Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

EFF: Let the Sun Set on PATRIOT

Apologists justified the broad, civil-liberties corroding powers granted to the government under the USA PATRIOT Act by arguing that they would be used to put terrorists behind bars. Yet several provisions can be used against Americans in a wide range of investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism. Others are too vague, jeopardizing legitimate activities protected under the First Amendment. Worse, the Department of Justice has worked to expand and/or make permanent a number of these provisions — despite the fact that they were sold to the public as “temporary” measures and are scheduled to expire, or “sunset,” in December of 2005.

Noam Chomsky’s got a blog called Turning the Tide. Check it out. Here’s a quote about Iraq:

Reconstruction should be in the hands of Iraqis, not delayed as a means of controlling them, as Washington has indicated.

Reparations - not just aid - should be provided by those responsible for devastating Iraqi civilian society by cruel sanctions and military actions, and - together with other criminal states - for supporting Saddam Hussein through his worst atrocities and beyond. That is the minimum that honesty requires.

Protest Bush Administration’s Misuse of Science Petition

I think I’ve blogged this before, but this is important. Let your govt representatives know that it’s not right to distort scientific data for political purposes!

An alliance of prominent scientists has accused the Bush administration of distorting and interfering with science on a wide variety of issues, including many related to the environment and human health. The scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates and 19 recipients of the National Medal of Science, say the Bushies have censored reports on climate change and other problems, stacked federal scientific advisory panels with people who share their (often controversial) views, and more. Call on your senators and
representatives to step in and restore scientific integrity to the policy-making process.

Guidelines proposed for securing geospatial data By William Jackson,
Government Computer News (GCN)
05/04/04.

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) noted that ÒThe vast majority of [this data is] appropriate for public dissemination,Ó the Federal Geographic Data Committee said in the guidelines released for review this week. ÒHowever, a small portion É could pose risks to security,Ó and there are no standards for restricting access.

MSNBC - U.S. loses court case against Greenpeace

The U.S. government’s unusual criminal suit against Greenpeace USA was rather unceremoniously booted from federal court yesterday by U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan. In a rare “directed verdict,” the judge found the group not guilty midway through the trial, after the prosecution had presented its case but before the group’s lawyers presented any defense.

The story was originally written about in the New York Times Oct 11, 2003 p. A9 (gotta go to your library to get access!)

[Thanks Grist]
Read the rest of this entry »

Human Rights Record of the US in 2003

This is the reply of China’s State Council In March, 2004 to the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, an annual report on human rights abuses. US problems of murder, police brutality, prison overcrowding, poverty, and inadequate health care are detailed and combined with examples of Patriot Act abuses and undemocratic elections. The report was reproduced in full in the Communist party’s official organ, the People’s Daily.

[Thanks Librarians' Index to the Internet]

Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 122

The National Security Archive has posted CIA Training Manuals from the 60s, 80s, and Investigative memos on earlier controversy on human rights abuses.

oreilly.com — Online Catalog: Hackers & Painters.

A new book from O’Reilly the best technical publisher in the world.
Hackers & Painters
Big Ideas from the Computer Age,
By Paul Graham,
May 2004.
ISBN: 0-596-00662-4
271 pages, $22.95 US, $33.95 CA, £15.95 UK.

Written in clear, narrative style, Hackers & Painters examines issues such as the rightness of web-based applications, the programming language renaissance, spam filtering, the Open Source Movement, Internet startups and more. In each essay, Graham moves beyond widely held beliefs about the way that programmers work as he tells important stories about the kinds of people behind tech innovations, revealing distinctions about their characters and their craft. No hackers reading this book will fail to recognize themselves within these pages. No programmer will put it down without new thoughts actively percolating.

There is more at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hackpaint/index.html
including a sample chapter, table of contents, reviews, and more.

Also see the review,
Embracing the Art of Hacking
By Michelle Delio. Wired
May. 19, 2004, which says “The chapters on general rules of good design as they apply to
programming, painting and any creative endeavor are by far the best in
the book.”

The TAPAC was created to advise the Secretary of Defense concerning the use of advanced information technologies to help identify terrorists before they act, while at the same time, protecting civil liberties. The committee has a
“library” of of documents
on their web site. On May 18, the committee released its
final report (PDF, 2.8 megs). They report that
the Terrorism Information Awarness program was “a flawed effort to achieve worthwile ends,” but that TIA was only one of many government data mining programs.
See also, Panel Urges New Protection on Federal ‘Data Mining’,
By ROBERT PEAR, New York Times
May 17, 2004; and Panel Calls for Data-Mining Privacy Laws” (NPR, Morning Edition audio
May 18, 2004).

There’s a new organization in town called the international internet preservation consortium - welcome” href=”http://netpreserve.org/about/index.php”>International Internet Preservation Consortium. It’s made up of the national libraries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, The British Library (UK), The Library of Congress (USA) and the Internet Archive (USA) (Way to go Brewster Kahle!)

The detailed work of the Consortium will be carried out through working groups to define Policy, Requirements, Methods, Standards and Tools for Internet archiving. By this means projects will be developed and defined and will ultimately lead to the creation and provision of the necessary tools to fulfil the vision of universal coverage of internet archive collections.