6. G eneral Services Administration inked landmark agreements with several new media companies that clear up legal issues surrounding liability and government sunshine rules — thus easing their use by government agencies' websites
government agencies will be free, for example, to embed videos and create photo widgets that citizens can embed into their MySpace or Facebook pages This announcement marks a big step for agencies that are trying to become more transparent and connect with citizens, but find themselves saddled with antiquated websites. Now that the bureaucratic brush has been cleared, government agencies will be free, for example, to embed videos and create photo widgets that citizens can embed into their MySpace or Facebook pages. The microblogging site Twitter was already found to be compatible with federal policy, and the GSA even boasts about its own Twitter accounts in the press release. The new terms of service were necessary because many of the current ones contained indemnification clauses, which the government cannot accept under a federal statue known as the Anti-Deficiency Act, according to GSA general counsel Michael Ettner.