Obama administration | TechPresident

Why the VA's Blue Button Could Be a Big Deal

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, September 2 2010

The Department of Veterans Affairs is rolling out something called the "Blue Button" that's both drop-dead simple and potentially powerful when it comes managing the health of America's soldiers and vets. Read More

W.H. Builds Message Wall for the Troops

BY Nancy Scola | Monday, August 30 2010

Hunting "Propaganda," GOP Watchdog Sets Sights on Obama's New Media

BY Nancy Scola | Monday, August 16 2010

Photo credit: vanhookc Read More

W.H. Open for -- Po' Boy-Related -- Questions

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, August 13 2010

Here's where you go to ask the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aka NOAA, whether it's safe to eat Gulf Coast shrimp, oysters, and other sea-borne delicacies put at risk by the BP oil ... Read More

Quote of the Day: Too Much Cable for Gibbs

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, August 10 2010

Federal Regulatory Rulemaking and You!

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, August 5 2010

Obama: 10 People Have My Email, Half the Age of My Tweeter

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, July 30 2010

White House Debuts "Daily Snapshot" E-Newsletter

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, July 27 2010

As we recently mentioned, the Obama White House has launched a series of weekly emails on various policy topics, starting off with newsletters on energy policy and the economy. Read More

Where's POTUS?

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, July 27 2010

When Bad IT Attacks. Again. And Again.

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, July 22 2010

We were been perhaps premature in awarding our quote of the day earlier. Because this, spoken by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack in a piece on the Shirley Sherrod affair by Glenn Thrush and Ben Smith, is a very, very strong ... 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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