What is the Federal Depository Library Program?
Non document-librarian readers of FGI might be interested in this fact sheet about the Federal Depository Library Program. The fact sheet is somewhat dated (2001?), but still gives a decent idea of what the program is and why it benefits citizens around the country. Briefer, but more recent information about the system can be found at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fdlp.html. To find a Federal Depository Library near you, just point your browser to http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html. Continue reading
More on Google vs. DOJ
Declan McCullagh has a good, very short post that includes several useful links to more about the Justice Department subpoena of Google search records and why it is a privacy issue that should concern us.
Perhaps visits to a search engine can be thought of as somewhat akin to thumbing through a dictionary, or an encyclopedia, or a phone book. You'd want privacy in those cases, especially when doing financial or medical research. But because the Supreme Court has said you don't have privacy when your records are held by others, the virtual equivalent of thumbing-through information is available to curious prosecutors or divorce attorneys. Thanks a lot, Supremes...Continue reading
New Podcast – Office of National Drug Control policy
We have added podcasts from the White House Office of National Drug Control policy (ONDCP) to our Government Podcasts directory. According to the first podcast, dated December 29, 2005, the purpose of this new ONDCP series is to allow users to "download speeches, interviews, and other audio content regarding National drug policy and the negative impact drugs have on our country." Unlike many other podcasts, the ONDCP provides full printed text of their podcasts, although I personally find them formatted poorly for easy reading. This might be a good podcast for classes with a drug abuse component. So might the SAMSHA podcasts that are also available from our directory page. Continue reading
Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects
For those FGI visitors who are not also government documents librarians, you might have missed the announcement about the new Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects. According to the Government Printing Office (GPO):
The Registry contains records for projects that include digitized copies of publications originating from the U.S. Government. The projects may or may not be Federally funded. They are from libraries, government agencies, or other non-profit institutions. The projects in the Registry are either entirely composed of digitized, U.S. Government publications or include a substantial number of them. Access to the digitized material must be free. In the rare case where a publication includes an element that is copyrighted, e.g. an image, the metadata in the Other Information section of the Registry entries will indicate that distinction. A Registry project entry typically includes a multi-volume publication title, a publication series title, or a specific range of a Federal agency's publications, i.e. a set of publications identified by a classification range or by years of publication. Digitization projects are initiatives to create digitized collections of these sets of resources. Continue reading
Google vs. DOJ: Privacy implications for Government Information
As Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch points out, the current Department of Justice (DOJ) Supeona for search engine data is not a direct attack on privacy:
AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo DID NOT VIOLATE THE PRIVACY of any user by handing over this information. No private data was revealed. Nevertheless, by not pushing back against such a bad request for data, it leaves open the real fear that they might not push back if the US government decided to go on a real fishing expedition in the future. Privacy may not have been lost but trust was.Mr. Sullivan than posits one possible future data mining scenario that would harm privacy:
Picture this scenario. The US government wants to pass a new law on monitoring terrorists. In order to see the presence of searchers seeking out TOMs (that's Terrorist Oriented Materials) through search results, they ask each search engine to hand over an entire week's worth of search data completely with cookie info, IP addresses and registration information. Continue reading