Part 16: Nonlawyer’s journey through Title 44: Blank Forms
This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer†disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. 44 USC 1709:
TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1709. Blank forms: printing and sale to public The Public Printer may print for sale by the Superintendent of Documents to the public, upon prepayment, additional copies of approved Government blank forms. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 94 (June 7, 1924, ch. 303, Sec. 1, 43 Stat. 592).I really don't have too much to say about this section of Title 44 other than to marvel that it took an Act of Congress to empower the Government Printing Office to sell blank government forms. You could say that this section of law symbolizes the difficulty of reforming anything about government publishing and distribution – so many seemingly minor things are written into statute that even minor reforms take Congressional action. On the other hand, it has been good insurance against the Federal Depository Library Program being wiped out entirely in favor of selling all government information. Another reason that I just had to highlight this section is the fact that the government is empowered to sell blank forms makes it understandable that some agencies should have an Index of blank forms! Continue reading
The Semantic Web + Government Information = Serendipitous Reuse
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, said recently that all we need to build an exciting, creative World Wide Semantic Web is for information distributors to expose their information in standard, structured formats. (See: Berners-Lee: Semantic Web's success lies in cooperation, By Jonathan Bennett, CNet News.com, Sep 19, 2006).
Ironically, the example he chose to use is British Ordnance Survey records. This is ironic because the British government now sells "limited-use licences" to its GIS data on a "cost recovery" basis. (See Free data – a valuable commodity, September 18, 2006). Such policies make what Berners-Lee calls "serendipitous reuse" virtually impossible.
For us in the U.S., the lesson is clear: if we want government information (public information, information collected, compiled, and created with public funds) to be part of the Semantic Web, GPO and other government agencies must guarantee that they will make such public information freely available, unencumbered by Digital Rights Management tools, and available in standardized, structured formats.
Unfortunately, GPO has explicitly announced its mission as distributing electronic documents "on a cost recovery basis." This, along with policies such as OMB Circular A-130 that require reliance on the private sector and cost recovery go further to guaranteeing that government information will not be part of the Semantic Web.
GPO could go far to remedying this situation by changing its mission to guarantee that it will deposit digital government information with the existing Federal Depository Library Program libraries. Why does it not do so?
Continue readingA long strange trip, ONDCP on YouTube
In what I *think* is a case of a government agency attempting to access the power of YouTube, the White House based Office of National Drug Control Policy has placed anti-drug messages on YouTube. Here is one of the videos: Is anyone else aware of gov't agencies officially placing material on YouTube? Does this strike you as a good idea? Why or why not? I wonder what will happen when people invariably tag protest or raunchy videos with ODNCP tags? Continue reading
Amazing graph of Federal budget spending!
Here's an amazingly thorough and well-researched visual representation of how the US federal government spends our income taxes. It shows both the amount spent on each item, and also the percentage change from last year so as to spot budgetary trends. This is one time where the Web doesn't do justice to this fine visual tool, so I'd recommend buying one for your library (note: FGI is in no way connected to Jesse Bachman, the creator, nor will we in any way benefit monetarily from its sale!). You also send one to your congressional representative for 10 bucks! Continue reading
Another supressed FCC report surfaces
Last week, you may remember, FGI reported that in 2004, an FCC TV localism report whose findings contrasted with the administration's perspective, was suppressed. This time it's a 2003 radio ownership report (PDF atttached below). The report found, among other things, that while there was a "5.9 percent increase in the number of radio stations in the country between March 1996 and March 2003, there was a 35 percent decrease in the number of radio owners." It also found that Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio group owner, went from owning 62 stations in 1996, to 1,233 in 2003. This is media consolidation on a grand scale! Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has written FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, saying she wants a full investigation into whether the FCC is suppressing information for political reasons. Read more about the FCC's media manipulation. Continue reading