Livestreamed Thursday from Toronto: former NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake

Secret NSA/CSEC Surveillance versus Democracy:
What's at Stake for the US & Canada

Thomas Drake   Former senior NSA official turned whistleblower

Thursday Dec. 5, 12:30PM EST

Room 728, 140 St George Street, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

Livestreaming at http://www.youtube.com/user/iSchoolUofT 

Twitter: #TomDrakeUofT

—
Bio:
From Sept 11, 2001 Thomas Drake served as a senior official at the National Security Agency where he witnessed massive waste, contract fraud and government wrongdoing as well as widespread violations of the 4th Amendment rights of U.S. citizens. While at NSA, he became a material witness and whistleblower for two 9/11 congressional investigations and with a Department of Defense Inspector General audit. Claiming that Drake had disclosed classified information regarding the domestic warrantless surveillance program, the NSA through the Department of Justice charged him with 10 felony charges (including 5 under the Espionage Act carrying 35 year sentences). After years of harassment all these charges were dropped.  The judge hearing his case characterized the government’s treatment of him as "unconscionable”.

While at the NSA Drake was also visiting professor of strategic leadership and information strategy at the National Defense University with the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He was at Booz | Allen | Hamilton as a management, strategy and technology consultant and software quality engineer from 1991-1998. From 1992 to 1997, Drake also served as an all-source Intelligence Officer in the US Navy Reserve at the National Military Joint Intelligence Center (NMJIC), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on the ELINT desk, Terrorism Desk, and the Middle East/North Africa Desk. In 1989, he served as an all-source imagery analyst with US intelligence (CIA).  Prior to 1989, he served in the US Air Force on active duty as an airborne Cryptologic Linguist covering East Germany.
A recipient of several awards for whistleblowing, Drake now writes, speaks and teaches on whistleblowing, the 1st and 4th Amendment, civil liberties, secrecy, surveillance and abusive government power. 

Links:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_Drake 
NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake Statement Before EU Parliament Committee (Video) http://www.whistleblower.org/blog/44-2013/2981-nsa-whistleblower-thomas-drake-statement-before-eu-parliament-committee 

Facing change: a perspective on Canadian Government Publications...

This GODORT Occasional paper just published by Smugler of the Robarts library (U of T) might be of interest: http://wikis.ala.org/godort/images/1/19/OP9-smugler.pdf

Curb federal instant messaging to preserve government record

Possibly of interest:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ban-federal-instant-messaging-preserve-message-trail-watchdog-155404174.html

Readings for December 2 class

Readings for the December 2 class (themes: preservation & privacy) have now been posted.
Preservation

Canadian Government Information Private LOCKSS Network

OCUL Trusted Digital Repository. Browse some of the links to get a sense of the work involved in becoming a trusted digital repository.

Privacy & Surveillance

BC Civil Liberties Association. 2013.  More than 30 organizations uniting to protect Canadians' privacy rights. Read one or more of the articles linked under "more information" and be prepared to discuss.

Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2013. Human rights groups to the UN: reject mass surveillance. Attempt by the "5-eyes" nations (Canada is one) to dilute anti-surveillance language fails.

Geist, M. 2013. The privacy threats in Bill C-13, Part One: partial immunity for personal information disclosures without a warrant

Freedom of Information uncovers Canadian government support for corporate espionage

The Guardian used Freedom of Information requests to uncover this:

Lukacs, M. and Groves, T. (2013). Canadian spies met with energy firms, documents reveal. The Guardian, October 9, 2013.

Historical debates of Canadian Parliament are now online!

As just announced by the Library of Parliament and Canada, the historical debates of the Canadian parliament are now available online.

France releases open data plan to G8

Available here.

New Canada.ca portal will consolidate 1,500 websites

This article from the Ottawa Citizen may be of interest.

Readings for Nov. 11 - copyright & licensing

This is a long list of readings, but most are quite short and a number are websites to skim...

