On YouTube-Debate Night, America split by a digital divide
It's time for the first of the CNN-YouTube Presidential Debates. It will be broadcast on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/citizentube July 23, 2007. But sadly missing so far in the race that is so dependent on the Internet is any mention of the digital divide.
- Binary America: Split in Two by A Digital Divide, by Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post, July 23, 2007; C01.
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Less than a mile and a half from the Citadel, the site of the Democratic presidential debate tonight, sits Cooper River Courts, a public housing project. Forget the Web. Never mind YouTube, the debate's co-sponsor. Here, owning a computer and getting on the Internet (through DSL or cable or Wi-Fi) is a luxury. ..."At one level, the YouTube debate shows that the Web has really become a centerpiece of American political culture," adds Lee Rainie, director of Pew Internet. "At another level, it also shows that the debate is not for everybody. It's certainly not available to all Americans." That is especially true at Cooper River Courts, where Tiara Reid, 14, in her jeans shorts and pink striped top, runs up and down the complex asking friends if anyone wants to go the library. Finally her mom, Jossie, who works at a deli, drives her and a neighbor's daughter. With school out and without Internet access at home, the library is the only place where she can go on the Web -- for a maximum of two hours a day.Continue reading
A Bill to “bring the government into the same century as its citizens” still on Hold
Here is more on the Freedom of Information Act legislation that is stalled in the Senate. (Earlier story: DOJ objects to FOIA bill, Senate HOLD put on bill) An interesting statistic in this article is that only 6 percent of all FOIA requests come from news media -- most come from private concerns and individuals. The bill in question was on "secret hold" in the Senate until journalists polled Senators and discovered that it was Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, who put the hold on the bill. This article also has this quotable comment: "Don't expect a huge uproar if the bill doesn't make it. With an election coming, data secrecy isn't the sexiest issue. But many of those "Holy cow" newspaper articles you read have their roots in the banal bureaucracy of government information."
- Let the Sun Shine, by David Carr, New York Times July 23, 2007
We live in a nakedly transparent age. Celebrities live out loud, companies routinely have their business spilled all over the Web and anybody can find out an awful lot about you or me with a click of the mouse. Not so in Washington, however, where the mechanism for releasing information has all but ground to a halt. ...Almost everyone seems to realize that more sunlight is needed. A bill to bring the government into the same century as its citizens has picked up massive support across a broad spectrum, but has yet to reach the Senate floor for a vote because it is impaled on the obstinacy of a single senator. ...The bills are not intended to open the government kimono any further (this being a very security-conscious age), but simply to make agencies meet the requirements of long-standing mandates.If you can't reach the above link, another copy of the article is here at Media Channel. Continue reading
“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