Steven Aftergood of FAS writes: The vast apparatus of government secrecy persisted through the last year with only limited changes in the contours of its multi-billion dollar operations, according to the latest “secrecy report card” published by Openthegovernment.org, a coalition of organizations working for increased transparency. The new report card (pdf), prepared by Patrice McDermott…
Category: Govt
Japan’s govt., private firms to tackle cell phone music piracy
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports: The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and the telecom and music industries plan to jointly introduce a system to prevent cell phone users from downloading illegally distributed music files to their cell phones via the Internet, it has been learned. The system, which could be operational as early as fiscal 2010,…
EU speaks out on US bank data access
Shaun Nichols reports: Members of the European Union’s Civil Liberties Committee have questioned European banking officials after access to bank data was granted to US authorities. The committee issued a statement on Monday expressing concerns over possible privacy and data protection violations within Europe’s Swift financial transition network. Advertisement US officials have been requesting bank…
Administration seeks to keep terror watch-List data secret
Ellen Nakashima reports: The Obama administration wants to maintain the secrecy of terrorist watch-list information it routinely shares with federal, state and local agencies, a move that rights groups say would make it difficult for people who have been improperly included on such lists to challenge the government. Intelligence officials in the administration are pressing…