Projects and to-do
Here's the projects page for FGI Continue reading
LC creating IE-compatible only copyright registration system
The Library of Congress will soon implement an online registration system for copyright applications that would only be IE compatable. See the full story on News.com and the post in the Federal Register August 4, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 149). Nigel McFarlane warned of a "proprietary global infrastructure" in May, 2004, and LC tying their registration system to IE browser is proof that McFarlane was right. See "Smoke, Mirrors and Silence: The Browser Wars Reignite, InformIT, May 28, 2004. This is a very bad decision on LC's part, especially when more and more people and organizations are moving away from IE because of security concerns (and in many cases, dropping MS products altogether). See for example, "PSU recommends dumping IE". Continue reading
More government podcasts added to our directory
The number of government podcasters continues to increase and us volunteers at Free Government Information are doing our best to keep up by adding podcasts from NOAA and from Michigan's governor. All the podcasts we've found so far can be found our Government Podcasts page.
If you know of a federal, state, or local government podcast not covered on our page, please either note it in the comments section or drop me a line at dnlcornwall "at" alaska.net. Podcasts can either be of government agencies or elected officials. To be a podcast, you should be able to subscribe to the audio or video content through an RSS feed.
Thanks! Continue reading
Hiroshima Documents Posted by National Security Archive
In 1945 the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, destroying the two cities and killing over 200,000 people by the end of the year. On the 60th anniversary of the bombing, the National Security Archive has published on-line collection to date of declassified U.S. government documents on the first use of the atomic bomb and the end of the war in the Pacific. The documents include "Top Secret Ultra" summaries and translations of Japanese diplomatic cable traffic intercepted under the "Magic" program etc. The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources Continue reading
Secret Documents About Indymedia Server Disappearance Unsealed
The story below has large implications for the GPO's Future Digital System. What would happen if the FBI wanted to look over the server log files of a centralized, government-controlled system of government information? The FBI wouldn't even need a subpoena. They would already have the information they needed and users would be none the wiser. >>>>>>> On Thursday, October 7, 2004, two Independent Media Center (IMC or Indymedia) Web Servers were seized from the US-owned web hosting company Rackspace operating in London (UK) by the US Justice Department acting at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities. Eectronic Frontier Foundation last week won a motion that allows EFF access to sealed court documents about the disappearance of two web servers used to host news websites for Indymedia. The unsealed documents reveal that the government never officially demanded the computer servers, but requested only the server log files from the Rackspace. Continue reading