Google DRM
At the Consumer Electronics Show last week, Google announced its new video service google video. Part of that service involves yet another media player and yet another Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Will Google's entry into the DRM field lap over into other areas, such as Google Book Search? Will government information that is in the public domain and scanned by Google for its full text service become DRM'd? We just don't know. While we can imagine that our good buddy Google will do no evil, as Siva says, we have no guarantees. It is by definition, the job of libraries to provide access to information. If libraries choose to rely on the Google's of the world to take care of the hard part of this process, libraries and the public will get only what those private companies find it in their commercial interest to allow us to have. Continue reading
Bush adminstration has been slowly dismantling environmental information tool
New OMB Watch Report on TRI: Dismantling the Public's Right to Know OMB watch released a new report in December, 2005, Dismantling the Public's Right to Know: EPA's systematic Weakening of the Toxic Release Inventory, stating that the "Bush administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are slowly dismantling its flagship environmental information tool: the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)." The TRI database has been providing the public information about environmental risks in workplace and communities.
"The easy access to pollution information provided by TRI has empowered citizens to push for improvements, and facilities have acted to reduce releases. Since facilities began reporting in 1988, there has been a nearly 60 percent reduction in total releases of the 299 core chemicals that the program began tracking. This is a significant drop, one that was fueled by merely making information publicly available. As new chemicals have been added to the TRI program, those releases have also dropped. This year, EPA reported a 42 percent reduction in releases and disposal of the more than 650 chemicals now tracked under TRI over the 6 years between 1998 and 2003. TRI is EPA's premier database of environmental information, and it demonstrates the power that information holds to promote change that benefits everyone's environment, health and safety."Continue reading
Alaska State Library bibliography on Digital Preservation
The Alaska State Library has posted an annotated bibliography on digital preservation issues to their web site. Please note while the list of articles is available to anyone, you should contact your local library for the full articles and NOT the Alaska State Library. Continue reading
Congress’ hands caught in the cookie jar
Congress' hands caught in the cookie jar, By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, CNET News.com, January 6, 2006. While no rule prohibits the use of Web monitoring techniques by Congress many members of Congress have promised not to monitor web use. Now, CNET reports that, "Dozens of U.S. senators are quietly tracking visits to their Web sites even though they have publicly pledged not to do so." Continue reading
GPOexpress aka kinkos.gov
GPO outsources to FedEx Kinko's. BY Aliya Sternstein. Jan. 5, 2006, Federal Computer Week. I'm not sure if this has significance or not. I wonder though if FDLP libraries will be able to get POD deals with Kinko's as part of the new program?
"The Government Printing Office has entered into a business partnership with FedEx Kinko's to expedite agencies’ last-minute production needs, according to GPO officials. A new program, GPOExpress, specifies discounts on most of the stores’ services, such as digital printing, scanning, binding, online printing, and brochure and poster production. Federal employees will also have access to FedEx shipping services..."Continue reading