Funny and somewhat scary Fund Race uses freely available data from the FEC on campaign contributions. You can search by zip code, address, or even name, to find who is donating, to which candidate, and how much. Find out if Susan Sarandon puts her money where her mouth is.
One of the issues regarding information on the web is ensuring authenticity, especially in regards to government information. The
GPO recently announced they will be soon begin using public-key infrastructure and digital signatures to ensure authenticity of documents released online.
A federal judge in Washington yesterday ordered the Interior Department to shut down most of its employees' Internet access and some of its public Web sites after concluding that the agency has failed to fix computer security problems that threaten millions of dollars owed to Native Americans.
Internet Cutoff Ordered at Interior: Judge Says Money Owed to Indians Is Still at Risk
The Electronic Records Policy Working Group is inviting interested persons to provide their written views on issues relating to implementing section 207(e)(1)(A) of the E-Government Act of 2002. That section calls for ``the adoption by agencies of policies and procedures to ensure that chapters 21, 25, 27, 29, and 31 of title 44, United States Code, are applied effectively and comprehensively to Government information on the Internet and to other electronic records.''
The Working Group is seeking feedback on the following topics in their meetings and this notice.
1. The definition of "Government information on the Internet and other electronic records.'' The operating definitions currently used by the Working Group are as follows:
A. Government information on the Internet includes:
** Information posted on Government web sites,
** Information exchanged between Federal agencies,
** Information exchanged between Federal agencies and the public,
** Information exchanged between Federal agencies and other governments,
** Government-enabled web services,
** Standard government forms,
** E-government business transactions.
B. Other electronic records--electronic information meeting the definition of a Federal record per 44 U.S.C. 3301. Records include:
** All books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable materials, or other documentary materials,
** regardless of physical form or characteristics
** made or received by an agency of the United States Government,
** under Federal law or
** in connection with the transaction of public business,
** and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor,
** as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the Government or,
** because of the informational value of the data in them (44 U.S.C. 3301).
2. Perceived barriers to effective management of ``Government information on the Internet and other electronic records.'' The operating definition of effective management currently used by the Working Group includes:
** managing through the life cycle,
** providing for accessibility and retrieval,
** providing sufficient security,
** ensuring consistency (ability to reproduce record),
** providing for the integrity of records over time,
** ensuring no loss of records,
** ensuring compatibility with standard formats,
** managing format changes over time,
** providing for long-term record storage and migration of formats,
** managing the location of records over time,
** appropriate long-term custodianship.
3. Guidance tools for Federal agencies that would assist in overcoming the identified barriers.
In order to solicit the opinions of those stakeholders who could not attend the focus group or public meetings, this message is being sent to relevant lists. Any comments concerning this topic should be sent to ERPWG@nara.gov no later than April 5.
Curious as to the success (or failure) of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act? School Results is a public-private collaboration to provide data from the first rounds of NCLB initiatives and standardized testing. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
Though the existing data is slim at the moment (only seven states are currently available, and 2/5 of the individual schools I checked lacked sufficient data to provide analysis), this is exactly the kind of use of the web to provide tangible evidence of the results of legislative actions. NCLB was proposed to achieve certain goals, with this data resource easily available, it should now be easier to determine whether those goals are being achieved.