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Daily Archives: May 1, 2014

Country Reports on Terrorism 2013

United States Department of State Publication, Bureau of Counterterrorism, April 2014: “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 is submitted in compliance with Title 22 of the United States  Code, Section 2656f (the “Act”), which requires the Department of State to provide to Congress a full and complete annual report on terrorism for those countries and groups meeting the criteria of the Act…

“Al-Qa’ida (AQ) and its affiliates and adherents worldwide continue to present a serious threat to the United States, our allies, and our interests. While the international community has severely degraded AQ’s core leadership, the terrorist threat has evolved. Leadership losses in Pakistan, coupled with weak governance and instability in the Middle East and Northwest Africa, have accelerated the decentralization of the movement and led to the affiliates in the AQ network becoming more operationally autonomous from core AQ and increasingly focused on local and regional objectives. The past several years have seen the emergence of a more aggressive set of AQ affiliates and like-minded groups, most notably in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Northwest Africa, and Somalia.”

Understanding ICANN’s Complexity in a Growing and Changing Internet

Testart, Cecilia, Understanding ICANN’s Complexity in a Growing and Changing Internet (April 15, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2431571 “Historically, the primary governance of the Internet has been in the hands of the Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit corporation appointed by the US government to develop policy for and manage the critical… Continue Reading

Living in Near Poverty in the United States, 1966-2012

“This report provides data on the demographic characteristics of people close to, but not below, official poverty thresholds from 1966 to 2012. The “near-poor” are people with family income between 100 and 125 percent of the poverty thresholds, allowing for a full examination of the low-income population. The statistics come from the Current Population Survey’s… Continue Reading

EPIC – White House Publishes Report on “Big Data and Future of Privacy”

“The White House has released a report on big data and the future of privacy. The report “Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values” makes several recommendations to the President: “(1) advance the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights; (2) pass national data breach legislation; (3) extend privacy protections to non-U.S. persons; (4) ensure data collected on students in schools is… Continue Reading

Risk and Responsibility in a Hyperconnected World

“Research McKinsey conducted in partnership with the World Economic Forum suggests that companies are struggling with their capabilities in cyberrisk management. As highly visible breaches occur with growing regularity, most technology executives believe that they are losing ground to attackers. Organizations large and small lack the facts to make effective decisions, and traditional “protect the… Continue Reading

Report Highlights Status of Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement

News Release, April 30, 2014: “The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today released a status report on Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) Payment Agreements that required the large mortgage servicers to provide $3.9 billion in payments to 4.4 million eligible borrowers and $6.1 billion in other loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention assistance. Because servicers… Continue Reading

Forthcoming – Anonymous Login and an Updated Facebook Login

[On April 30, Facebook ] “announced Anonymous Login, a brand new way to log into apps without sharing any personal information from Facebook, along with a new version of Facebook Login with even better privacy controls. People tell us they’re sometimes worried about sharing information with apps and want more choice and control over what personal… Continue Reading

Analyzing Food Security Using Household Survey Data

“Moltedo, Ana; Troubat, Nathalie; Lokshin, Michael; Sajaia, Zurab. 2014. Analyzing Food Security Using Household Survey Data : Streamlined Analysis with ADePT Software. Washington, DC: World Bank. “Since the end of the Second World War, the international community has been focusing on reducing the number and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Over time it… Continue Reading

Investing in Place: Two Generations’ View on the Future of Communities

[The American Planning Association] – APA’s 2014 research poll is designed to probe in more depth the relationship between planning in local communities and spurring of economic development. This poll attempts to better understand how two key demographic groups — Millennials (aged 21 to 34) and ‘Active Boomers’ (aged 50 to 65) with at least some college… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Defense Acquisitions, Defense Transportation, DOE Loan Programs

DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: Observations on Whether the Military Service Chiefs’ Role in Managing and Overseeing Major Weapon Programs Should Be Expanded, GAO-14-520: Published: May 1, 2014. Publicly Released: May 1, 2014. DEFENSE TRANSPORTATION: DOD Needs to Take Actions to Improve the Transportation of Hazardous Material Shipments, GAO-14-375: Published: May 1, 2014. Publicly Released: May 1, 2014: “Over 3 billion tons of HAZMAT… Continue Reading