Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

Iraq’s library struggles to rise from the ashes
by Rory McCarthy. Tuesday December 21, 2004.
Guardian Unlimited.

The daylight burning of the library, which the invading US military did not protect, was one of the first costly failures in the post-war chaos of occupation last year. Now it is slowly being restored. But in a country where recent history remains bitterly disputed, resurrecting the library and national archive has turned into a remarkably sensitive and political operation.

OFAC reverses embargo ruling By John Dudley Miller
The Scientist December 16, 2004.

In a reversal of almost all of the controversial prohibitions enacted in September 2003 that led to a lawsuit against it by a coalition of US publishers 3 months ago, the Treasury Department reauthorized American authors and publishers to collaborate with and edit the scientific and other manuscripts of citizens in trade-embargoed countries yesterday (December 15)….

…[P]ublishers are not yet ready to drop their lawsuit, filed September 27, because the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), by granting a general license, continues to assert that it can regulate informational materials. The plaintiffs argue that OFAC has no such authority.

Penn State U.: Change in Internet browsers recommended

This was originally a story in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education. I can attest to IE’s security flaws. The last time I used IE at home, my entire OS was so flooded with malware that I had to wipe the hard drive and install lindows.

It’s time to check out Firefox, Mozilla’s next generation browser with strong security protections, as well as cool themes and extensions like Sage, an rss reader, ftp client and more!

Over the past several months, considerable attention has been paid to the security problems surrounding Microsoft’s Internet Explorer by the general news media and information technology departments in higher education. The Computer Emergency and Response Team (CERT), Carnegie Mellon University’s federally funded research group formed to deal with security issues on the Internet, has issued numerous vulnerability alerts and recommends that users switch to a different Web browser.

SB 11 Senate Bill - INTRODUCED

Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), the incoming chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee, has introduced a bill so that political candidates cannot take campaign contributions from voting machine companies.

This bill would additionally prohibit a candidate for elective state or local office from accepting any contribution from a manufacturer or vendor of voting equipment or systems.

While saying there is no current evidence of problems with contributions from such companies, she added that “it’s natural to wonder whether election results are being manipulated or whether these machines are so bug-ridden no one should be using them.”

ÒFor me, itÕs pretty simple. Elections are supposed to reflect the will of the voters and ensuring peopleÕs votes are accurately counted gets to the very core of our democracy. The people charged with safeguarding the integrity of our electoral system shouldnÕt be taking money from companies that are trying to get their voting equipment installed throughout California.Ó (quoted from her website, which unfortunately is in frames so I had to finagle a link to the press release!)

[originally listed on National Journal's technology daily (subscription service)]

Official loses copyright case
By MIKE HOYEM, The News-Press Bonita Springs Florida, December 8, 2004.

A court has ruled Collier County Property Appraiser Abe Skinner cannot copyright maps created by his office and demand royalties from those who use them to make a profit. Wednesday’s decision by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland was hailed as a victory for public records access by the First Amendment Foundation, an open-government advocacy group in Tallahassee.

Will voices of dissent still be heard? By Scott Martelle Los Angles Times (Dec 7 2004)
Part E; Pg. 1. [free registration required]

In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American firms from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first get U.S. government approval.

The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the 1st Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States, a country that prides itself as the international beacon of free expression.

…spokeswoman Molly Millerwise described the sanctions as “a very important part of our overall national security.”…

The regulations seem shaded by Joseph Heller’s classic novel “Catch-22.”
American publishers are allowed to reissue, for example, Cuban communist propaganda or officially approved books but not original works by writers whom the Cuban government has stifled.

More information:

• IEEE OFAC Information page
• ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PRESSES
• Nobel Winner Ebadi Sues U.S. to Publish Memoirs, By Claudia Parsons, ABC News /Reuters
  Nov 3, 2004.
• AT THE LIBRARY by JULIE WINKELSTEIN,
  Contra Costa Times, Nov. 19, 2004.

FDA Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now has an RSS feed for its Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/rssRecalls.xml

Don’t have an RSS reader yet?
You can see what the headlines look like by
using the free toolbot.
But, really! Get an RSS reader! Or, better yet, use FireFox with
a built in RSS reading (”Live Bookmarks”)!

Thanks to BeSpacific

EFF and IP Justice under attack at WIPO conference [Politech]

“WIPO has been meeting for this week in Geneva, under discussion is a
broadcast
treaty that would cover webcasters and grant new rights to publishers a
la the
DMCA, prohibiting circumvention of technical measures, etc. etc. Typical
evil
stuff.”

OMB Watch

OMB Watch is a nonprofit government watchdog organization located in Washington, DC. They promote open government, accountability and citizen participation. Issues that they’re interested in include: the Federal Budget (have you seen our deficit lately?!); Information & Access; Nonprofit Advocacy; and Regulatory Policy. Check out OMBWatcher, their biweekly newsletter chock full of news and analysis. Each of their project areas have blogs as well (although I didn’t see any RSS). OMBWatch is one of the best federal government watchdogs around.

Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Season’s readings

We don’t usually post general items like this one here, but I’ll make an exception with this one. From The Guardian a list of good books: “writers and guest critics recommend their favourites, from bestsellers to the undeservedly obscure.”
The contributors:

JG Ballard | Iain Banks |Julian Barnes |Sidney Blumenthal |William Boyd |Gordon Burn |AS Byatt |Richard Eyre |James Fenton |Giles Foden |Jonathan Freedland |Linda Grant |John Gray |Mark Haddon |Sarah Hall |James Hamilton-Paterson |David Hare |Seymour Hersh |Alan Hollinghurst |Nick Hornby |Ian Jack |AL Kennedy |Helena Kennedy |Martin Kettle |Hanif Kureishi | Andrea Levy | Nicholas Lezard | Ian McEwan | Neil Macgregor | Katie Mitchell | Blake Morrison | John Mullan | Meg Rosoff | Simon Schama | Helen Simpson | Zadie Smith | Jon Snow | Claire Tomalin | Colm T—ib’n | Polly Toynbee | William Trevor