Home » About » Staff
audio-player.js or player.swf were not found in /sites/all/modules/contrib/mp3player/mp3player/, download the standalone WordPress Audio Player.
Heather West
Policy Analyst
Open Government

Heather West is a policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Her work focuses on a range of issues, including government transparency, e-government, and consumer privacy.

Ms. West also works with the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), a group of anti-spyware software companies, academics, and public interest groups dedicated to defeating spyware and protecting consumer privacy.

Prior to coming to CDT, Ms. West worked in the MIT Humans and Automation Lab and research in the telecom industry. Ms. West received a B.A. in computer science from Wellesley College.

Heather West is a policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Her work focuses on a range of issues, including government transparency, e-government, and consumer privacy.

Ms. West also works with the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), a group of anti-spyware software companies, academics, and public interest groups dedicated to defeating spyware and protecting consumer privacy.

Prior to coming to CDT, Ms. West worked in the MIT Humans and Automation Lab and research in the telecom industry. Ms. West received a B.A. in computer science from Wellesley College.

Blog Post - An Interesting Proposal in the Broadband Plan: Insurance Protection for Identity
3/16/2010 Consumer Privacy
One of the interesting threads that runs through the National Broadband Plan (NBP) released today is a reliance on secure, trusted authentication for innovative online technologies that isn't widely available to the public. As a result, the NBP calls for certain steps to spur the growth of a marketplace for trusted identity providers that will help consumers manage their data.
 
Specifically, recommendation 4.15 of the Plan calls out the role of identity providers in providing privacy and security safeguards to consumers and suggests ways that Congress can help these trusted identity providers enter the market. The NBP floats an interesting idea for setting best practices, standards, and appropriately strict guidelines and audits on data protection and privacy for identity providers: a regime for identity providers that provides insurance (and possibly a safe harbor from liability) contingent upon following these best practices for trusted identity providers.
 
The insurance regime for identity management that is envisioned in the NBP is similar to the role the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plays in the banking space. The FDIC acts as a private entity with the backing of the government to protect consumers in the banking industry, providing confidence that the money entrusted with a private bank is insured in case the bank fails. As part of this program, the FDIC creates rules and regulations for participating banks, in order to effectively manage the risk taken in insuring these banks.
More »
Report - Policy Issues for Federated Identity Management
1/28/2010 Consumer Privacy

CDT's presentation on Federated Identity Management  and suggests ways of increasing trust in online relationships.

More »
Blog Post - High Value Data Sets in the Wild
1/25/2010 Open Government
Friday marked the first set of deadlines for agencies set by the Open Government Directive - and the White House has delivered the first set of data sets from agencies. The new data sets represent all cabinet-level departments, from tire safety ratings to workplace injury data.
 
It's hard to decide what a "high value data set" is, exactly. For some, data about contracts is most important, or information about FOIA requests. Maybe for the agency employees, the menu in the cafeteria is the most useful data set. It does look like there are a number of very useful data sets here and we are interested to see what people do with the National Treasures data set. Of course, there are some data sets that are clearly high value to the public. Hopefully, this is the start of a process to release all the data sets that are valuable, no matter how valuable or to whom. By releasing data, it will become clear that the information is valuable in ways not yet imagined - and if the information is valuable enough for the agency to maintain the data set, it is likely to be useful to the public as well. We are looking forward to seeing, as well, how agencies ensure that valuable data sets can be released while avoiding stumbling blocks like releasing private information.
More »
Blog Post - The FCC Dives into Open Government
12/14/2009 Open Government

The FCC is in the process of asking the public for a lot of information about almost everything around broadband as part of a mandate to look into the effects of broadband deployment, and it recently asked about open government. As part of the National Broadband Plan, the FCC was asked to include "a plan for the use of broadband in … civic participation." While government transparency and civic participation aren't the first thing most people think of when they think about broadband, ensuring access for everyone is an important goal if we want to maximize the impact of digital democracy.

CDT's comments outline the importance of making government data available online in usable formats, so that the public can find, read, and reuse information. We also talk about innovative tools that can help the public take advantage of the Internet - video streaming for government meetings, and the ability to establish trusted relationships online for transactions with the government and others. We've also filed several sets of comments for the Plan previously, emphasizing the importance of allowing users access to the full range of services and applications online and emphasizing other key elements of the Internet's legal and policy framework.

More »
Syndicate content
See all Heather West's Work