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RAIN 08/29:NARA, Watermarks, Billy the Kid and doctor files



Federal Computer Week
The ultimate archives
The National Archives may have found a way to make e-records available for
generations to come
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0828/cov-archive-08-28-00.asp

by William Matthews
Four centuries from now, if a historian wants to read Al Gore's or George W.
Bush's inaugural address from January 2001, he or she should be able to find
it in a snap in the online electronic records archive now being developed by
the National Archives and Records Administration.
"The goal is to preserve digital information for at least 400 years," say
researchers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center, who have provided much
of the scientific brainpower behind the project.
As the federal government shifts more of its work from paper to electronic
documents, the National Archives must radically rethink long-term
preservation of records. Computers and formats rapidly become obsolete,
rendering documents created just a few years ago unreadable. The problem is
how to make documents readable centuries from now, when computers beyond
imagining today are likely to be in use.
"It has been described as the archival equivalent of the first moon shot,"
said John Carlin, archivist of the United States.



Federal Computer Week 8/28/00
'Anytime, any place' archivist
John Carlin convinces critics that electronic recordkeeping is at top of his
agenda
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0828/cov-archsid-08-28-00.asp

by William Matthews
When he was nominated to be archivist of the United States in 1995, John
Carlin was not a popular choice. Sixteen professional history, archival and
library associations opposed his nomination. The associations argued that
the former Kansas governor, legislator, business executive, dairy farmer and
professor had no background in document preservation, and professionals in
the field worried that he might be unfit to usher the recordkeeping agency
into the digital age.
After this rocky start, Carlin gradually won over some of his critics. "As
it turns out, the National Archives under John Carlin has made significant
progress on many issues important to archivists and historians," said
William Maher, former president of the Society of American Archivists, one
of the organizations that opposed Carlin's nomination.



Akron Beacon Journal 8/28/00
Watermark to protect pictures
Companies look for ways to thwart product theft
http://www.ohio.com/bj/business/docs/026725.htm

by Dave Scott
Big business wants you to understand, appreciate and completely embrace the
idea of including watermarks on your digital documents.
The concept is the same as when watermarks are placed on paper used to carry
important documents. If the watermark is present, it lends a little more
credibility to what is said on the document.
Of course, the old-fashioned watermarks were easy for everyone to see. Just
hold the paper up to the light and you find the design and maybe some
writing. The document still might be forged, but it would require the crook
to go to a lot of trouble finding the same paper used in genuine articles.



Washington Post 8/28/00
Up against Argentina's Stonewall
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34269-2000Aug27.html

by Noga Tarnopolsky
In our overinformed age, there is probably no knowledge more valuable than
that relating to the unknown, unobserved and unexplained death of a human
being. Families that have lost a relative to an unknown fate live parched
lives, desperate for any scrap of data that might ease their misery.
In Argentina, some 30,000 people "disappeared" at the hands of government
forces between 1976-1983, so it is not surprising that Madeleine Albright
made headlines in Argentina last week when she promised human rights groups
she would "undertake the declassification of archives relating to the
repression of the 1970s and to Operation Condor." Operation Condor was an
agreement among the military dictatorships of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay
and Uruguay on the exchange--in fact, illegal expatriation--of detainees.



Mobile Register 8/28/00
Mormon migration well documented
http://www.al.com/news/mobile/Aug2000/24-a377637a.html

For most Latter-day Saints, the word "pioneer" evokes images of ox-drawn
wagon trains snaking along dusty mountain trails on their way to the Great
Salt Lake Valley. But for many Mormon Pioneers the journey started much
earlier in foreign ports of call. The newly-released Mormon Immigration
Index on compact disk documents the journeys of over 94,000 LDS Church
converts who crossed the Atlantic or Pacific oceans to gather in Nauvoo,
Ill., or other frontier outposts, and later in the Great Salt Lake Valley
between 1840 and 1890.
The information was compiled as a Pioneer Sesquicentennial project by two
Ricks College professors. With support from the college, Professors Fred
Woods and Blaine Bake and their students spent five years and thousands of
hours of work creating the Index using British Mission Immigration passenger
lists and other sources.


