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First POST: Searches

BY Nick Judd | Thursday, June 6 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Far-reaching surveillance of civilians under the Obama administration; better news for advocates of open city data; the start of our 2013 conference and more in today's roundup of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

First POST: New Hires

BY Nick Judd | Wednesday, June 5 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: The GOP's new technology hire; how Internet mogul Sean Parker's wedding was risky for California redwoods; and more in today's round-up of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

Republicans, Here Is Your New CTO

BY Nick Judd | Wednesday, June 5 2013

The Republican Party announced last night that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has fulfilled his promise to hire a chief technology officer to serve as the party's central point person for technology. The RNC announced Andrew Barkett, a manager at Facebook previously responsible for overseeing teams of engineers, will be picking up the mantle. Read More

First POST: Unrest

BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, June 4 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Social media and unrest in Turkey; federal officials' curious application of the Freedom of Information Act to emails; and more in today's round-up of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

First POST: There's Hacking, Then There's Civic Hacking

BY Nick Judd | Monday, June 3 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Social media's role in unrest in Turkey; outcomes from the National Day of Civic Hacking; and more in today's roundup of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

First POST: Going to Washington

BY Nick Judd | Friday, May 31 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: The White House's newest employee; the video game console that has German officials worried; and more in today's round-up of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

Code for America's Jennifer Pahlka to Take a Year-Long "Fellowship" as Deputy U.S. CTO

BY Nick Judd | Thursday, May 30 2013

Jennifer Pahlka. Photo: transportationcamp

Thursday, Code for America and the White House announced that Jennifer Pahlka will take a leave of absence from her organization to become the next deputy U.S. chief technology officer for government innovation, working for the limited term of one year under current CTO Todd Park. Read More

First POST: Big Moves

BY Nick Judd | Thursday, May 30 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Former Obama staffers launch a new consultancy with the biggest of big-name investors; Chicago's chief data officer leaves the public sector; and more in today's round-up of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

First POST: Bachmann's Tea Party is Over

BY Nick Judd | Wednesday, May 29 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Michele Bachmann's Congressional career is coming to an end; Facebook says it has failed to suppress messages of violence against women; and more in today's round-up of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

First POST: Our Data, Ourselves

BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, May 28 2013

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Renegotiating the app economy, watching the spread of open data in government, digital tea leaves in the 2016 presidential race and more in today's round-up of news about technology in politics from around the web. Read More

News Briefs

RSS Feed thursday >

Mastercard Funding New Mobile-Based Financial Services in Kenya (Updated)

MasterCard is funding a Grameen Foundation initiative to bring financial services to the poor and the unbanked in Kenya.

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Transparency and Public Shaming: Pakistan Tackles Tax Evasion

In Pakistan, where only one in 200 citizens files their income tax return, authorities published a directory of taxpayers' details for the first time. Officials explained the decision as an attempt to shame defaulters into paying up.

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wednesday >

Facebook Seeks Approval as Financial Service in Ireland. Is the Developing World Next?

On April 13 the Financial Times reported that Facebook is only weeks away from being approved as a financial service in Ireland. Is this foray into e-money motivated by Facebook's desire to conquer the developing world before other corporate Internet giants do? Maybe.

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The Rise and Fall of Iran's “Blogestan”

The robust community of Iranian bloggers—sometimes nicknamed “Blogestan”—has shrunk since its heyday between 2002 – 2010. “Whither Blogestan,” a recent report from the University of Pennsylvania's Iran Media Program sought to find out how and why. The researchers performed a web crawling analysis of Blogestan, survey 165 Persian blog users, and conducted 20 interviews with influential bloggers in the Persian community. They found multiple causes of the decline in blogging, including increased social media use and interference from authorities.

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tuesday >

Weekly Readings: What the Govt Wants to Know

A roundup of interesting reads and stories from around the web. GO

Russia to Treat Bloggers Like Mass Media Because "the F*cking Journalists Won't Stop Writing"

The worldwide debate over who is and who isn't a journalist has raged since digital media made it much easier for citizen journalists and other “amateurs” to compete with the big guys. In the United States, journalists are entitled to certain protections under the law, such as the right to confidential sources. As such, many argue that blogging should qualify as journalism because independent writers deserve the same legal protections as corporate employees. In Russia, however, earning a place equal to mass media means additional regulations and obligations, which some say will lead to the repression of free speech.

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Politics for People: Demanding Transparent and Ethical Lobbying in the EU

Today the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) launched a campaign called Politics for People that asks candidates for the European Parliament to pledge to stand up to secretive industry lobbyists and to advocate for transparency. The Politics for People website connects voters with information about their MEP candidates and encourages them to reach out on Facebook, Twitter or by email to ask them to sign the pledge.

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monday >

Security Agencies Given Full Access to Telecom Data Even Though "All Lebanese Can Not Be Suspects"

In late March, Lebanese government ministers granted security agencies unrestricted access to telecommunications data in spite of some ministers objections that it violates privacy rights. Global Voices reports that the policy violates Lebanon's existing surveillance and privacy law, Law 140, but has gotten little coverage from the country's mainstream media.

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