Tom Schenk Jr

Wonderful. The CityKey program is a safe, wonderful program that should be emulated.

Unfortunately, we are in a climate where this user-friendly portal is risky.

If you reside in Chicago, do take a look at getting one at one of the in-person sign-up events.

Wonderful. The CityKey program is a safe, wonderful program that should be emulated.

Unfortunately, we are in a climate where this user-friendly portal is risky.

If you reside in Chicago, do take a look at getting one at one of the in-person sign-up events.

Chicago to Stop Accepting Online Applications for Municipal IDs After ICE Subpoena, City Clerk Says Chicagoans can still make an appointment online to apply in-person for a City Key ID card, officials said.

NEW: Chicago will no longer allow residents to apply online for a municipal ID card after ICE officials subpoenaed records identifying applicants for the ID, known as the City Key, City Clerk Anna Valencia announced @wttw.bsky.social

Not quite. It's only this new online application system that creates a database. Applying in-person doesn't leave a digital trace, which is the original design.

I don't see any warnings on the CityKey "how to apply" page about the implications of applying online. It needs to be clear.

I hope there are additional safeguards to protect this from a subpoena. But it shouldn't have come to this.

This project was always incredibly risky. Do it right and unlock city services in one card. It is for all residents of Chicago. Living here means you have a right to public services.

Do it wrong, and you compromise the safety of others.

The digital footprint since December is staggering.

But it appears since December that it has changed. An online application means a digital footprint has been created and can not be deleted.

This is shocking.

I directly worked on designing the integration and protections of CityKey. It was designed to provide an ID, be a transit card, library and discount card.

It was to *never* create a digital record while being compatible with state and city laws. Subpoena-proof.

About - Federation of American Scientists Evidence Based Policy Research and Advocacy Since 1945

I have also joined FAS board of directors to support the integration of these two organizations. Encourage that you take a look at FAS key issue areas, ranging from government capacity to emerging technology. fas.org/about-fas/

We have been working to define how we'll scale bringing science into policies at state and local governments. Bringing MetroLab into the Federation of American Scientists means we'll be able to bring incredible amount of expertise for new and exciting programs.

The Federation of American Scientists Brings MetroLab Network Into Organization - Federation of American Scientists FAS is excited to announce it has acquired MetroLab Network (MLN), bringing together two teams with a shared commitment to harnessing science, technology and innovation to drive impact in new ways in ...

🗣️We’re excited to announce that MetroLab Network is now officially a part of the Federation of American Scientists. We’re looking forward to improving the delivery of evidence-based policy into local government.

Learn more about this new chapter ⤵️
fas.org/publication/...

I've got my Chicago CityKey on me, do you?

Proud to be one of the nearly 150,000 Chicagoans alongside @chicityclerk.bsky.social with one during the seventh anniversary of this incredible program that's eliminated barriers and increased access to all Chicago has to offer.

City Council committee OKs removal of college degree requirement for city jobs If, as expected, the full City Council approves the switch to "skill-based hiring," Chicago would join the cities of New York, Philadelphia and Minneapolis-St. Paul, in “tearing the paper ceiling" tha...

This is a solid bill. Some of the most skilled folks I’ve worked with didn’t have degrees—they had hands-on expertise that grads often take years to develop. We needn't treat diplomas as proxies for talent for every job.

chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...

Looking to talk to current or former federal workers at NOAA for a story for The Economist.

Please share far and wide! I’m on signal at abraun.99

I have a couple of speaking gigs coming up:

- UIC Law Thursday to talk about DOGE & data privacy www.eventbrite.com/e/second-ann...
- BPS in late June to talk about Digi ID & ACLU's guidelines www.btcpolicysummit.org

I could talk about these topics forever.

Figured I’d hop on here today for the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.

With everything going on right now, it’s easy to feel like regular folks can’t make a difference – but the ACA is a reminder that change is possible when we fight for progress.

DOGE shutters the government’s in-house tech consultancy Political loyalty appears to be more important than tech skills

I wrote about 18F being closed:

DOGE shutters the government’s in-house tech consultancy
www.economist.com/united-state...

Announcing the Data.gov Archive | Library Innovation Lab

This is amazing. Harvard has amassed a 16TB collection covering more than 311K datasets and a complete archive of federal public datasets linked by data.gov - with ongoing updates. lil.law.harvard.edu/blog/2025/02...

last year, we stumbled upon chicago factbooks - the only source of historic chicago rent data, going back to 1930. without the resources for a larger digitization project, we took the simplest approach: manual data entry. once we adjusted the rents for inflation, the facts really came to life… 🧵

Does anyone have a favorite field experiment (or A/B test) with public data where there is outcome data over time, ideally something like daily data or even timestamped events?

This is a common format in industry, but few public data sets look like this.

New:

DOGE's spending has been secret.

No longer.

My colleagues have uncovered it.

www.propublica.org/article/doge...

Am I the only person where chatGPT reduces the number of em-dashes being used?

View of Chicago skyline from William E. Dever Crib in Lake Michigan east of North Avenue. // Image captured at: 2025-02-14 13:00:01 UTC (about 3 min. prior to this post) // Current Temp in Chicago: 7.06 F | -13.86 C // Precip: broken clouds // Wind: SW at 2.997 mph | 4.82 kph // Humidity: 79%

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

This is a very cool map that shows an overlay of the Chicago River as it was before the city expanded eastward via land reclamation

This is absolutely right and the tension around USDS with existing departments was notable. The organizational structure was effective, but a gamble.

Archivists Work to Identify and Save the Thousands of Datasets Disappearing From Data.gov More than 2,000 datasets have disappeared from data.gov since Trump was inaugurated. But analyzing exactly what happened and where it went is going to take some time.

www.404media.co/archivists-w...

Hey folks - anyone have seen good tracking on any public data that has been removed? Similarly, seeing any efforts to mirror data?