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RAIN: Holiday Update 12/20/01 Part 2



There are 14 stories in this posting


Washington Post 12/20/01
Freedom, openness and presidential papers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3912-2001Dec19.html

by Alberto R. Gonzales
Recently President Bush signed an executive order to further implement the 1978 Presidential Records Act, the law that establishes a process for reviewing and releasing documents of former presidents. This order ensures expeditious disclosure of documents to provide historians, scholars and the public valuable insights into the way our government works.



Contra Costa Times 12/20/01
Group proposes constitutional amendment to help public records requests
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/california/stories_statebrk/records_20011219.htm

by Jim Wasserman
AP
SACRAMENTO -- Californians seeking records, documents and other information that public agencies keep secret may get new help next year.
Advocates for open government are considering a constitutional amendment to make cities, counties and other agencies explain why providing documents would create a bigger problem.



Virginian Pilot 12/20/01
Patient's say doctors' online profiles missing vital information
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1220doc.html

by Liz Szabo
Five months after its debut, a Virginia Web site designed to equip patients with key information about every physician in the state still has significant gaps that compromise usefulness for consumers.
Patients complain that the site, launched in July by the state Board of Medicine, is riddled with omissions and inaccuracies.



Kentucky New Era 12/19/01
Editorial: Well-intended tinkering will harm informed public
http://www.kentuckynewera.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200112/19+OUR-OPINION-12-19-01_news.html+20011219+news

Kentucky citizens from Pikeville to Fulton can be proud that sunshine has found its way into the records and ledgers of local and state government for 25 years.
Kentucky passed the Open Records Act in 1976 and with few exceptions, the "sunshine law" guarantees citizens access to records held by local and state governments, such as budgets, expense records, payroll and police reports.



Richmond Times Dispatch 12/20/01
Log on to the legislature?
http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/MGB4QJDZFVC.html

by Tyler Whitley
Congress has C-SPAN. Why not L-SPAN?
The General Assembly has begun a study that could lead to showing General Assembly sessions over the Internet.
On Tuesday, the Joint Rules Committee accepted, without action or discussion, a study prepared by the Virginia Association of Public Television Stations showing a video streaming service could be offered for about $28,000 a session. That would be the cost of making the service available to 800 computer users.



The Australian 12/21/01
Privacy laws for private sector
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,3473649%255E421,00.html

by Benjamin Haslem and Selina Mitchell
FROM today, Australians will be able to demand access to their medical records, tell direct marketing companies to stop sending them junk mail and check the accuracy of information used to approve a home loan.
The new freedoms are part of sweeping changes to laws affecting how private businesses handle personal information, from someone's name and address to their medical history or sexuality.



Honolulu Advertiser 12/20/01
Photos solve mystery of Waialua bandstand
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Dec/20/ln/ln40a.html

by Will Hoover
They are old, brittle, faded, fuzzy and only slightly larger than wallet size - but three photographs that were unearthed this week prove beyond a doubt that a bandstand once existed in Waialua.



New York Times 12/20/01
Reading the meter (and the customer) from afar
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/20/technology/circuits/20NEXT.html

by Eric A. Taub
FOR decades, neither rain nor sleet has kept the familiar utility company meter readers from their appointed rounds. But soon technology and terror may alter that tradition. The one stranger that Americans still widely permit to enter backyards and basements could eventually be replaced by automated systems that collect and transmit highly accurate, regularly updated information from electric, gas and other meters to a main office, untouched by human hands.



Canoe.ca 12/19/01
Saskatchewan business fined $200,000 over falsified documents
http://www.canoe.ca/WesternTicker/CANOE-wire.Tobacco-Fine.html

Moose Jaw Times Herald
MOOSE JAW, Sask. (CP) -- The Western Tobacco Corp. and its owner were fined more than $200,000 Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges under the federal Excise Act.
Stephen Hamilton pleaded guilty through his lawyer to four counts of falsifying business records relating to the non-collection of duty charges and one count of fraud under $5,000.



New York Times 12/20/01
Striving to top the search lists
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/10/technology/ebusiness/10ECOM.html

by Bob Tedeschi
HEADING into the home stretch of the holiday e-tailing season, millions of consumers will once again rely on search engines to help find the items they want.



New York Times 12/20/01
Surfing from an embarrassing news group history to doubts about 'It'
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/20/technology/circuits/20DIAR.html

by Pamela LiCalzi O'Connell
History Unearthed
There was a search frenzy last week when the Google search engine made available an archive of postings from the Usenet electronic message boards going back to their inception 20 years ago. Suddenly years of Net history - and social history - emerged as if magically from memory's hard drive.



The Montana Standard 12/20/01
Council Oks modification in documents deadline
http://www.mtstandard.com/rednews////2001/12/20/build/newslocal/lnews33.html

Staff
New policy will guarantee same-day recording
In a spirit of compromise, commissioners voted Wednesday night to approve a new Clerk and Recorder's Office policy that guarantees same-day recording only for documents brought in by 4:10 p.m. On days when county offices close at noon, the deadline will be 11:10 a.m.



The Age 12/21/01
New Aust privacy laws bite from today
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2001/12/21/FFXPCWGUGVC.html

New privacy laws effective from today will put power into the hands of consumers to say no to junk mailers and telemarketers.
Under the new laws, consumers have a legal right to see personal details collected by private firms and correct it.



New York Times 12/20/01
Using e-mail to count connections
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/20/technology/circuits/20STUD.html

by Sarah Milstein
THE "six degrees of separation" theory has been used to explain everything from why it is likely that your neighbor went to school with your doctor to why every film actor in Hollywood is closely linked to Kevin Bacon. The theory was developed in the 1960's by Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist who suggested that every person in the United States is connected through a chain of, at most, six people.




Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Va