since [w: napster] hit the internet in 1999, P2P has been vilified in the media and by organizations like the [w: RIAA] as facilitating "piracy."
But now, according to the AP, Verizon is working with researchers at Yale to to build better P2P software to enable faster downloads -- and lower costs for ISPs where P2P accounts for 1/3 of all Internet traffic. Other companies, including NBC who wants to use P2P to save distribution costs, are finally coming around to P2P's benefits. According to the news article, "distributing an hourlong TV show in high definition using traditional delivery systems would cost the network about $1. With P2P technology, that cost can be cut by 75 to 90 percent."
In a traditional P2P network, if a Verizon customer downloads a file, only 6.3 percent of the data will come from another Verizon customer in the same city, said Doug Pasko, senior technologist at the company. In the "P4P" trial, 58 percent of the data came from nearby Verizon users, vastly reducing the company's cost of carrying the traffic. Levitan said the technology might be ready for use by next month, when NBC makes available free downloads of its TV shows using Pando's software. The shows will be financed by advertising, and P2P technology will be an essential way for NBC to cut costs. Distributing an hourlong TV show in high definition using traditional delivery systems would cost the network about $1. With P2P technology, that cost can be cut by 75 to 90 percent.[Thanks Boingboing!] Continue reading
“OPEN FOIA” Bill Introduced as Sunshine Week Nears
The Sunshine Week blog announced that Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator John Cornyn introduced the OPEN FOIA Act, which would add new transparency and accountability standards when Congress considers adding new FOIA exemptions to the law. According to Leahy's press release, "The exemptions to FOIA addressed in the OPEN FOIA Act, known as (b)(3) statutory exemptions, are typically buried in complex and lengthy legislative proposals, making it difficult for requestors to determine whether access to information is subject to FOIA. The OPEN FOIA Act would provide more transparency when Congress includes such exemptions in legislation". This new act follows the passage of the Leahy-Cornyn OPEN Government Act, which the President signed into law in December 2007. Continue reading
Federal and State data mashup creates new information
An interactive web service created by federal scientists on the University of Arizona campus in cooperation with the state of Arizona Department of Water Resources with funding from the U.S. Geological Survey "brings formerly hard-to-get water information as close as a mouse click." (UA-based scientists make water data easy to find on Net, by B. Poole, Tucson Citizen, 03.14.2008)
Data for creating and presenting the layers of information on ground-water conditions came from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) and the Arizona Department of Water Resources Groundwater Site Inventory). A document describes how the site was created: An Online Interactive Map Service for Displaying Ground-Water Conditions in Arizona, By Fred D Tillman, Stanley A. Leake, Marilyn E. Flynn, Jeffrey T. Cordova, and Kurt T. Schonauer. USGS, National Water Availability and Use Program, Open-File Report 2007-1436, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 2007.
The Geological Survey map complements Arizona Wells, produced by Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHARA), a University of Arizona-based group that aims to foster information exchange. Arizona Wells includes much of the data used in the Geological Survey map and water quality data from the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
One of the reasons we need open, re-usable, downloadable government information is so that sites like these can be built to create new information and to make information that was once hard to use, easier to use. As the Tucson Citizen article says, "Before such interactive maps, the public had to find the data, then interpret the numbers and codes in the databases."
Continue readingLocal FOIA and Open Government
The San Francisco Bay Guardian has a special issue on open government and freedom of information.
- Freedom of Information: Sunshine in the digital age How technology can vastly improve public access to government, San Francisco Bay Guardian (March 12, 2008)
It begins this way:
"On one front, the advocates of secrecy are pushing hard to keep electronic data under strict controls. The state Legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit the release of electronic data embedded in a public record. The county of Santa Clara tried to set a $100,000 price on access to a public database. But on the other hand, sunshine advocates are pushing for ways to use the same technology to make government more open.
The special issue includes articles on "A citizen's guide to fighting secret government"; "Virtual meetings"; a "Sunshine experiment in Palo Alto" (Posting e-mails from council members on the city's Web site); and more. Of particular interest are these two:
- More sunshine -- easily and at no cost, Technology can allow the city to take a huge step forward in public access -- right now. By Kimo Crossman, San Francisco Bay Guardian (March 12, 2008)
- Battleship metadata, Legislation on mapping software would create an expensive new category of public records. By Sarah Phelan, San Francisco Bay Guardian (March 12, 2008)
Crossman notes:
...video recordings of city meetings can't be downloaded -- the only way to review it or post a clip to YouTube is to order a $10 DVD, which arrives a week after you send a check (and no, they don't take PayPal). And while many other city meetings make audio recordings, you have to pay $1 for an audio tape and pick it up during business hours or pay more for postage. They all should be available as free podcasts. ...In fact, we all know storage continues to get cheaper and smaller -- so San Francisco should abolish any retention timeframes for electronic records and keep them all into the foreseeable future. The world-famous Internet Archive is right here in the Presidio: I suspect that group would love to archive all the city information, and keep it online, free and forever.Continue reading