Friday, March 30, 2007

Balancing Privacy and Public Access to "Public" Documents Privacy advocate prompts Colorado to end web access to some public documents. Yesterday the Colorado Secretary of State's office moved quickly to shut down online access to documents with Social Security numbers after a privacy advocate notified them about the potential breach of sensitive information.[Computerworld Breaking News] Earlier California Secretary of State Debra Bowen also removed these documents. She said her office was also freezing bulk electronic sales of its Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) database until all but the last four digits of Social Security numbers were removed from documents. The California Secretary of State has approximately 2 million UCC filings on record, of which about a third contain Social Security numbers. How do I know if mine was among those? 10:06:45 PM    comment [] Almost April: an IRS Security report Report: IRS bungles may imperil data. Blog: Just in time for tax day, government auditors have issued a new report that raps the Internal Revenue Service on a number of security... [CNET News.com] 9:59:20 PM    comment [] An Unexpected Vulnerability Users warned on Windows cursors. Microsoft is warning users about a flaw in Windows animated cursors that could leave PCs open to attack. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition] Have we reached the point where every feature of Windows has some possibility of attack? I think fonts fonts have been free from flaws so far, but correct me if I missed those. 9:56:35 PM    comment [] Interesting for Accessibility IBM helps blind 'see' web video. IBM developed a multimedia browser to make content accessible to vision impaired people [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition] Government websites have a responsibility to provide content for those with disabilities. Under State and Federal Law, government agencies, AKA public entities, must provide individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from their programs. Services must be as effective in affording equal opportunity: to obtain the same result to gain the same benefit to reach the same level of achievement For public entities, program access is not limited to making facilities physically accessible. Adhering to program access requirements includes effective communication practices, proper public meeting protocols, accessible signage, the designation of a responsible employee to serve as contact for concerns or grievances and other aspects of program services that mere physical accessibility does not fulfill. With more state public meetings and hearings on television broadcast or on the web, an accessible video form would help achieve the effective communication practices for all. 9:53:34 PM    comment []

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