NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowdon Talks On Taking Back The Internet At TED Conference And NSA Responds - Balancing Privacy Versus Security

Edward Snowden Telepresence Image From TED 2014

Very interesting presentation by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden filmed this month at the TED 2014 conference. According to TED 2014:

Appearing by telepresence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in our lives — and the laws that protect it. "Your rights matter,” he says, "because you never know when you're going to need them."...

Here's Mr. Snowden (transcript here)




and a reply by NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett.



Thoughts?

Roosevelt Island and Upper East Side NYC Council Member Ben Kallos Talks District Issues With CB 8 Speaks But No Specific Questions On Roosevelt Island Asked - Kallos Hears Panel Of Open Data Experts Explaining Ways To Improve Functioning Of NYC Council Today

 Image Of Ben Kallos From CB 8 Speaks

Roosevelt Island and Upper East Side NYC Council Member (5th District Manhattan) Ben Kallos appeared on Community Board 8 CB8 Speaks program.

Mr. Kallos addressed issues on the

• East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station, 
• Second Avenue Subway, 
• Chairmanship of NYC Council Committee On Government Operations,  
• Affordable Housing,
• Seniors Citizens,
• East River Esplanade,
• Women's issues (He's only man on Women's Committee),
• Pre Kindergarten education and more.

Unfortunately, no questions were asked about specific Roosevelt Island issues.

Here's the CB 8 Speaks interview with Mr. Kallos



Today, Mr. Kallos organized a panel on the use of technology to improve the functioning of the NYC Council. His office issued the following Press Release:

Today, technology experts and open data leaders Andrew Rasiej, Noel Hidalgo, John Kaehny and David Moore testified before members of the City Council on innovative technology reforms that will improve the transparency, openness and accountability of the legislative body. The reforms focused on improving legislative transparency, constituent services and the discretionary funding process using technology.

Proposals included:

• Improving constituent service with interactive tools that empower Council Members and residents to have more open communication;
• Transparency for the legislative process so that it is more publicly accessible, with all information centralized and easy to find.
• Opening the City Council Legislative website’s API (the code that allows programmers to share information and build new applications) so anyone can access the information however they wish, using software that the Council is free to improve upon and redistribute;
• Supporting Participatory Budgeting with a standard technology and communications infrastructure to encourage more residents to vote on how capital funding is spent in their neighborhoods; and
• Transparency for the application and distribution of discretionary member item grants to community organizations.

Council Member Ben Kallos, a software developer, organized the panel with in close coordination with Council Member Brad Lander, the Chair of the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Elections, as part of panels on a series of reforms to improve the fairness, transparency and efficiency of the New York City Council. Last October, more than 30 Council Members signed on to Rules Reforms, which this hearing aims to implement.

Andrew Rasiej of Personal Democracy Media and Sunlight Foundation, David Moore of the Participatory Politics Foundation, Noel Hidalgo of Beta NYC, and John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany are international, national and local advocates for increased participation and open information in government through the lens of technology.

“We commend the City Council for taking this time to review and adapt its rules for the 21st century. For a Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, FOR the 21 century, the City Council needs to embrace the role of a Chief Information Officer who is empowered to adapt 21st century tools and business practices,” said Hidalgo. “In 2009, the New York State Senate created such a team, and I was honored to be a part of it. Using modern, safe, secure, open-source tools, we were able to adapt tools to increase transparency, efficiency, and participation for all New Yorkers. Now, it is the time for the City Council to embrace that same business practice and tools to make NYC the true digital capital of the world."

"We hope this hearing is the first step in a new process of continuous improvement, and public outreach, which will allow council to better harness the speed of light changes in technology. In particular, from today's hearing, we'd like to see the Council recognize the huge opportunities in mobile and two-way text technology to reduce the digital divide,” said Kaehny.

“My experience with OpenCongress.org shows that there is a huge public appetite for accessible information about what's happening in government. By making its legislative data fully accessible to the public, the New York City Council has an opportunity lead the nation in open government,” said Moore.

"New Yorkers are now competing in a 21st century global economy where access to real-time online information resources is a prerequisite for success,” said Andrew Rasiej, Chairman of NY Tech Meetup and founder of Personal Democracy Media. "The New York City Council has a responsibility to operate in ways that make sure all New Yorkers have a 21st century government that is transparent, accountable, and truly representative of the modern and fast changing world in which they now live.”

Council Member Ben Kallos said: “These top minds in the technology field have always been innovators, and their solutions for the New York City Council are no exception. Along with my colleagues, I am excited for real change in the way the Council operates—making it a more effective, open body where the best ideas rise to the top. After posting state legislative records online, I saw the benefits of opening information to the public so they can hold representatives accountable. Since then, I’ve been fighting to reform government through technology that improves communication between government and the people we represent.”...

