“I Was Gagged By The Patriot Act While The Attorney General Was Free To Tell Falsehoods About It”
Janet Nocek is director of the Portland library and a member of the Executive Board of Library Connection, a Greater Hartford library consortium that received a national security letter in June 2005. She says, "I Was Gagged By The Patriot Act While The Attorney General Was Free To Tell Falsehoods About It."
- Patriot Abuse, By Janet Nocek, Hartford Connecticut Courant (July 22, 2007).
We were therefore not allowed to testify to Congress about our experience with the letters - which seek information, without court review, on people like library users. ...Unfortunately, we were prohibited from speaking to the public - or even to our U.S. senators and representatives - until after the Patriot Act was reauthorized. ...Reportedly hundreds of thousands of security letters have been sent out. The recipients remain gagged and can never speak about their experience, under threat of a five-year prison sentence. They can never describe the scope and nature of the information they give to the FBI. ...The act was reauthorized without significant change to the nondisclosure provision, which prevents anyone who receives an national security letter from talking about the experience, to anyone, ever.Continue reading
Lunchtime listen: “Who owns culture?”
Lunchtime listens are back!! This is a video of a conversation between Laurence Lessig and Jeff Tweedy of the band, Wilco at the New York Public Library Thursday April 7, 2005 entitled, "Who Owns Culture?" The video below is Lessig's 20 minute presentation -- and what a fine bit of powerpoint IMHO! I've been looking around for the conversation part with Tweedy, but haven't had any luck. If you've got it, please leave me a link in the comments. Continue reading
DOJ objects to FOIA bill, Senate HOLD put on bill
Congress is on the verge of mandating that Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are tracked, deadlines enforced and agencies penalized for delays, but the Bush administration and the Department of Justice (DOJ) oppose the bill and the bill in now on hold. Freedom of Information delays drag on for years But Republicans blocking measure to fix 1966 law By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY, July 18, 2007, Page 4A.
Following easy passage by the House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, the FOIA fix has been halted. Despite recent reports detailing delays and difficulties in getting government information, the Department of Justice has objected to the new legislation. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is blocking it under Senate rules that allow any senator to place a "hold" on a bill.Continue reading
Government Information in Legacy Formats
Government Information in Legacy Formats: Scaling a Pilot Project to Enable Long-Term Access, by Gretchen Gano and Julie Linden, D-Lib Magazine (July/August 2007) Volume 13 Number 7/8.
The Yale Library pilot project described here has served not only as a means for analyzing and documenting aspects of a CD-ROM migration approach, but also as a launching pad for a community-wide consideration of a large-scale, distributed project to migrate this legacy collection and ensure permanent public access to government information distributed on CD-ROMs.Continue reading
Government Secrecy: Decisions Without Democracy
Government Secrecy: Decisions Without Democracy By David Banisar. Preface by Bob Barr and John Podesta. OpenTheGovernment.org and People for the American Way Govinfo News says: "OpenTheGovernment.org and People for the American Way have issued an updated version of the 1987 primer on the expansion of executive power and government secrecy. The 1987 version documented the rise at the height of the Cold War; 20 years later, we face the same problems. The book also looks at the opportunities and challenges provided by the advent of digital government." In the forward, Gary D. Bass of OMB Watch, Thomas S. Blanton of the National Security Archive and Ralph G. Neas of People for the American Way say:
Our three organizations are part of OpenTheGovernment.org, a broad-based coalition that brings together journalists, librarians, academics, individual citizens, advocacy groups, and professional associations committed to strengthening and protecting our right to know. This primer is just one step in engaging the public in a campaign to make our government more transparent and accountable to the public. “We the people†must exercise our rights to strengthen, if not preserve, democracy. We encourage you to get involved by visiting the website (www.openthegovernment.org) to learn what you can do.Continue reading