We are forwarding the following message from Emily Feldman of the Government Relatiojns Office of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) because it contains important information that we believe should be distributed widely: OpenTheGovernment.org today released the latest edition of their annual Secrecy Report Card (http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SecrecyRC_2009.pdf). This year’s report…
After posting two articles on this Web site here and here related to the Obama administration seriously considering allowing much greater flexibility regarding the use of cookies and tracking devices on government Web sites, I thought I was finished with the topic. That is until this morning August 25 when…
Volume 2 Number 8 August 2009. From the Desk of David G. Badertscher Mmmm… cookies – chocolate chip and oatmeal with raisins! Cookies are one of the most popular snacks that exist today. Did you know you can get “browser” cookies almost every time you go on the Internet? These…
The Unclassified Report of the President’s Surveillance Program released on July 10, 2009 is a review of the National Security Agency Warrantless Search Program, created during the presidency of George W. Bush some time after September 11, 2001. The unclassified report was prepared by the inspectors general of five government…
The background information regarding U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor at our earlier posting has been updated to include her completed questionnaire which was delivered to the Committee of the Judiciary of the U.S. Senate on Thursday June 4, 2009. For those who have not seen it, that posting which…
Web based criminal justice issues cannot be addressed in a rational manner without also the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a trusted and resilient information and communications infrastructure. Realizing the paramount importance of these objectives the Obama administration has been engaging in a mumber related activities including President Obama’s recent…
In Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Online News, Keith Perine writes: “…Obama, speaking with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as a backdrop, defended his order to close the detainee prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and outlined several tenets of his own counterterrorism strategy. The president tried…
In its preliminary statistics released on May 11, 2009 the FBI reports that 41 of our nation’s law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty in 2008. All but five were killed with firearms. The number of officers feloniously killed was 17 fewer than in 2007. A…
The U.S. government’s CIO recently appointed by President Obama told Congress this week that obsolete regulations are blocking agencies from serving the people by participating in top Web sites and social media. Regulations governing the use of cookies and — ironically — disclosure laws are keeping government stuck in the…
Volume 2009, Issue 4 April 30, 2009 Published by the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Government Relations Office Through its Washington E-Bulletin, the AALL Government Relations Office keeps the AALL membership abreast of governmnt policy news important to law libraries and law law librarians. True to form, the April…