@INFO.POLICY: Banning e-mail'it's not so crazy

The city council of Liverpool, England, in July banned the use of e-mail for internal communications. Why? To persuade government staff to start talking to one another.

@Info Policy: NARA makes another half-hearted attempt at policy

The National Archives and Records Administration wants to redesign federal records management. What's in it for the records managers and IT folks trying to figure out how to deal with preservation issues? I'll come back to that question in a minute, but don't set your hopes too high.

@INFO.POLICY: For the latest in privacy, look north

Our neighbors to the north recently re-leased a new and helpful tool for assessing the impact of government activities on privacy. The Privacy Impact Assessment from the Canadian government is a sophisticated guide to such assessments.

@INFO.POLICY: Do you know how to tell if your site is any good?

Is my Web site any good? Any agency webmaster should be asking that question on a regular basis. And yet it is not the right starting question.

@Info.Policy: Webmasters must grapple with linkage policy

Should a federal Web page have links to other Internet resources? Links are easy enough to create, so why not? Unfortunately, life is not that simple.

@Info.Policy: Enough with FOIA-weakening bills

I am tired of seeing bills to exempt company information from the Freedom of Information Act.

@ Info Policy: No simple questions for national ID system

What sex are you? I hope that question isn't too personal. I'll bet just about everybody reading this paper knew the answer without even looking down.

@Info Policy: E-government + Microsoft = Passport to trouble?

How does your agency identify people online? I am not talking only about user names and passwords. I mean real authentication and authorization. Agencies need to be sure who people are before conducting business with them online.

@Info.Policy: On privacy, U.S. should look to the north

IT and personal privacy concerns go hand in hand. As technology gets more powerful and pervasive, it impinges on privacy. This is nothing new.

@Info. Policy: Bush team stumbles on health privacy

In March, the Bush administration proposed some modifications to the health privacy rule that Bill Clinton promulgated on his way out the door. The rule was issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, fondly referred to as HIPAA.

@Info.Policy: Education statistics agency plays loose with privacy

A traditional way to balance privacy and research needs is to allow personal data to be used only in aggregate form for statistical purposes. The Census Bureau offers a good example.

@INFO.POLICY

Last year, the federal courts developed privacy rules for electronic records to keep the lives of persons entangled in bankruptcy and other cases from being exposed through open court records. I am not talking about judicial opinions, but about briefs and other filings that contain the nitty-gritty details.

@INFO.POLICY

If you are not careful when surfing the Internet, someone could install so-called spyware on your system that tells third parties about your Internet activities. I am not talking about viruses. The perpetrators are usually advertisers who want marketing data.

@INFO.POLICY

There is a joke about a driver who lost his keys on the street one night. As he rummaged around on the ground in a pool of light from a street lamp, a friend offered to help and asked where he thought the keys were lost.

@INFO.POLICY

When should the government keep publicly available information off the Internet? Unfortunately, that is no longer a dumb question. Not after Sept. 11.

@INFO.POLICY

The latest development in the information policy world derives from language tacked onto the fiscal 2001 Treasury appropriations bill last year.

Justice office foils Clinton's FOIA policies

For any administration, getting agencies to march to the same beat is not a trivial concern. For example, the Clinton administration has been very supportive of computer networks and has been good about making government information available on the Internet. The policy direction has clearly and consistently favored citizen access to data, computers and computer networks.

Thomas is not a tool for reforming Congress

@INFO.POLICY VIEW FROM INSIDE By Robert Gellman Thomas, the Library of Congress Internet service for legislative information ( http://Thomas.loc.gov ), opened last year to glowing reviews. More recently, it has been criticized for failing to live up to House Speaker Newt Gingrich's promise to provide citizens with key information about Congress at the same moment that the information is available to the highest-paid Washington lobbyist.

The latest weapon in encryption war: a T-Shirt

A T-shirt now available for sale through the Internet is the latest and most amusing sign of the bankruptcy of current U.S. government policy on encryption. The T-shirt has a machine-readable encryption algorithm that is subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). In effect, the T-shirt is a munition.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.