Friday Round-Up, August 6

Privacy vs. Transparency?

Four items have caught my attention this week, spurred by this post on GovLoop, "Internet: Defining privacy in a public space" 

• Salon: "For better privacy, create countermeasures"
• Wall Street Journal: "How to Avoid the Prying Eyes" 
• Time: "Should Videotaping the Police Really Be a Crime?" 
• CNET: "Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images" 

All of these articles point to a need for a more nuanced and comprehensive discussion about the nature of public space, what constitutes a "reasonable" expectation of privacy, and the the tenacity of digital information, even when the collectors of that information promise not to store it. I've written two articles recently that deal with aspects of this issue, one of Huffington Post, "The Dark Side of Public=Online" and another on GovLoop, "Privacy, Profit, and Innovation" 

Office of Management and Budget

And there's been some activity over at OMB this week, as well, starting with the departure of Peter Orszag:

• Jeff Zients designated as acting OMB director until Jack Lew is confirmed:  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/07/peter_orszag_says_goodbye_in_l.html

• OMB SAVE Award reaps 18,000 ideas:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/02/AR2010080204692.html

• OMB unveils new Website, with a prominent page for the Management side of OMB: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb

• OMB publishes budget guidance to agencies, encouraging investments in program evaluation:   http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2010/m10-32.pdf