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Quotations of interest that may affect counties |
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SOUND FAMILIAR? The Department of Homeland Security is testing a data-mining program that would attempt to spot terrorists by combing vast amounts of information about average Americans, such as flight and hotel reservations. Similar to a Pentagon program killed by Congress in 2003 over concerns about civil liberties, the new program could take effect as soon as next year. But researchers testing the system are likely to already have violated privacy laws by reviewing real information, instead of fake data, according to a source familiar with a ongressional investigation into the $42.5 million program. Bearing the unwieldy name Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE), the program is on the cutting edge of analytical technology that applies mathematical algorithms to uncover hidden relationships in data. The idea is to troll a vast sea of information, including audio and visual, and extract suspicious people, places and other elements based on their links and behavioral patterns. – Washington Post NEW BLENDS Mashups. It could be the next monster app(lication). Two years ago, the search engine Google released a mapping function that allows anyone to manipulate Google’s maps for their specific needs. By inserting other data into them, they could pair two existing pieces of technological information together to form a new whole. While it’s been quite the rage among the YouTube and MySpace set, several government and government-oriented sites have begun mashing up maps from Google, Microsoft and others with existing data to create customized new uses. In Ohio, for instance, the Public Safety Department’s Highway Division is now merging fatal crash data with the mapping technology. Boston transit stations are part of a mashup that allows riders to find the shortest distance between two stations or figure out the fastest way to get point to point, both walking and using the train. A private site in Chicago is blending Chicago Police Department data with Google Maps to allow the public to see crime statistics online and sort the data in different ways. – Governing Magazine THE RIGHT WORD In response to HB 409 by Eissler proposing to require parolees to achieve a G.E.D to complete supervision, Rep. Pat Haggerty (R-El Paso) replied that the funding wasn’t there to support it, and the failure of the Texas Legislature to provide that funding was “criminal.” The number of inmates served by the (the prison system’s) Windham School District, Haggerty told the Corrections Committee this morning, hadn’t significantly increased since there were 38,000 inmates in Texas before 1993. Now we have more than 155,000 inmates, said Haggerty, and Windham School District is “probably about the same size” as in 1993. Worse, he said, Windham’s budget was mercilessly slashed four years ago and never restored. “The cuts we made in ‘03 ... were criminal,” said Haggerty. “We should be in prison for what we did in ‘03.” – Grits for Breakfast blog. MEMO: LESS IS BETTER Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Managing Editor Philip Bennett memoed the staff about a topic that has been on the duo’s forward agenda since late last year: A reduced news hole requires editors to keep stories tight and to the point. One bit of the memo’s advice — “Watch out for artificial transitions. They burn up space needlessly. In many newspaper stories you don’t need a transition from one idea to the next.” If followed to the letter, much of the memo’s advice would produce a newspaper I wouldn’t want to buy. I don’t read newspapers to save time. If I did, USA Today would be my primary newspaper. I read newspapers to take up time. --Writer Jack Shafer in an online column for Slate. |
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EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF DIRECT ELECTRONIC FILING IN CRIMINAL CASES: CLOSING THE PAPER TRAP. This 15 8-page report by the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A & M University identifies critical points in the case filing process where counties can gain efficiency and cost-effectiveness by integrating work practices with technology and inter-departmental communication. Available at www.courts.state.tx.us/tfid/pdf/FinalReport7-12-06wackn.pdf. STATE AND LOCAL OUTLOOK ON HOMELAND SECURITY. A special 12-page report by Governing magazine published
in October 2006 takes a look at weak spots, REAL ID cards and interoperable communications ABOVE THE LAW. This 12-page report sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and the Texas State Rifle Association gives a brief, opinionated look at how prosecutors and law enforcement responded to legislation passed in 2005 meant to clarify the right of Texans to carry handguns in their vehicles. Look at www.aclutx.org/files/070226GunReportFinal-2.pdf. THE NO ASSHOLE RULE by Robert I. Sutton COUNTIES IN RUNNING FOR NEW ‘SPACE RACE.’ Charles Taylor, a staff writer
for the National Association of Counties, investigates the future of commercial spaceports |
