Senate | TechPresident

On Tweeting in a Tornado

BY Nick Judd | Thursday, May 5 2011

Federal Emergency Management Administration Administrator Craig Fugate is now discussing social media and disaster response with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. C-SPAN is offering ... Read More

Inside the Senate E-Mail Hoaxes

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, July 9 2010

From the Greatly Exaggerated Senate Email Files

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, July 7 2010

Capitol Police are looking into email spoofs engineered to look like they were coming from the offices of Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that announced their respective ... Read More

The 15,000

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, February 10 2010

Credit: GRITtv Yesterday's episode of Laura Flanders' daily GRITtv program was on the topic of whether or not the United States Senate ha Read More

Massachusetts Special: The State of the Brown vs. Coakley (Online) Race

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, January 19 2010

As we reach the very end of the Massachusetts special election, we're seeing a ramping up of folks working to extract what the race means for the state of online politics. Read More

Rebuilding Through Bombs: Scott Brown's One-Day, One Million Dollar (Plus) Haul

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, January 12 2010

The Massachusetts Senate seat up for grabs in next week's suddenly very exciting special election has leading Republicans gearing up their online operations on behalf of Republican candidate Scott Brown, who is ... Read More

Solving the health care reform puzzle (video)

BY Nancy Scola | Monday, December 14 2009

OFA's Ready with Tweets to Send Your Senator

BY Nancy Scola | Monday, July 27 2009

Throughout the past several months of the health reform debate, the theme that significant health reform can't wait has been one of the most consistent themes in the approach of President Obama and other strong advocates ... Read More

Aneesh Chopra's Not-So-Grueling Day on Capitol Hill

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, May 20 2009

NextGov's Aliya Sternstein has really been doing some tremendous reporting about the nitty-gritty of the DC tech and policy scene. In her latest report, Sternstein tells of a rather airy Senate confirmation hearing for ... Read More

The U.S. Senate, Networked

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, May 6 2009

News Briefs

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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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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.

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.

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.

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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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.

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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