Roosevelt Island Residents Association President Seeks To Plug RIRA Leaks To Blog - Some RIRA Members Want Code Of Conduct To Keep Discussions Secret And You In The Dark

Image From Dreamstime

Last Monday, reported:

... There have been ongoing union demonstrations protesting use of non-union labor for construction of Hudson Related's Southtown Riverwalk Building 7 recently....

and:

... the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) has invited the Carpenters Union representative, Mr. McWilliams, to speak at the January meeting of the Common Council.  At least one RIRA member has objected to inviting the union representative to the monthly RIRA meeting  but suggested that if the union member is invited, so should a representative from the building contractor/developer....

Apparently, RIRA President Ellen Polivy objected to information about the Union representative being invited to the next RIRA meeting becoming public.

Ms. Polivy wrote to other RIRA Common Council (CC) members

How did information I put on CC talk get onto the blog?

I am getting emails from people who said they saw information about the invite of the labor union coming to our public session on the blog. Who is taking information meant only for discussion on the CC and posting it on the blog?

I want to point out that information on CC talk is only for discussion among CC members. It is private and not meant to be given to outside organizations.

If this continues, then it renders preliminary discussions among council members useless.

Some RIRA members object to having their statements made public to the Roosevelt Island community whether on this blog or the Main Street WIRE newspaper. A RIRA committee is drafting a Code of Ethical Conduct regarding RIRA communications policy. One member of the Committee suggests that RIRA should prohibit certain information discussed by RIRA members from being shared with the public. According to that RIRA member:

RIRA is defined as a membership organization of which the Common Council is a representative body. Our Constitution states:

ARTICLE II, RIRA MEMBERSHIP
Section 1, Membership
All individuals who live in residential housing on Roosevelt Island are members of RIRA.

Our Constitution goes on to state that “all meetings of the Common Council shall be open to the public.” Nowhere does it state that all our communications shall be public and in fact the CC has the right to vote to go into executive session that is not shared with the public. Therefore the common council has the right to restrict communications and is not obligated to share all of its communications. Moreover, since we are not a government organization we have the right to prohibit communications to nonresidents, just as individual building Residents Associations do. Since the RI blog and the Wire are open to entire public, including nonresidents, we do have every right to prohibit CC members from publishing CC talk communications in those entities.

Whether “members” of RIRA (i.e., residents) have the right to access all CC communications is a separate issue and something we should seek legal counsel about. However, I note that even the federal government is not required to disclose deliberative process information or presidential communications to the public under the FOIA. In our case, I would argue that deliberative process covers the vast majority of our communications on CC talk, which are discussions of potential legislative or policy initiatives. This information must not be shared with others and indeed to do so is a violation of fiduciary duty to the organization. Those who wish to express their opinions on blogs or in the newspapers at the very least should not include verbatim quotations from CC talk or from private emails/discussions.

Not all RIRA CC members wish to keep their discussions secret. Some RIRA members believe that since they are elected to represent the interests of Roosevelt Island residents, CC members should be free to discuss issues of concern with the public as they see fit.

The next RIRA meeting is 8 PM Wednesday, January 8, at Good Shepherd Community Center. Perhaps this issue will be part of the discussion.

Embargo Roosevelt Island Tram Cabin Test Run Photos Instructs RIOC Staffer - No Way, Information Wants To Be Free

 Image Of Roosevelt Island Tram Test From Judy Berdy

 After months and more months of the Roosevelt Island Tram being out of service, testing of the Tram Cabins finally began last week. At that time a Roosevelt Island resident was standing near the Tram Station, observed the Tram Cabins being placed in the Station, saw the Cabin being attached to the Carriage and Cable, and witnessed one of the early (if not the first) test runs of the Roosevelt Island Tram. The Roosevelt Island resident took some pictures, shown above and below, of this important Roosevelt Island milestone. I included these pictures in this post from October 7.

  Image Of Roosevelt Island Tram Test From Judy Berdy

What could possibly be wrong with doing so? Who could object? Well, someone did object to the pictures being taken and shown to the public. That person was Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Vice President Of Planning and Intergovernmental Affairs Rosina Abramson who saw the pictures being taken and instructed the photographer that the pictures were "embargoed".

Upon learning of this, I inquired of Ms. Abramson:

I have been advised that on at least 2 recent occasions you have attempted to stop Roosevelt Island residents from taking pictures while standing on public property. In one instance this occurred near the Southtown Yard where the Tram Cabins were being stored while NY 1 was conducting an interview with Ms. Torres. The other occasion took place at the Tram Station while the first Tram Cabin was being tested on the Track. In that instance you also reportedly told the person that the photos were not to be published but should be "embargoed".

Is any of this true?

If so, is there some sort of new RIOC policy controlling who may or may not take photos from public spaces on Roosevelt Island?

Ms. Abramson responded:

No one was stopped from taking photos of the cabins from public property while the cabins were stored behind a gate.  There was a gentleman who entered into the construction site area when the gate was opened for Tram related business.  He was asked to leave only when he began badgering Ms. Torres for an interview and for a posed photo of her.  If you speak of another incident, I am unaware of it.

