One story in particular is incredible.

Fairly quiet lately but one in particular is incredible.

St.Paul Pioneer Press 4/25, p. 1A. Story, headlined "U archives unvarnished look at war detainees", describes an archive of government documents that are on a U web site that is describing some terrible things that have happened to some of the Guantanamo detainees and their families. The story also contains the following comment on what some federal flacks think of freedom of information.

" A Defense Department spokeswoman acknowledged the U documents were originals sent to the ACLU, but she declined further comment.

'Further dissemination of this material isn't in the spirit of the FOIA program,'
spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said."

St.Paul Pioneer Press 4/25, p. 4A. Story, headlined "Stories of war 'war heroics' criticized", illustrates why actual records of government are needed to check against official lies.

St.Paul Pioneer Press 4/25, p. 4A. Story, headlined "America marks 500 years on map", is about the 500th anniversary of the creation of the first map that used the term America to describe this hemisphere and illustrates why government archives and the money for them are so important.

St.Paul Pioneer Press 4/26 10B, Editorial, headlined "Strong enough to face the facts about threats", commends the U for putting up the document archive.

St.Paul Pioneer Press 4/26 1B. Story, headlined "Sheriff forms 'rat squad' to home in on bad guys", describes a Washington County web site of the County's most wanted criminals.

I am trying, except in special instances, to stay focused on stories about government information. So, here is the latest.

StarTribune, 4/21, p. A11. Story in Nation section, headlined "Social security numbers exposed", is about another poorly protected government website.

StarTribune, 4/21, p. B3. Story, headlined "Twins' extra money for stadium is confidential", is about Hennepin County refusing to disclose how much extra money the Twins are kicking in to pay for the stadium site.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/21, p. 4C. Story, headlined "Google deal hits privacy question", discusses some of the privacy implications of Google buying Doubleclick which has a bad reputation for tracking and selling information about people's Internet usage.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/21. p. 4A. Story, headlined "Social Security data found online", is the St Paul take on the Department of Ag. data.

StarTribune, 4/22. p. A21. Story, headlined "Report: penalties for abuse nursing home inadequate", summarizes another GAO report the problem of nursing home abuse.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/23. p.3A. In Nation/Word section, story, headlined "Audit finds more waste by FEMA", is another government report documenting federal management failure and possible corruption.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/23. p. 3B. Story, headlined "AT&T backs cable bill to expand market", is a Wisconsin story based on campaign contribution reports.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/23. p. 8B. Story, headlined "Librarians boost immigrant services", describes how out-state libraries are helping immigrants particularly with bilingual materials.

Recommended reading on the MN Data Practices Act

The recent issue of Minnesota Cities from the League of Minnesota Cities includes a useful overview of the Minnesota Data Practices Act, "Dealing with Data Requests," by Tracie Chamberlain. The clear information is geared to the needs of city employees, but interesting to a broader audience.

Two thoughts on Web filtering

I was skimming last month's issue of Government Technology. An essay, "The Cost of Free Wi-fi," discusses the use of filtering software by cities providing free wi-fi access, fearing liability for the actions of users on the network. I am guessing that most MNCOGI supporters would agree with the author's thoughts.

Shane Peterson writes, "I pay taxes, and I don't care about who does what on a Wi-Fi network supported by my tax dollars. I don't think I'm alone. It's like being offended that some people use taxpayer-funded interstate highways to drive to Nevada to gamble or engage in other, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" activities."

His essay ends with, "It's not for government to say what Web sites a person visits. Unless, of course, that government's headquartered in Beijing."

Second, as Director of the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, I have been asked a few times in past years whether the Legislative Reference Library public access computers have filtering software. They do not - what if users were searching for information on breast cancer, or sex education, or many other things that might be blocked? This morning I noted a book being returned to our library, one that certainly would get filtered out, a 1994 report from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Sex and America's Teenagers." Robbie LaFleur

The latest update from two local papers.

4/7 PPD, p. 6A. Story, headlined "Global warning papers softened by U.S., China", is another example of politics trumping science in government information.

