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: Misc
“Anonymized” data really isn’t—and here’s why not
Nate Anderson writes: The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission had a bright idea back in the mid-1990s—it decided to release “anonymized” data on state employees that showed every single hospital visit. The goal was to help researchers, and the state spent time removing all obvious identifiers such as name, address, and Social Security number. But a…
Grade the Obama administration’s work on privacy!
From EFF: The Privacy Coalition is inviting the public to give the Obama Administration a grade on its privacy work thus far. Visit the Privacy Report Card page and vote to give the administration a grade anywhere from an “A” to an “F” — or, if you prefer, an “Incomplete.” https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/grade-obama-administrations Direct link to consumer…
AP picture of wounded Marine sparks debate
David Bauder and Pauline Jelinek of Associated Press report that a picture of a soldier, Lance Cpl. Joshua “Bernie” Bernard, lying mortally wounded in Afghanistan, taken by AP photographer Julie Jacobson has set off another debate about both coverage of the war and a grieving family’s right to privacy. You can read AP’s coverage of…