COUNTY-RUN WEB SITE CRITICIZED YAROSLAVSKY CALLS FOR POLICY ON ONLINE ADS.Byline: Troy Anderson Anderson, river, Canada Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Arctic Staff Writer When Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a Los Angeles County politician. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund D. Edelman. signed on to the Registrar-Recorders' Web site recently and linked to a Visa ad, he saw nothing to Yahoo about. So Yaroslavsky said he will call today for the county to reaffirm re·af·firm tr.v. re·af·firmed, re·af·firm·ing, re·af·firms To affirm or assert again. re a 1996 order to suspend advertising on county-run Web sites until a formal policy is created. As a result of Yaroslavsky's concern, the Registrar-Recorder Web site no longer links viewers in search of polling places to a Yahoo map page - because the page features a credit-card ad. Officials said the county must begin developing policies as the county government moves toward providing more of its services online. ``With this potential for improved service, however, there is a growing potential for abuse, ranging from misleading and deceptive de·cep·tive adj. Deceptive or tending to deceive. de·cep  tive·ness n. advertising to conflicts of interest and intolerable invasions of
privacy for unsuspecting individuals,'' Yaroslavsky said in
statement.
Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack said she initially chose the Yahoo map so the county wouldn't have to develop its own. ``It was an innocent mistake,'' McCormack said. County Chief Information Officer Jon Fullinwider said a similar Yahoo map is used by the county Department of Animal Care and Control to help people find animal shelters "Dog Pound" redirects here. For the rap group, see Tha Dogg Pound. An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats. . The Yahoo site also has advertising. ``The question then is, is it appropriate for the government to link to commercial sites to take advantage of those services or should the government spend taxpayer dollars to buy a mapping service?'' Fullinwider said. The issue is important because the county has established a strategic plan to provide more of its services online. ``Many of our services are Web-enabled, and people won't have to come to our offices to obtain government services,'' Fullinwider said in a telephone interview. The county information officer was speaking from Savannah Savannah, city, United States Savannah, city (1990 pop. 137,560), seat of Chatham co., SE Ga., a port of entry on the Savannah River near its mouth; inc. 1789. , Ga., where he had been asked to talk on the implications of putting government services online. To address problems that may arise with the plan, in July 1996 the Board of Supervisors voted to direct county departments to suspend all third-party advertising on county Web sites, including the establishment of ``hot links'' to outside commercial sites. The supervisors ordered officials to develop a policy governing gov·ern v. gov·erned, gov·ern·ing, gov·erns v.tr. 1. To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; exercise sovereign authority in. 2. the use of advertisements, but the policy was never written. |
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