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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 friday >

Twitter Angling For More International Users

Twitter is following Facebook and Google's lead in creating an avenue for feature phone users to access their service, even without an Internet connection. They have partnered with the Singapore-based company U2opia Mobile, Reuters reports.

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thursday >

Pakistanis Show Their Love For YouTube in Vimeo Video

Although YouTube (the website) has been banned in Pakistan for more than a year now, that didn't keep YouTube (the mascot) from walking the streets of Karachi last month, asking for hugs from Pakistanis who want the video sharing site back. The self-described citizens resistance forum Pakistan for All filmed the stunt as part of their #KholoBC campaign, which opposes Internet censorship and content regulation by the government.

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wednesday >

Examining Russia's Censorship Record

Russia wants to protect children. That is their excuse for a law that gives them the power to selectively censor Internet content. Information about homosexuality or suicide, which Russia refers to as propaganda, are among the banned subjects deemed harmful to children. Earlier this year a Russian prosecutor asked a court to block the website Pobedish.ru (“you win”), part of the suicide prevention resource group Perezhit.ru, which incorporates input from psychologists, psychiatrists, forensic experts and the clergy. Because that makes sense.

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Ruck.us Dies Down; Yet Another Political Social Network Goes Bust

For two years now, Ruck.us, the political social network start-up founded by political scions Nathan Dasche (aka Abu Tom, former Senate majority leader), and Raymond Glendening (aka Abu Parris, former Maryland governor) has gotten an unearned and adoring press from the usual places. But today, it's announcing a pivot, away from being a political social network for independent voters, and toward being a digital toolkit for political candidates. GO

In Ottawa, Open Data App Competition Mysteriously Disappears

Shortly after the city of Ottawa released their new smartphone traffic navigation app in mid-November, the negative reviews started to pour in: users reported bugs logging in and bemoaned a lack of features. It was a disappointing product all around, but especially so when one considered that it cost the city roughly $95,000. Then the Ottawa Citizen revealed that the city had considered sponsoring an open data competition, but ultimately chose to give the massive contract to a Toronto company.

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tuesday >

Citizen Journalists Take On Rape And Domestic Violence

In August I wrote about a citizen journalism project in India called CGNet Swara, which residents of the central Indian state Chhattisgarh were using as a kind of government watchdog/accountability site. Since then, reports per day have nearly doubled, up to 400 a day, and a Global Post story highlights how the tool is being used by women to combat rampant rape and domestic violence.

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NYC Unveils Sandy Funding Tracking Portal Amid Calls for Transparency

New York City on Monday unveiled the first iteration of an online platform designed to track the city's dissemination of federal disaster recovery and resilience funds in connection with the aftermath from Superstorm Sandy. While advocates expressed concerns that not enough of the data was available in a disaggregated, accessible and downloadable format, city officials told techPresident they are working to make as much underlying data available as they could through New York City's Open Data portal. GO

2013 Corruption Perception Index Is In And It's Not Pretty

Transparency International just released their Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, and the prognosis is not looking good. Of the 177 ranked countries, more than two-thirds scored less than 50 out of a max score of 100. Not a one got a perfect score, with Denmark and New Zealand tying for first with scores of 91. On the other end of the spectrum, Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia squeaked out measly eights.

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monday >

Internet Giants Like Google Take On New Roles In Indian Elections

Last week Google India launched an online portal for all things election-related. The portal is meant to educate voters about the electoral process and provide information about political parties and candidates. A press release describes it as a “one stop destination” to help voters make an informed decision.

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Egyptian Authorities Extend Detainment of Prominent Activist and Blogger

On the night of November 28, well-known Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abd El Fattah was arrested by Egyptian security forces for his involvement in a demonstration against a new law meant to repress political protests. Fattah and fellow activist Ahmad Maher were arrested for allegedly organizing the demonstration without the requisite three day advance notice to the Interior Ministry, a stipulation of the new law they were protesting. On December 1, a prosecutor ordered the release of Ahmed Maher, but renewed Alaa Abd El Fattah's detention for 15 days.

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