Geist, M. (2013) Introduction. The copyright pentalogy. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. Free download here: http://www.press.uottawa.ca/sites/default/files/9780776620848_Introduction.pdf
(10 pages - brief introduction to one of the major currents in Canadian copyright law)

Government of Canada (2013). Crown copyright and licensing. Website. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/ccl/index.html

Government of Canada (2013). Open government license consultation report. Website. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://data.gc.ca/eng/open-government-licence-consultation-report
-  see also Scassa, T. (2012). Canada's new draft open government license. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://www.teresascassa.ca/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=113:canadas-new-draft-open-government-licence&Itemid=83

U.S. Government (n.d.). Copyright and other rights pertaining to U.S. government works. Website. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://www.usa.gov/copyright.shtml

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (n.d.). What is intellectual property? Website. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/

McLaren, C. (n.d.). Copyrights and copywrongs: interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan. Stay free! 20. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/20/siva_vaidhyanathan.html
(Recommended: Vaidhyanathan's books Copyrights and Copywrongs, or The Anarchist in the Library.

Simeone, T. (2004). Indigeneous traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights. Ottawa: Parliament of Canada. Retrieved Nov. 2013 from http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/prb0338-e.htm

IFLA signs on to International Principles of the Application of Human Rights to Communications Software

Great development! Details here. (thanks to Myron Groover, BCLA Information Policy Committee).

Government data / open data resources

The civicaccess.ca listserv and the datalibre.ca blog are both great sources of the latest information and resources for open data. (With thanks to the civicaccess.ca and datalibre.ca teams, especially Tracey Lauriault.

Currie, L. (2013). The Role of Canadian Municipal Open Data Initiatives: A Multi-City Evaluation. M.A Thesis, Department of Geography, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON. Abstract retrieved October 27, 2013 from http://datalibre.ca/2013/09/25/master-thesis-the-role-of-canadian-municipal-open-data-initiatives-a-multi-city-evaluation/

Reitano, S. (2013). The benefits of open data. Project for Master's Thesis in Organizational Management, Royal Roads University. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from http://beautifuldata.ca/opendata/'

G8 Open Data Charter - Canada signs on. Tracey Lauriault's blogpost summary is a great starting point:  http://datalibre.ca/2013/06/18/g8-open-data-charter-canada-signs-on/

Open Knowledge Foundation (n.d.). Open data handbook. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from http://opendatahandbook.org/

Readings for Nov. 4 (open government)

Also posted in the Welcome Message with the rest of the class readings

Readings for Nov. 4 class - Open Government

Open Government Declaration  http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/open-government-declaration

 

Dupuis, J. (2013). The Canadian War on Science: a long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological incident. Confessions of a science librarian. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/05/20/the-canadian-war-on-science-a-long-unexaggerated-devastating-chronological-indictment/

(read the bibliography, select one item to report on in class)

Government of Canada. Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://data.gc.ca/eng/canadas-action-plan-open-government

Canadian Library Association (2013). Response to Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=14534&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

Government of Canada. 1985. Access to Information Act. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-1/

 

Forthcoming events

As discussed at the first class, in lieu of the September 30th class we agreed that everyone would attend at least one related event and report back to the class. Following are a few upcoming events that may be of interest.

Update October 19th - details about the University of Ottawa library's Open Access Week events are posted here. Note that ÉSIS is well represented - I'm talking on Monday, our class' guest speakers are highlighted, and Tony Horava, André Vellino and Michael Geist will be speaking as well. Arouce Wasty, currently on coop, is part of the OA week planning team and check out the Trivia Night designed for grad students.

October 10th Research Conversation with Catherine McGoveran,  Dalhousie's Social Media Lab Making sense of a networked world (this is a different topic from what Catherine will be presenting to our class later on) Time: 12 – 1:15pm, Location: Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) Room: 6004 

October 11th @ 11:00 - Google Hangout - Open Data (Canada and the UK)

October 21 - 27: Open Access Week, everywhere. Watch for announcements from the University of Ottawa Library.

My talk will be on Monday, October 1, 1:30 - 2:30, FSS 4004, as follows:

Title:  Making the switch to open access: emerging research at uO, and why and how scholars should get involved

Description:  New research by the European Commission suggests that open access is reaching a tipping point, with about 50% of scientific papers published in 2011 now available for free. The University of Ottawa's Dr. Heather Morrison will talk about her emerging research on keys to the transition to an open access scholarly communication ecosystem that is free to prioritize the needs of scholars, and of scholarship. What does it take to sustain open access scholarly publishing led by scholars and scholarly societies? What are the elements of policy and licensing needed for the knowledge commons (as opposed to publisher profits or administrative efficiencies)? There are discussions underway around the world that will have a profound impact on faculty members everywhere. This session will discuss why the voices of scholars are important, and how scholars can get involved. 