Regarding the request for an embargo of the photos being taken of the cabin being launched on the north tracks last Tuesday, they were photos being taken of an active construction site.  There are serious security concerns regarding the integral operations of the tram that RIOC has been asked not to publicize by uniformed services.  There was no way to know what unauthorized photos had been taken of the actual work being conducted on a non-public work site.

Moreover - the request to embargo the photos until further notice was made on a professional basis.  In my experience, professional journalists always respect requests for embargoes. I had understood that you wanted professional journalistic courtesies extended to your blog.  It's a two way street.

I replied:

Thank you for your comment on matter.

As you know, there was no request for an "embargo" on those photos made to me.

Even so, a request by you for an embargo on a photo might be complied with if the photo was supplied by RIOC, not if taken by me or any other resident/person of a breaking news story - which certainly is the case for the launch of the first test of the Tram Cabin.

Also, do you really think that photos taken from public property outside the Tram Station are what "uniformed service" are referring to as "security concerns"?

Followed by Ms. Abramson:

Then your photographer was remiss in communicating information to you as your agent and I was remiss in assuming that RIOC could rely on the professional courtesy requested from your agent. Regarding security issues - RIOC is not prepared to take the risk.

I don't think there's much more to say on the subject.

But I had one more thing to say:

The only thing I would add is that you should be aware that in this new media world any person, be it a Roosevelt Island resident, visitor or any other human being is a potential source and publisher of information - not only so-called 'journalists".

People who provide information to the Roosevelt Islander Blog, be it photos or text, are not my "agents" but are concerned and engaged persons in the community. I have no control over what they send. The only control I have is whether I choose to publish the material sent to me on the Roosevelt Islander Blog - or not.

The person who took the photographs at the Tram Station was not my 'photographer" but an engaged Roosevelt Island resident acting in that individual capacity and willing to share important, newsworthy photographs with the Roosevelt Island and New York City community, as well as anyone else interested.

There was no lack of "professional courtesy" on my or the photographer's part. I can assure the staff at RIOC, that they can rely on my "professionalism" when reporting for the Roosevelt Islander Blog....

Additional pictures of Roosevelt Island Tram Cabin Tests that Ms. Abramson wanted to have embargoed are here.

Another example of the desire of some to keep information from being made public comes not from a governmental agency such as RIOC, but from a private citizen and resident of Roosevelt Island's Rivercross Mitchell Lama Building who has certain non-specific privacy objections to fellow Rivercross resident David Bauer's reporting on issues of concern to their building for the Roosevelt Islander Blog.

Image of Rivercross from Adventures of a Goodman

In response to these privacy concerns, Mr. Bauer makes the case for openness and transparency in the distribution of public information:

 Thank you for your thoughts on a very important point.

As you recall, a significant amount of time at our 10/5 meeting was spend in considering the extent to which the Rivercross Board has attempted to draw a circle for sharing information, with some Shareholders being inside the circle and most being outside that circle. As I recall, an imposed veil of Board secrecy did not gain much support at our meeting.

There are a couple of thoughts your comment brings to mind. Having worked in the local government sector during the major part of my adult life I have had to face up to the question you raise; how big a circle of confidentiality do you want to have. Eventually, through the passage of what is called a "Sunshine Law" it was determined that the public had the right to any information involving the local government, with the exceptions being 1) narrowly defined personnel matters and 2) when developing strategy for a court case. That "Sunshine Law" right goes so far as to require elected officials to give public notice and attendance whenever two or more officials meet to discuss public business, formally or informally. Public business has a different glow than private business. Rivercross is public business, having been supported in its inception by taxpayer financing, just as our whole Island has been. 

I learned early on how futile it is to attempt to restrict access to public information, even meetings involving as few as two people. I found out through hard experience that if there is a matter, without regard to how large or small that matter seems to be, the policy of attempted secrecy just does not work and in fact the mere appearance of  attempting to keep something secret makes it more appealing for those on the outside to make every effort to find out what is going on, and sometimes imaging quite horrendous matters when in reality the matter was minor.

In the case of the Shareholder Forum, we are dealing with a group of over 35 people who are privy to what we discuss. To imagine that any topic we consider might in anyway be kept within a veil of secrecy is expecting the impossible; having laid it out for anyone to see relieves us of the obligation to offer some lame excuses for trying to keep anything secret.

I could be wrong, but I can not conceive that anything that might be discussed within the Forum framework is deleterious to any proper person, project or event.

However, if you would like to add this matter to the forum scheduled for Tuesday 10/26 I would hope you take a lead position in discussing the point.

I agree with Mr. Bauer.

UPDATE 4:25 - Here's a great picture from today of a "Swinging Roosevelt Island Tram".

The resident who took the picture wrote that this post is:

... inspiring me to take more pics of the tram!

Information wants to be free!