First POST: Decay
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, May 21 2014
The USA Freedom Act surveillance reform bill is getting watered down; Data.gov's 5th anniversary is no cause for celebration; Iran cracks down on "Happy" YouTube video sharers; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Civics Lessons
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, May 5 2014
Code for America wants civic tech to work for everyone, not just City Hall; how Netflix faces an uphill battle for influence in Washington, DC; why Bitcoin is a scam; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Civics Lessons
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, May 5 2014
Code for America wants civic tech to work for everyone, not just City Hall; how Netflix faces an uphill battle for influence in Washington, DC; why Bitcoin is a scam; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Corruption, Shmorruption!
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, April 2 2014
The Supreme Court upends the rest of the campaign finance system; Mozilla's embattled CEO makes his case; peer-to-peer mobile bluetooth messaging service FireChat takes off in Taiwan; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Can You Hear Me Now?
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, December 17 2013
Federal District Court Judge Richard Leon blasts the NSA's phone metadata collection program; Edward Snowden sees vindication in the preliminary ruling; the Internet Archive unveils an amazing visualization of the "geography of US TV news"; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Taking Over
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, November 26 2013
How privacy concerns will fit into the next populist wave in US politics; Glenn Greenwald and Paul Carr spar; why the number of lobbyists in Washington is probably double what you think; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Reverberations
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, October 7 2013
Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: The NSA vs the Tor Project; was Healthcare.gov just overwhelmed by unexpected demand; China's "maker" movement; the Supreme Court still "doesn't get" email; and much, much more. Read More
Disclosure: I'm Joining Public Lab's Board, and Here's Why
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, January 28 2013
Department of Disclosure update: I'm pleased to announce that I've joined the volunteer board of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science. Founded in 2011 by a collective of seven, Public Lab, as it's known in short, is a community that develops and applies open-source tools to environmental exploration and investigation, like balloon mapping and kitchen-table spectrometers. By democratizing inexpensive and accessible “Do-It-Yourself” techniques, Public Laboratory is nurturing a collaborative network of practitioners who are actively re-imagining the human relationship with the environment. Read More
Posting Calendars Ain't Easy, at Least at the CFPB
BY Nancy Scola | Friday, March 25 2011
Posting the calendars of elected officials was one of the earliest calls to come out of the open government movement, but the Consumer Financial Protection Board's Matt Burton suggests one possible reason pick-up has ... Read More
Can I Get a Witness...to Declare Their Financial Ties
BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, March 9 2011
From the transparency-in-action files, observed: popping up on congressional committee websites now are the "Truth in Testimony" declarations that are newly required to be posted within a day alongside ... Read More