Reference:

 EU Commission (2013).  Press Release: Open access to research publications reaching 'tipping point'. Retrieved September 15, 2013 from  http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-786_en.htm

October 30 - Library of Parliament Tour, 5:30 p.m. - LANCR $5. Please RSVP to LANCR, see e-mail for details. 

Media Democracy Days 2013 - Nov. 8 (evening) and Nov. 9 (afternoon). University of Ottawa. Co-sponsored by ÉSIS and the Ottawa Multicultural Media Initiative.
Free registration here: http://mddottawa-es2.eventbrite.com/?rank=1&sid=56102ad72fb411e3acaf12313d095975

Confirmed speakers to date:
Nov. 8 - keynote - Kevin Page
Nov. 9 - Claudette Commanda, Katie Gibbs, Yves Engler, April Carrière, and Albert Dumont

o   Copyright pentalogy conference last week

o   Upcoming: Media Democracy Days Nov. 8 – 9, confirmed speakers, registration open

First Monday special issue on Big Data

Interested in open government data? This month's First Monday is a special issue on Big Data.

Tips from Barbara Pilek

Update October 1: some of you might have an opportunity to make good use of these tips, as the Library of Parliament is currently advertising for a research librarian 

As promised here are some tips from Barbara Pilek:

In terms of preparing for future positions:

• Develop your search and research skills

• Get some experience in a library on a co-op, intern or volunteer basis

• Ensure that your résumé covers all of the requirements listed in the job poster and indicates whether you are bilingual

• Study for competitions to show that you are interested in the position and willing to make an effort to prepare for the competition.

• Study for the knowledge requirements listed in the poster.  For example, for our reference positions, develop your knowledge of parliamentary and current affairs, and of databases and reference sources in political science or legislative affairs

• For each requirement on a job poster poster, try to imagine 2-3 questions that might be asked to determine whether you have that particular knowledge, experience or skill.  You may be able to find job help websites that provide questions and/or answers to common interview questions.

• If you have trouble coming up with examples from your experiences in an interview setting, prepare in advance by coming up with examples from your experience that illustrate the skills and experience listed in the poster

• Find a fellow student who is willing to practice asking and answering questions that relate the posted requirements and your background

• If the employer mentions the possibility of a follow-up after the interview/exam, take them up on it, and learn from the feedback.

Reference Databases for Parliamentary and Political Affairs

EBSCO / Academic Search
PAIS
Political Science Abstracts or Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)
Proquest Political Science

Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA)
Canadian Periodical Index (CPI)

Index to Canadian Legal Literature or Legal Periodicals

Some responses to open government consultation

The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association's response may be of interest especially if your term paper might be on access to information or open government http://fipa.bc.ca/library/Reports_and_Submissions/FIPA_Submission--%20OGP%20commitments--Aug%202013.pdf

Democracy Watch response

The British Columbia Library Association's statement is linked from http://tinyurl.com/n5q64f9

The Centre for Law and Democracy's statement is available via http://www.law-democracy.org/live/cld-contributes-to-canadas-ogp-consultation/

Individual submissions are posted at http://tinyurl.com/mkkq29l (haven't checked the link)

Of further interest, Vincent Gogolek's editorial on the consultation process in the Huffington Post Canada: "Stephen Harper's Secret Open Data Survey" http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/vincent-gogolek/secret-federal-survey_b_3869401.html

(from the Open Government list)

Canadian Library Association Government Information Network

The CLA Government Information Network maintains a blog. Recent activity includes participating in the preparation of the CLA response to the open government consultation (another awesome example of an advocacy brief!). Thanks to network Moderator Caron Rollins.

Canadian government information private LOCKSS network

A new initiative worth looking at - possibly a term paper topic or emerging topic for the last class? http://plnwiki.lockss.org/wiki/index.php/CGI_network

(thanks to our astute Director Lynne Bowker for the tip)

CanLII hackathon videos now available

The CanLII hackathon is a great fit with the topic for next Monday's class, on laws and regulations. For those unable to attend the hackathon, note that the videos are now available on the CanLII website.

