Day archives: March 21st, 2012

New GAO Reports: Corporation for Travel Promotion, Debt Management, Defense Headquarters, Economic Development, Government Efficiency and Effectiveness

Corporation for Travel Promotion – Establishment and Planned Programmatic Activities, GAO-12-485R, Mar 21, 2012 Debt Management – Buybacks Can Enhance Treasury’s Capacity to Manage under Changing Market Conditions [Reissued on March 21, 2012], GAO-12-314, Mar 7, 2012 Defense Headquarters – Further Efforts to Examine Resource Needs and Improve Data Could Provide Additional Opportunities for Cost …

Subjects: Government Documents

January Indexes of Coincident Economic Indicators (CEIs) for New York State, New York City, and New Jersey

Federal Reserve Bank of New York – Jason Bram and James Orr “The January Indexes of Coincident Economic Indicators (CEIs) for New York State, New York City, and New Jersey, released today, show fairly robust economic growth entering 2012. Importantly, this month’s release incorporates the annual benchmark employment revisions for 2010 and 2011, with the …

Subjects: Government Documents

Firefox enables HTTPS safe searching as default setting

Follow up to New ‘HTTPS Everywhere’ Version Warns Users About Web Security Holes see the following from privacy researcher Christopher Soghoian – Firefox switching to HTTPS Google search by default (and the end of referrer leakage). “A few days ago, Mozilla’s developers quietly enabled Google’s HTTPS encrypted search as the default search service for the …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

Rules Proposed to Limit New Uses of Potentially Harmful Chemicals

News release: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed that companies be required to report to EPA all new uses, including in domestic or imported products, of five groups of potentially harmful chemicals. Over the years, these chemicals have been used in a range of consumer products and industrial applications, including paints, printing inks, pigments …

Subjects: Government Documents

Changes in federal and state unemployment insurance legislation in 2011

Changes in federal and state unemployment insurance legislation in 2011, Loryn Lancaster – Monthly Labor Review, February 2012. “In 2011, the federal government addressed a pair of issues concerning methodological aspects associated with the unemployment rate, as well as discontinuing an important surtax. First, regarding methodology, on June 13, 2011, the Department of Labor published …

Subjects: Legislation

IRS Tax Deadline Extended to April 17

News release: “The Internal Revenue Service today opened the 2012 tax filing season by announcing that taxpayers have until April 17 to file their tax returns. The IRS encourages taxpayers to e-file as it is the best way to ensure accurate tax returns and get faster refunds. The IRS also announced a number of improvements …

Subjects: Government Documents

Pakistan: U.S. Foreign Aid Conditions, Restrictions, and Reporting Requirements

CRS – Pakistan: U.S. Foreign Aid Conditions, Restrictions, and Reporting Requirements, Susan B. Epstein- Specialist in Foreign Policy, K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs – January 5, 2012 “The 112th Congress continues to debate levels of U.S. assistance to Pakistan in light of signs that Pakistan may not be a fully willing and …

Subjects: Government Documents

DARPA's Active Authentication Program – No More Passwords

Active Authentication: “The current standard method for validating a user’s identity for authentication on an information system requires humans to do something that is inherently unnatural: create, remember, and manage long, complex passwords. Moreover, as long as the session remains active, typical systems incorporate no mechanisms to verify that the user originally authenticated is the …

Subjects: Cybercrime, ID Theft, Privacy