Associated Press 8/23/00
Garrett Book to set record straight
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000823/12/ent-wkd-billy-redux

by Richard Benke
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - His name wasn't really Billy, and he wasn't "The
Kid."
He didn't seek vengeance for his fallen mentor, and he wasn't a champion of
the downtrodden during one of New Mexico's bloodiest conflicts, the Lincoln
County War (1878-1881).
Much of what people hear about Billy the Kid is wrong. And, says British
writer Frederick Nolan, much of that bad information can be traced back to
one source - a book published the year after Billy was killed. It was partly
authored by the man who shot him, Sheriff Pat Garrett.



The Recorder 8/28/00
Bar won't put reprovals on Web
Bucking staff, governors vote to have consumers call for public info
http://www.callaw.com/stories/edt0828c.shtml

by Mike McKee
State Bar governors have chosen not to post certain discipline records on
the association's online Web site, despite a judge's ruling that it's legal
and over staff's pleas that doing so would benefit the public.
On Friday, the Bar's Committee on Regulation and Discipline voted 4-3 to
oppose the senior executive staff's recommendation to post so-called private
reprovals with public disclosures that were issued prior to July 1.



The Hindu 8/28/00
Advocate has no lien over case files for unpaid fees
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2000/08/28/stories/0228000n.htm

by T. Padmanabha Rao
NEW DELHI, AUG. 27. The Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that an
advocate has no `lien' for his fees on the `litigation papers' and relevant
documents entrusted to him by his erstwhile client.
The refusal by an advocate to return the case files to the client when he
demanded the same amounted to `misconduct' under Section 35 of the Advocates
Act, the Bench held and said that the appellant (an advocate) in the present
case is liable to punishment for such misconduct.



Los Angeles Times 8/27/00
An obsessive quest to make people see
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20000827/t000080499.html

by J.R. Moehringer
NEW YORK--There isn't room for everyone who wants to see.
The gallery can't hold more than a dozen people at a time, so the crowds who
come each day to see the exhibit must wait. Today, one of the coldest days
of the year, the wait is three hours, and still the line stretches down the
block.
The exhibit features 68 vivid photos of American lynchings. There is a photo
of Frank Embree, a black man whipped across his legs and back and chest,
then hanged. There is a photo of Lee Hall, a black man shot, then hanged,
his ears cut off. There is a photo of Bennie Simmons, a black man hanged,
then burned alive, then shot to pieces. There are photos of men and women,
hanging from trees and bridges and telephone poles, most of them black--a
small number of the 5,000 blacks killed by white mobs, mostly between 1880
and 1940, mostly in the South.



St. Louis Post-Dispatch 8/28/00
Documents signed by Lincoln, Douglas returned to state
http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/news/wires.nsf/StateRegion/F3BB640234867AAF862
56949008112EB?OpenDocument

by John O'Connor
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- A private buyer could have expected to pay as much
as $6,000 for an Abraham Lincoln document recently offered at auction.
Illinois -- its rightful owner -- got it for free.
Warrants made out to and signed by Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, authorizing
the state to pay them for work they had performed, disappeared from state
files more than half a century ago. But the documents made their way back
home earlier this month when state officials discovered them for sale by a
Maine auction house.



Cnnfn.com 8/28/00
Bill may open doctor files
House committee chairman wants to give public access to M.D.'s secret files
http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2000/08/28/life/wires/q_doctor_wg/

Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Patients will be able to examine the government's secret
dossiers on their doctors, including disciplinary actions and malpractice
payments, if a House committee chairman gets his way.
Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va., chairman of the House Commerce Committee, plans to
introduce legislation next week to give the public access to the federal
data bank that tracks critical records on health care providers.


Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Manager, Records Management Group
Woodside Summit Group Inc
Midlothian, Virginia
Office: 804-744-1247 x23
Fax: 804-744-4997
mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com

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