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Daily Archives: June 18, 2013

EFF – How Dozens of Companies Know You’re Reading About Those NSA Leaks

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Follow up to previous postings on NSA’s big data domestic surveillance program via Micah Lee: “Each time your browser makes a request it sends the following information with it:

  • Your IP address and the exact time of the request
  • User-Agent string: which normally contains the web browser you’re using, your browser’s version, your operating system, processor information (32-bit, 64-bit), language settings, and other data
  • Referrer: the URL of the website you’re coming from—in the case of the Facebook Like button example, your browser tells Facebook which website you’re viewing
  • Other HTTP headers which contain potentially identifying information
  • Sometimes tracking cookies

Every company has different practices, but they generally log some or all of this information, perhaps indefinitely. It takes very little information about your web browser to build a unique fingerprint of it. See EFF’s Panopticlick website to see how unique and trackable your web browser is even without the use of tracking cookies. You can read more in our Primer on Information Theory and Privacy.”

EPIC – FBI Performs Massive Virtual Line-up by Searching DMV Photos

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“Through a Freedom of Information Act request, EPIC obtained a number of agreements between the FBI and state DMVs. The agreements allow the FBI to use facial recognition to compare subjects of FBI investigations with the millions of license and identification photos retained by participating state DMVs. EPIC also obtained the Standard Operating Procedure for… Continue Reading

Presentation – The Race to the Patent Office – the Impact of the America Invents Act

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The Race to the Patent Office – the Impact of the America Invents Act – “The America Invents Act (Patent Reform Act) went into effect on 16 March 2013.  It switched the U.S. patent system from “first to invent” to “first to file” and is the most significant change to the system in nearly 60… Continue Reading

Agencies Release List of Distressed or Underserved Nonmetropolitan Middle-Income Geographies

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News release: “The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies today announced the availability of the 2013 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies where revitalization or stabilization activities will receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration as “community development.” “Distressed nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies” and “underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies” are designated by the agencies in accordance… Continue Reading

CRS – Armed Conflict in Syria: U.S. and International Response

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Armed Conflict in Syria: U.S. and International Response. Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs; Christopher M. Blanchard, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. June 14, 2013 “The popular-uprising-turned-armed-rebellion in Syria is in its third year, and seems poised to continue, with the government and a bewildering array of militias locked in a bloody struggle… Continue Reading

Obscured by Clouds or How to Address Governmental Access to Cloud Data from Abroad

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Van Hoboken, Joris V. J., Arnbak, Axel and Van Eijk, Nico, Obscured by Clouds or How to Address Governmental Access to Cloud Data from abroad (June 9, 2013). Available at SSRN. “Transnational surveillance is obscured by the cloud. U.S. foreign intelligence law provides a wide and relatively unchecked possibility of access to data from Europeans… Continue Reading

Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles

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“The material that sustains the nuclear reactions that produce energy can also be used to make nuclear weapons—and therefore, the development of nuclear energy is one of multiple pathways to proliferation for a non-nuclear weapon state. There is a tension between the development of future nuclear fuel cycles and managing the risk of proliferation as… Continue Reading

Paper – Does commonality in illiquidity matter to investors?

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Does commonality in illiquidity matter to investors? Working Paper 2013-020A by Richard G. Anderson, Jane M. Binner, Björn Hagströmer, and Birger Nilsson. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. June 2013. “This paper investigates whether investors are compensated for taking on commonality risk in equity portfolios. A large literature documents the existence and the causes of… Continue Reading

Vital Signs: Listeria Illnesses, Deaths, and Outbreaks – United States, 2009 – 2011

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“Listeria monocytogenes infection (listeriosis), recognized as a foodborne illness in the 1980s, leads to invasive disease during vulnerable stages of life. Older adults and persons with immunocompromising conditions are at higher risk for Listeria bacteremia and meningitis, which can be fatal. Listeriosis usually is a mild illness in pregnant women, but it can cause severe… Continue Reading

NIST Researchers Offer Tool to Aid Standards Development, Implementation

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FACTS: A Framework for Analysis, Comparison, and Test of Standards, Paul W. Witherell; Rachuri Rachuri; Anantha Narayanan Narayanan; Jae Hyun Lee. May 09, 2013 “Open and consensus standards play a critical role in enabling globally distributed manufacturing. A close connection between standards development (supply side) and implementation strategies (demand side) is critical for widespread adoption… Continue Reading