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Daily Archives: July 3, 2014

The NSA Revelations All in One Chart

By Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson, ProPublica, illustrations by Alberto Cairo: “This is a plot of the NSA programs revealed in the past year according to whether they are bulk or targeted, and whether the targets of surveillance are foreign or domestic. Most of the programs fall squarely into the agency’s stated mission of foreign surveillance, but some – particularly those that are both domestic and broad-sweeping – are more controversial. Just as with the New York Magazine approval matrix that served as our inspiration, the placement of each program is based on judgments and is approximate. For more details, read our FAQ or listen to our podcast. Also, take our quiz to test your NSA knowledge.

EC – Public Consultation ‘Science 2.0’: Science in Transition

European Commission Background Document – “This background paper to the online public consultation gives a short description of the  term ‘Science 2.0’ as used in this consultation. The goal of the consultation is to better  understand the full potential of ‘Science 2.0’ as well as the desirability of any possible policy action.  The current transition… Continue Reading

Internet Access, Yes, But in my Mother Language! – World Bank

“At least 80 percent of all content on the Internet is in one of 10 languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Arabic, French, Russian, and Korean. A number of information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives are targeting Gabon’s preservation of linguistic and cultural identity, as daily communications are still largely in vernacular languages. Using… Continue Reading

Survey on securitisation markets conducted by BCBS-IOSCO Task Force

“The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) are co-leading a task force that will undertake a wide-ranging survey of securitisation markets worldwide. Established in consultation with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the cross-sectoral Task Force on Securitisation Markets will:… Continue Reading

Financial Regulatory Agencies Release Public Sections of Resolution Plans

“The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Wednesday released the public portions of annual resolution plans for 17 financial firms. Each plan must describe the company’s strategy for rapid and orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the event of material financial distress or failure of the company. The Dodd-Frank… Continue Reading

Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people, study shows

UVAToday, Fariss Samarra – “Most people are just not comfortable in their own heads, according to a new psychological investigation led by the University of Virginia. The investigation found that most would rather be doing something – possibly even hurting themselves – than doing nothing or sitting alone with their thoughts, said the researchers, whose findings will… Continue Reading

FHFA Actions to Manage Enterprise Risks from Nonbank Servicers Specializing in Troubled Mortgages

FHFA Actions to Manage Enterprise Risks from Nonbank Servicers Specializing in Troubled Mortgages (AUD-2014-014) – 07/01/2014 “Banks that traditionally service mortgage loans backed by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (the Enterprises) have been selling the rights to service troubled loans (e.g., delinquent or in default) in… Continue Reading

The effect of wording on message propagation

The effect of wording on message propagation: Topic- and author-controlled natural experiments on Twitter. In Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL’14). “How does one make a message “successful”? Thisquestion is of interest to many entities, including political parties trying to frame an issue (Chong and Druckman, 2007), and individuals attempting to make a… Continue Reading