Suzanne Legault's presentation (see the first video) is worth watching for anyone interested in Access to Information.

There will be a brief period for discussing the hackathon at Monday's class, so if anyone who would like to share their perspectives whether you've attended in-person, virtually, or watched presentation,  there will be time.

Advocacy brief assignment for September 30: examples

Following are just a few examples of advocacy briefs to consider for your September 30 assignment - remember yours only needs to be one page long!

The Canadian Library Associations' Pre-Budget Consultation 2013 submission:
http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=14400&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

Joint Statement on Qualities of a Successful Librarian and Archivist of Canada
http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=14209

British Columbia Library Association (BCLA)  Letter re: New Librarian and Archivist of Canada
http://www.bcla.bc.ca/News/BCLA_LAC-Letter.pdf

BCLA response to consultation on Canada's Action Plan on Open Government
http://www.bcla.bc.ca/page/news/ezlist_item_b38a3e36-3869-42cd-a3c4-f5007d6c09f3.aspx?_s=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bcla.bc.ca%2fpage%2fnews.aspx#.UjdJ1rwfnoA

Open access submission to Canada's Digital Economy consultation
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.ca/2010/06/open-access-submission-to-canadas.html

CanLII registration - let me know if you'd like me to register you.

Registration for the CanLII conference and hackathon requires either LinkedIn or Facebook. If you prefer not to use these tools to register (for privacy reasons?), but would like to attend, please let me know and I'll register you.

Library of Parliament Tour: update - to be rescheduled

We'll need to reschedule as neither the 2nd nor the 9th will work - we'll discuss the options with Barbara Pilek when she comes to speak to class on Monday.

Original message follows - hope this isn't too confusing!

Our Library of Parliament tour has been confirmed for Wednesday, October 2nd at 3:00 p.m. RSVPs are required as a list of names must be provided for security purposes. We can gather names at next Monday's class.

Update: October 2nd is still somewhat tentative. Our alternative will be October 9th. Stay tuned!

Welcome to Information Policy and Government Publications (ISI 5164)

Now available: resources for Nov. 4  class. 

This is a blog for ISI 5164, Information Policy and Government Publications, a course that I am teaching in the fall of 2013 for the University of Ottawa's École des sciences de l'information / School of Information Studies. The course is taught in English, but students may contribute assignments and discussion in either English or French according to the University of Ottawa's policy on bilingualism, and I may do some teaching in French as well in the spirit of proactive bilingualism of our school. For the most part this is a senior seminar-based course with minimal lecture material so posting to this blog is likely to be infrequent. 

One of the reasons for creating this blog is to link to the readings from this course, as open access readings will be selected to the greatest extent possible. The course syllabus can be viewed from here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5n66wofwO7aeHhKWXRXWTFmT3c/edit?usp=sharing 

The future of government publication is likely to involve working with open data. Students have an exceptional opportunity to participate in the CanLII hackathon coming up September 13 - 14 in the Desmarais Building! Registration is free, and recommended. You can sign up for just one of the days. 

Here are the readings for September 16:

Birdsall, W.F. Libraries, communication rights, and access in a digital world. In: Adams, K. & W.F. Birdsall (eds).,  Access to information in a digital world. Canadian Library Association, 2004., p. 151-171. PDF will be provided to students for free, thanks to CLA. Let me know if you have not received a link to download the book from me by the end of the day on September 9.

Trosow, Samuel E. A holistic model of information policy. Feliciter 56:2, March 2010. http://samtrosow.ca/images/trosow-infopolicy-feliciter.pdf

Readings for September 23, the "readings" are a combination of light / FAQ type reading and a set of resources to become a little bit familiar with. Try a little bit of searching or browsing a number of government sites with a view to finding laws and regulations.

