Shape government (CA) policy on electroincs resources

March 14, 2002 12:57 PM

My employers, one of two bodies of the California State Legislature, are in the process of putting together an acceptable-use policy for the internal and external dissemination of electronic resources - letterhead, outreach materials, seals, etc. We need to address a lot of different issues: the distribution of materials containing copyrighted materials (for example, an events calendar that uses stock photography or clipart images); the distribution of materials that could be used (illegally) to further a member's campaign for (re)election; the violation of FPPC regulations (for example - if a member of this house is prevented by law from sending, via the US postal service, materials that violate the FPPC - either in content or form - do these rules apply to electronically-disseminated materials? why or why not?) ... Etc. It's a big job, and I'd like to know if any MeFiers have comments / suggestions / resources to share regarding this effort, which will hopefully result in making state state legislature even more accessible, but at the same time not relax controls on finance and campaigns. I thought someone had posted a recent link to a weblog related to e-government policy and the distribution of electornic resources, but I coulnd't find it by searching, so I apologize if this could have been better addressed elsewhere.
posted by luriete to general weblog-related at 12:57 PM (27 comments total)

This isn't for this.
posted by luser at 2:48 PM on March 14, 2002

Why not hire a law firm that deals with these instead of asking for free labor from MetaFilter? You are getting paid for this, and your employer, "one of two bodies of the California State Legislature," has a lot of money at its disposal to pay for law/consulting firms, incase you yourself are incompetent to carry out your own task.
posted by tamim at 2:48 PM on March 14, 2002

I was going to come to your defense, Luriete, but then I realized that this has been explained to you before. But, just for clarity, posts like this are not "general weblog related" or proper for MetaTalk.
posted by ColdChef at 2:54 PM on March 14, 2002

ok i will figure out how to delete this. sorry. you're right.
posted by luriete at 3:03 PM on March 14, 2002

That's a long post by the way. Regardless of content, I think it's too long. Save the bottom 90% for inside the thread. Do we start navel gazing now?
posted by insomnyuk at 3:12 PM on March 14, 2002

Does this thread make my butt look fat?
posted by BlueTrain at 3:32 PM on March 14, 2002

yes.
posted by chrisroberts at 3:34 PM on March 14, 2002

bunnyfire?
posted by jpoulos at 3:38 PM on March 14, 2002

Ah, bunnyfire! Much missed, much missed...!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:43 PM on March 14, 2002

Is there a way to monetize the "free labor of metafilter" for request such as these , at least for the financial benefit of Metafilter/Metatalk? Why not have the California State Legislature make a nice big "donation" and then off to the races ?
posted by Voyageman at 4:16 PM on March 14, 2002

SHUT UP MIGUEL!!!
posted by goneill at 5:18 PM on March 14, 2002

She's watching us. And waiting....WAITING...
posted by ColdChef at 5:40 PM on March 14, 2002

*runs screaming from the thread*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:30 PM on March 14, 2002

Actually, I just got done assisting in this "web use standards" kinda project for the University system in the state in which I live. It isn't easy; it is intimidating. luriete, you do have my sympathy, except ... you need to be addressing those that these strictures will affect, not an international community at large. I could give some suggestions if I knew what foundational structures were already established, but why? I'm not Californian, this won't affect me, and what you ask is rightly a consultant kinda thing.

However, I will offer this. Start with acceptable use policies of the major corperations around where you live. Email can acquire some of them (corps ussually love to advertise how tight they are). Ask yourself what concerns they were interested in addressing, and whether or not those needs applied to your situation. This should give you an idea of where those use standards fail. Then build from what those answers offer. You'll find more acceptance from similarity to what others deal with, than some kind of "new wave" of web use hooha.

I have more suggestions and sources, and I am happy to offer them ... If you provide an address where I may send my bill.

By the way, where the hell is Bunnyfire?
posted by Wulfgar! at 6:32 PM on March 14, 2002

You hadda ask. She's here. In posting this link, I disavow any knowledge of her referrer logs pointing to metatalk, etc.
posted by Lynsey at 7:32 PM on March 14, 2002

Mr. Posner...uh, I mean Voyageman, I wonder how the human capital of MeFi would be valuated...
posted by anathema at 7:43 PM on March 14, 2002

I would say a 100 thread response is worth at least 4 hours of a consultant's time billing at $250/hour = $1,000. Do 1 of these a day every day of the year = $365,000.
posted by Voyageman at 9:16 PM on March 14, 2002

You hadda ask.
and you hadda tell.
posted by Dean King at 10:27 PM on March 14, 2002

Man, that's worse than a link to childlove.
posted by ColdChef at 4:52 AM on March 15, 2002

You hadda ask. She's here.

And it's working. Her average visits/day is 13. Today she's up to 52, and it's not even 10 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Time).

Poor Luriete, still trying to get his/her head around what's OK to post, watching this thread go reeling off to Bunnyfireland.
posted by luser at 6:48 AM on March 15, 2002

Tangentially, this is MeTa thread number 1965, which was the year of my birth, which might better have been noted on ZachsMind's thread, but gabba gabba hey, nicht wahr?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:15 AM on March 15, 2002

i couldn't even read the post. too long.

leave your job. become a recruitment consultant.
posted by Frasermoo at 9:28 AM on March 15, 2002

I'm not cutting and pasting this to be mean. Just observing that it sounds like Bunnyfire might join us again soon. Sounds like she's better:

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

"I miss Metafilter...does it miss me?....if you see this and you are a mefier tell Matt I miss Mefi...I figure I am about halfway through my exile...the, ahem, "difficulties" are all behind me....

"They mean it when they say Metafilter is more addictive than crack.

"Miguel, my dear evil twin, if you and your lovely wife happen to see this, hold the fort down....i will be back......"
posted by Karl at 10:35 AM on March 15, 2002

gak. spare me.
posted by Dean King at 12:33 PM on March 15, 2002

ColdChef, that was way harsh. You're now equating a personal Blog with a pedophilia site? I'd like to think that this doesn't resonate with you:

Personal Blog of Christian person whom I've interacted with < pedophilia promotion.br>
luriete, I'm sorry if I've contributed to the thread hijack, but I hope you have your answer by now.
posted by Wulfgar! at 1:42 PM on March 15, 2002

I have no idea where that .br closing tag came from. mathowie?
posted by Wulfgar! at 1:44 PM on March 15, 2002

I received an (unexpected) email from bunnyfire asking me to inform the community that that blog is dead, and she hasn't yet figured out how to delete it, but will be doing so soon.

This I am now doing.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:22 PM on March 15, 2002