“Many small newspaper rely on these legal advertisements to keep afloat,” Star-Ledger publisher Richard Vezza stated in his testimony at the hearing on Monday.

“Without them, local newspapers may close, resulting in less scrutiny of local government and a citizen’s right to know.”

The Jersey City Independent published an article on SB 2072’s movement.

The article will be included in the July issue of of Record, and will be available on the PNRC website. For your convenience, a link to the full article is below:

Trouble for New Jersey’s Newspapers? Bill Moving Public Notices to Web Clears Senate Panel, (7.21.2010)

Pending legislation in Massachusetts would redefine newspaper publication of public notices to expressly include legal newspapers.

The bill states:

SECTION 98. Chapter 211B of the General Laws, is hereby amended by adding the following section:

Section 21. Whenever a department established under this chapter is required to publish a notice in a newspaper by any general or special law, order, rule or judgment of any court, that department shall be deemed as having met all notice requirements by publishing in a newspaper which by its title page purports to be printed or published in such town, city or county, or having a circulation therein. For purposes of this section, the definition of newspaper shall include legal newspapers.

A link to the full text of the legislation can be found at:  H.B. 4800

]]> http://www.pnrc.net/2010/06/save-the-date/feed/ 0 http://www.pnrc.net/2010/06/ipad-hacked-and-user-data-compromised/ http://www.pnrc.net/2010/06/ipad-hacked-and-user-data-compromised/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:18:12 +0000 admin http://www.pnrc.net/?p=697 AT&T announced on June 9th that hackers found a security hole in the iPad that allowed hackers to obtain thousands of customer’s email addresses, including White House staff, the mayor of New York, the chief executive at the New York Times, and military personnel.  The latest breach provides startling evidence of corporations’ inability to guarantee protection of sensitive customer information.  This incident highlights the fragility of the Internet and the malleability of notices posted on a website.  With hackers compromising websites, due process is not being served if the information cannot be authenticated or provided permanence on the Internet.

AT&T Discloses Breach of iPad Owner Data

“Just 22% say they can trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time, among the lowest measures in half a century.”

With such malcontent for government, it is unlikely that the first place citizens will turn to for information will be a government website.

Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor

Pelosi, Boehner Demand Additional Web Safeguards After Thursday’s Cyber-Attack

Public Notice Shift Hits Legislative Snag

The bill passed out of subcommittee on Wednesday and subsequently several editorials were published highlighting the value of public notice in newspapers including:

Public Notices Are Vital To Healthy Democracy, 1/16/2010

Accountability For Tax Dollars, 1/17/2010

Public Notices Belong In Newspapers, Not Online, 1/20/2010

Web site runs into problems

“But he conceded the legislation could hurt Florida newspapers, including his hometown Chronicle.

‘If it does, it is what it is,’ Dean said. ‘The motivation for this is to save money. But if it trims their feathers a bit, fine.’”

Does Public Notice Bill Stem From Paper’s Coverage?

This breaking news from Huffington Post in response to the White House’s breaking news on the “new” Treasury Department report that turns out to have been available since 1995 is a perfect testament to the obscurity of the Internet.

Treasury Touts Long-Available Derivatives Report As A Part Of Its ‘New’ Open Government Plan

So the report has been there all along. Who knew? Obviously the White House was counting on the strong likelihood that few Americans had been to http://www.occ.treas.gov/deriv/deriv.htm to read this report.