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Daily Archives: May 7, 2013

FTC Testifies on Credit Reporting Accuracy Study, FCRA Enforcement, Credit Education

“The Federal Trade Commission testified before a U.S. Senate Commerce subcommittee on a recent FTC study examining the accuracy of consumer credit reports, as well as the agency’s efforts to improve credit report accuracy through enforcement and education. On behalf of the agency, Maneesha Mithal, Associate Director, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, told the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance that errors in credit reports can cause consumers to be denied credit or other benefits or pay a higher price for them. It may also lead credit issuers to make inaccurate decisions that cause them to deny credit to a potentially valuable customer or issue credit to a riskier customer than intended.”

DOD Releases Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Strategy

News release: “Today, the Department of Defense released the fiscal 2012 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military and announcing a series of actions to prevent and respond to sexual assault in the armed forces. Annually, as required by the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, the department released Fiscal… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Capital Purchase Program,

Capital Purchase Program – Status of the Program and Financial Health of Remaining Participants, GAO-13-458, May 7, 2013 Pakistan – Reporting on Visa Delays That Disrupt U.S. Assistance Could Be Improved, GAO-13-427, May 7, 2013 VA Construction – Additional Actions Needed to Decrease Delays and Lower Costs of Major Medical Facility Projects, GAO-13-556T, May 7,… Continue Reading

EPIC – Senate Confirms Chairman of Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

EPIC: “Today the Senate voted to confirm David Medine as the Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), an agency established to review executive branch actions and to protect privacy and civil liberties after 9/11. EPIC urged the creation of an independent privacy agency after 9/11. At the first meeting of the… Continue Reading

BJS – Firearm Violence, 1993-2011

Michael Planty, Ph.D., Jennifer L. Truman, Ph.D. May 7, 2013. NCJ 241730. “Presents trends on the number and rate of fatal and nonfatal firearm violence from 1993 to 2011. The report examines incident and victim demographic characteristics of firearm violence, including the type of firearm used; victim’s race, age, and sex; and incident location. The… Continue Reading

WaPo – Words that last

Words that last, by Wilson Andrews and David Brown, May 6, 2013 “A research team led by Mark Pagel at the University of Reading in England has identified 23 “ultraconserved words” that have remained largely unchanged for 15,000 years. Words that sound and mean the same thing in different languages are called “cognates”. These are… Continue Reading

WorldCat database reaches 2 billion holdings

News release: “WorldCat, the most comprehensive online database of resources available through libraries around the world, has reached another major milestone with the addition of its 2 billionth holding… WorldCat is a database of bibliographic information created and continuously updated by some 25,000 OCLC member libraries around the world. WorldCat records describe specific works and… Continue Reading

Copyright in the Digital Era: Building Evidence for Policy

“Over the course of several decades, copyright protection has been expanded and extended through legislative changes occasioned by national and international developments. The content and technology industries affected by copyright and its exceptions, and in some cases balancing the two, have become increasingly important as sources of economic growth, relatively high-paying jobs, and exports. Since… Continue Reading

Assessing Risks to Endangered and Threatened Species from Pesticides

“The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are responsible for protecting species that are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and for protecting habitats that are critical for their survival. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for registering or reregistering pesticides… Continue Reading