How Parliament Works / FAQ on how bills become laws
(english) http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISinfo/Faq.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1
 (french) http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISinfo/Faq.aspx?Mode=1&Language=F 

Debates (Hansard) - experiment with searching using the index or keywords
(english) http://www.parl.gc.ca/housechamberbusiness/ChamberSittings.aspx?View=H&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1
(french) http://www.parl.gc.ca/housechamberbusiness/ChamberSittings.aspx?View=H&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1&Language=F

Transport Canada regulations. Can you spot regulations that might be of interest to people in Lac Mégantic?
(english) http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/acts-regulations/regulations.htm
(french) http://www.tc.gc.ca/fra/lois-reglements/reglements.htm

Justice Canada - consolidated regulations 
(english) http://www.laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/
(french) http://www.laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/fra/reglements/
 

CanLII

http://www.canlii.org/en/

Government of Ontario e-laws

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/navigation?file=home&lang=en

National Capital Commission: Regulations

http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/about-ncc/regulations

By-laws: City of Ottawa

http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/laws-licenses-and-permits/laws

Ville de Gatineau – Règlements municipaux

http://www.gatineau.ca/page.asp?p=guichet_municipal/reglements_municipaux

On September 30, the assignment due is an advocacy brief for library services relating to government policy (e.g. need for federal government libraries or Library and Archives Canada). By an interesting coincidence, the Royal Society of Canada has formed an Expert Panel of the Status and Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives which is currently in the process of consultations on this question. The Protocols for Public Consultations of the Royal Society of Canada says that "All persons must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard or to file written submissions" from
http://rsc-src.ca/en/expert-panels/protocols-for-public-consultations. Students may wish to tailor this assignment as a submission to this consultation process. Update: the Expert Panel is keeping a blog http://clagov.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/rsc-panel-news/
(thanks to the CLA Government Information Network) 
Sample advocacy briefs are posted here

Readings for September 30: your choice of two articles from the 2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries. Be prepared to share highlights of your selected articles at the October 7th class. Note for discussion purposes that this document is published by Lexis Nexis.


Also on September 30 is the reception for the ÉSIS accreditation committee from 5:30 - 7:00. Class is cancelled and all students are invited to attend. On September 9th the class agreed that in lieu of this class students will attend one alternative event (e.g. either September 13 or 14th of the CanLII Hackathon, Nov. 8 or part of Nov. 9th Media Democracy Days, and report back to class (whether in-person or via blog or twitter. There are no marks for this assignment. Students may suggest additional alternative events.

Readings for October 7

Groover, M. (2013). LAC Code of Conduct: First Look and My Ideal LAC Code of Conduct Press Release. Bibliocracy, March 2013.  

Dupuis, J.  (2013). The Canadian War on Science: a long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment. Confessions of a science librarian.

Readings for October 21 (Open Access Week)

Watch for OA Week events at uO library and everywhere

Morrison, H. (2012).  What is open access? and open access policy. From: Chapter 6, Open access. Freedom for scholarship in the information age. Doctoral dissertation, Simon Fraser University. Pages 44 - 47 and 71-77. Retrieved September 23, 2013 from http://summit.sfu.ca/item/12537

Morrison, H. (2013). Kudos to the UK Business, Innovation and Skills Committee: important steps in the right direction. The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics, September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013 from http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.ca/2013/09/kudos-to-uk-business-innovation-skills.html
  
Suber, P. (2012). Chapter 4: Policies. From: Open access. Cambridge, Massachussetts: MIT Press. Retrieved September 23, 2013 from http://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/openaccess/Suber_11_chap4.html#chap4

Readings for Nov. 4 class - Open Government

Open Government Declaration  http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/open-government-declaration

Dupuis, J. (2013). The Canadian War on Science: a long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological incident. Confessions of a science librarian. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/05/20/the-canadian-war-on-science-a-long-unexaggerated-devastating-chronological-indictment/

(read the bibliography, select one item to report on in class)

Government of Canada. Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://data.gc.ca/eng/canadas-action-plan-open-government

Canadian Library Association (2013). Response to Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=14534&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

Government of Canada. 1985. Access to Information Act. Retrieved Oct. 2013 from http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-1/

Readings for Dec. 2 class 

Preservation

Canadian Government Information Private LOCKSS Network

OCUL Trusted Digital Repository. Browse some of the links to get a sense of the work involved in becoming a trusted digital repository.

Privacy

BC Civil Liberties Association. 2013.  More than 30 organizations uniting to protect Canadians' privacy rights. Read one or more of the articles linked under "more information" and be prepared to discuss.

Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2013. Human rights groups to the UN: reject mass surveillance. Attempt by the "5-eyes" nations (Canada is one) to dilute anti-surveillance language fails.