A Trend You Can\u27t Ignore: Social Media as Government Records and Its Impact on the Interpretation of the Law

There has been a sharp increase in official communications from government agencies and elected officials that occur initially, primarily, and even solely, on social media. The Federal Records Act (FRA), Presidential Records Act (PRA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) govern the retention, access, preservation and disclosure of records produced by the federal government. Recent litigation has highlighted why courts, attorneys, and other legal researchers must consider social media as a primary source of government information, particularly when records may become inaccessible once a social media post is modified or deleted, or when technology becomes obsolete. Additionally, as social media platforms are invoked to preserve the historical record, the absence of clear and consistent retention policies for social media compounds access and preservation issues researchers face when government information is digitally erased days—or even minutes—after it appears. This article establishes that until clear and consistent retention policies exist and there are systemic ways to access and preserve social media as government information, the definition of a “record” becomes irrelevant

Appraisal and the Future of Archives in the Digital Era

Discussion of the implications of new technologies, changing public policies, and transformation of culture for how archivists practice and think about appraisal

Delphi Study of Risk to Individuals who Disclose Personal Information Online

A two-round Delphi study was conducted to explore priorities for addressing online risk to individuals. A corpus of literature was created based on 69 peer-reviewed articles about privacy risk and the privacy calculus published between 2014 and 2019. A cluster analysis of the resulting text-base using Pearson’s correlation coefficient resulted in seven broad topics. After two rounds of the Delphi survey with experts in information security and information literacy, the following topics were identified as priorities for further investigation: personalisation versus privacy; responsibility for privacy on social networks; measuring privacy risk; and perceptions of powerlessness and the resulting apathy. The Delphi approach provided clear conclusions about research topics and has potential as a tool for prioritising future research areas

Delphi Study of Risk to Individuals who Disclose Personal Information Online

A two-round Delphi study was conducted to explore priorities for addressing online risk to individuals. A corpus of literature was created based on 69 peer-reviewed articles about privacy risk and the privacy calculus published between 2014 and 2019. A cluster analysis of the resulting text-base using Pearson’s correlation coefficient resulted in seven broad topics. After two rounds of the Delphi survey with experts in information security and information literacy, the following topics were identified as priorities for further investigation: personalisation versus privacy; responsibility for privacy on social networks; measuring privacy risk; and perceptions of powerlessness and the resulting apathy. The Delphi approach provided clear conclusions about research topics and has potential as a tool for prioritising future research areas

The rise of a connected transnational network

The thesis explores the online practices and the transnational mobilities of a community of Pentecostal Gypsies. The community has diffused from their central hub a Romanian village and is now scattered across Europe. The thesis asks: how does a mobile ethnic group remain united as it transforms from a geographically intensive community to a spatially extensive one? The research design combines analysis of geo-referenced YouTube videos, offline machine code metadata and real world ethnographic data in order to contribute to conceptual debates within migration studies about deterritorialization and the maintenance of social ties after geographical dispersion

Access Versus Privacy: Approaches to State Information Policy (1995)

https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/conferences/1002/thumbnail.jp

Identifying the limits of governmental interference with on-line privacy

This thesis addresses the issue of on-line privacy, in an effort to identify the limits of governmental interference with this kind of right. Traditional privacy has been a well accepted and legally recognized human right for many years now. However, the exposure of privacy to the Internet has created new threats that mould the nature of 'on-line privacy': a user is less aware of the dangers faced in cyberspace, due to the instinctive feeling of being alone when in front of a computer; the distinction between private and public places is blurred, cyberspace looks like a public space, but is actually an aggregation of privately owned digital spaces, open to public access. Taking this as a basis, the thesis explores the route to be followed in order for a well-balanced interference with on-line privacy to be designed. First, an analysis of computer-related crime, the major reason (or excuse) on which governments base the need to interfere and delimit privacy in the on-line environment. On¬ line delinquency may be a serious problem, but it has to be examined closer than it has been up to present if it is to choose effective measures to combat it. Second, the thesis analyses the legal reasons justifying governmental interference with on-line privacy. National security, public safety and the economic well being of a country are the most popular reasons appearing in laws regulating interference with an otherwise protected right, and they will play a prominent role in justifying interference with privacy in cyberspace; an approach on the meaning, use and difficulties met in their application can be a starting point in an effort to avoid the same problems in the on-line environment. The European Convention of Human Rights, being one of the most complete and effective legal forums for human rights protection, is then used to show how the legally acceptable justifications for interference with privacy are being implemented. The thesis goes on to examine cryptography: being one of the most valuable tools for the protection of on-line privacy, regulating its use and dissemination is a way of governmental interference. An approach of the efforts made to limit the use and dissemination of strong encryption shows how on-line privacy has been affected. It is further suggested that restrictions in the use of strong encryption have a much more detrimental effect for legitimate users than for those using it to conceal illegal activity. The effectiveness of these measures is, therefore, under question. Next, the UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is analysed, mainly those parts that affect on-line privacy. RIPA regulates the use of investigatory powers in the on-line environment such as interception of communications, acquisition of communications data and governmental access to keys. Being one of the few examples of such legislation, a lot can be learnt from the mistakes made. Last, the thesis explores the threat posed to on-line privacy by systems of covert governmental surveillance. The Echelon and other major international surveillance systems is probably the most real threat for privacy in the on-line environment

Designing Institutional Infrastructure for E-Science

A new generation of information and communication infrastructures, including advanced Internet computing and Grid technologies, promises more direct and shared access to more widely distributed computing resources than was previously possible. Scientific and technological collaboration, consequently, is more and more dependent upon access to, and sharing of digital research data. Thus, the U.S. NSF Directorate committed in 2005 to a major research funding initiative, “Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery”. These investments are aimed at enhancement of computer and network technologies, and the training of researchers. Animated by much the same view, the UK e-Science Core Programme has preceded the NSF effort in funding development of an array of open standard middleware platforms, intended to support Grid enabled science and engineering research. This proceeds from the sceptical view that engineering breakthroughs alone will not be enough to achieve the outcomes envisaged. Success in realizing the potential of e-Science—through the collaborative activities supported by the "cyberinfrastructure," if it is to be achieved, will be the result of a nexus of interrelated social, legal, and technical transformations.e-science, cyberinfrastructure, information sharing, research