Keep reading for today’s look at #OpenGov news, events and analysis including paper processing, a Turkish Twitter tirade, and quizzing gubernatorial candidates on open data in Pennsylvania.

National News

• A group of technology companies urged Ron Wyden (D-OR), the new chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to promote greater transparency in trade deals. (The Hill)
• “Deep underground, federal employees process paperwork by hand in a long-outdated, inefficient system,” is just about the most frustrating lede you’ll read this year. (Washington Post)

International News

• The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is trying to remove Twitter from the internet in his country. He ordered Turkish ISPs to block twitter. Luckily, it appears to be very easy for users to sidestep the ban. Twitter has already posted instructions. (Ars Technica)
• Qatar is moving forward with a new open data policy that would release large amounts of non-personal government data to the public. ictQuatar, the agency in charge of the initiative, is currently doing public outreach around the proposal. (Doha News)

State and Local News

• A statewide group of civic hackers and open data advocates in Pennsylvania are preparing a set of questions to as the state’s gubernatorial candidates in a forthcoming public letter. (Technical.ly Philly)

Events This Week 3/24 – 3/28

• Achieving meaningful transparency in health care: Better information on cost and quality. US Chamber of Commerce. Mon. 3/24. 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm. 1615 H Street NW, Washington, DC.
• The TTIP: Perspectives from the USTR and the Delegation of the EU to the United States. George Washington Law. Mon. 3/24. 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm. 200 H Street NW, Tasher Great Room, Washington, DC.
• Defining corruption down: How the west created an anti-corruption industry and put blinders on its own misdeeds. George Mason School of Public Policy. Mon 3/24. 7:15 pm. George Mason University, Arlington Campus, Founders Hall, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22201.
• The revolution will not be Tweeted: Attacks to social media and the internet in Venezuela, Ecuador and Argentina. Freedom House. Tues. 3/25. 11:30 am – 1:00 pm. Freedom House, 4th floor, 1301 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036.
• Markup of H.R. 4228, the “DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act.” House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency. Wed. 3/26. 2:00 pm. 311 Cannon House Office Building.
• Business meeting to consider S. 1720, “the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act of 2013,” and several nominations. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Thurs. 3/27. 10:00 am. 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
• Urban Informatics: A new science for better cities. NYU Washington DC. Thurs 3/27. 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm. 1307 L Street, NW, Abramson Family Auditorioum, Washington, DC.
• Inside media: Uncovering police corruption. Newseum. Sat. 3/29. 555 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Knight TV Studio, Washington, DC 20001.

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