4/8 PPD, p. 1A. Story, headlined "When drug firms pay doctors, what do they get?", illustrates what we can all learn from state information. http://www.twincities.com/searchresults/ci_5616131?nclick_check=1

4/8 PPD, p. 1B. Ruben Rosario's column, headlined "Prosecutor's office loses its way" illustrates the reluctance of government agencies to provide access to embarrassing information.

4/8 PPD, p. 3D, Story, headlined IRS Lax in preventing ID Theft", is another in a continuing series of instances of government computers,full of personal information,being lost or stolen. (500 IRS laptops lost or stolen over a 3.5 year period.

4/8 Strib, p. A3. Story, headlined "Scientists feel climate report is too weak", is also about politics interfering with science.

4/9 Strib, p. A9. Story, headlined "Iraq's resilient symbol of hope: the library" includes information about a unique role for a library director - finding guns and ammo to protect the library.

4/9 Strib, p. A3. Story, headlined "Army prosecutions for desertion up sharply", is based on a government report.

4/9 Strib. p. A8. Story in Nation subsection, headlined Effort to catalog all species living tops 1 million", is about the work of the National Museum of National History.

4/9 PPD, p. 2A. Story: headlined "Army cracks down on targets deserters", is similar to Strib story above.

4/9 PPD. p. 4B, Story, headlined "Used car title search settlement criticized", is about Carfax and its access or lack thereof to public records that it uses to develop car histories.

4/10 Strib, p. A1 Story, headlined "Ex-Viking Marshall gets pardon for drugs", illustrates the affect of public records.

4/10 Strib, p. A1. Story, headlined "Minnesota joins states backing ban for a national ID", is about legislation opposing the national ID, i.e. driver license, federal mandate.
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1110277.html

Hands-on Access to Government Information

An article in the Star Tribune, "Of, and For, The People," discusses citizens academies run by cities. Attendees learn about all the departments and budgeting - it is an example of hands-on access to government information! The picture at left is a group from the Hopkins Citizens Academy. From the article: "The goal is to give residents insight into what the city does behind the scenes. But there are side benefits. Participants are likely candidates the city can pluck for its police reserves, boards or commissions. And they often have fun."

This weekend there was a fairly chunky update from our two local papers.

4/4, Strib, p. H3. Story, headlined "Rain barrels for city residents", presents the interesting problem of only being able to order something from the government if you can go to a web site.

4/5, Strib. p. A5. Story, headlined "Sun is threat to Global Positioning System" demonstrates that nature sometimes will overcome technology.

4/5 Strib. p. A7, Story in Nation subsection, headlined "Man pleads guilty to National Archive theft", is about an intern stealing historical documents and putting them on E-bay.

4/5 PPD. p. 6B. Story, headlined "Surveillance operation alleged by a fired Wal-Mart worker", discusses possible spying by Wal-Mart on a number of people including critics.

4/5 PPD. p. 1A. Story, headlined "Mammograms best read by human eyes", is another story about the limits of technology.

4/5 PPD p. 6A. Story, headlined "National Archives intern admits theft", is same as story described above.

4/6 PPD p, 1A, Story, headlined "Justices strike down Photo Cop in Minneapolis, is about the end of the photo cop lawsuit.

4/6 PPD p. 1A. Story, headlined "Pentagon debunks Saddam ties to al-Qaida, is about a government report help us understand reality between truth and fiction.

4/6 PPD p. 9A. Story, headlined "FCC wants better tracking of 911 cellular calls", is one of those good/news bad news technology stories.

4/6 PPD. p. 1B Story, headlined "Metro leans hard on water reserves", summarizes a state study of water use.

4/6 PPD. p. 1B Story, headlined "2 pawn chains sue city and police", describes a lawsuit in which collection and use of customer data is part of the dispute.

4/6 Strib. p.B1. Story, headlined "Caution: Lots of road work ahead", includes a brief description of a MNDOT spokesperson decision to withhold MNDOT ratings of construction impoact from the public until challenged.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1102643.html

4/6 Strib. p. B3. Story, headlined "Pawnshop firms sue St. Paul", is similar to story described above.

4/6 Strib. p. A1. Story, headlined "Red-light cameras illegal, state high court rules", is similar to other photo cop story described above.