Monthly archives: September, 2013

The G-20 and Central Banks in the New World of Unconventional Monetary Policy

Brookings – Think Tank 20: The G-20 and Central Banks in the New World of Unconventional Monetary Policy “Five years after the first meeting of G-20 leaders, and decisive action by the central banks and treasuries of the world’s major economies that prevented the financial crisis of 2008-2009 from turning into a 1930’s style world-wide …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

Yahoo’s first transparency report cites more than 12,000 US data requests

IDG News Service – “Yahoo received 12,444 requests from the U.S. government for user data in the first half of this year, resulting in 11,402 instances of data disclosure, it said Friday in its first transparency report. For nearly 7,000 of the U.S. requests between Jan. 1 and June 30, only non-content data was disclosed, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

WaPo – Obama administration had restrictions on NSA reversed in 2011

Ellen Nakashima: “The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases, according to interviews with government officials and recently declassified material. In addition, the court extended …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

CDC – Births: Preliminary Data for 2012

“This report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for  Health Statistics (NCHS) presents preliminary data on births and birth rates(including  births to teens and selected maternal and infant health characteristics for the  United States in 2012. The findings are based on nearly 100 percent of registered vital  records occurring in calendar …

Subjects: Government Documents

1 Billion Live Without Electric Light

Nearly one-fifth of the globe can’t turn on the lights: “While some 1.7 billion people have acquired access to electricity globally since 1990, the rate of electrification has been slower than the rate of population growth in the most energy-poor countries. Just to get all of sub-Saharan Africa–a region that generates about as much electricity …

Subjects: Energy, Knowledge Management

Analytics/Big Data strategies, challenges and implementation priorities

Analytics/Big Data strategies, challenges and implementation priorities. Big Data Priorities 2013. Copyright ©2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. “Data has become a critical commodity in the 21st century economy. Recent new technologies have accelerated the growth in sheer volume of data collected, and devices such as sensors, smart phones and tablets are fueling the …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Economy, Internet, Knowledge Management, Marketing

Predicting Recessions in Real-Time

Predicting Recessions in Real-Time: Mining Google Trends and Electronic Payments Data for Clues, Greg Tkacz  -Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics, St Francis Xavier University. September 2013 “Many official economic indicators are released with a time lag, released infrequently and often require revision. In this Commentary , I discuss new sources of …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective

“Human influences are having an impact on some extreme weather and climate events, according to the report Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective released September 5, 2013 by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Scientists from NOAA served as three of the four lead editors on the report. Overall, 18 different research …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Documents

GPO Posts President Nixon’s Watergate Grand Jury Testimony Transcripts

“GPO and the National Archives provide public access to the transcripts of President Richard Nixon’s Watergate grand jury testimony. The collection includes 26 recently opened files from the National Archives’ Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force including transcripts of President Nixon’s grand jury testimony of June 23-24, 1975.”

Subjects: Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

GPO Makes Available Post JFK Assassination Audio Tape Recordings

“Audio tape recordings of conversations that took place after the Kennedy assassination are available at GPO and the National Archives. November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The audio tape recordings are of conversations between various individuals in Washington, DC, Air Force One pilots, and officials on …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

Pew – Anonymity, Privacy, and Security Online

Anonymity, Privacy, and Security Online by Lee Rainie, Sara Kiesler, Ruogu Kang, Mary Madden Sep 5, 2013 “A new survey finds that most internet users would like to be anonymous online, but many think it is not possible to be completely anonymous online. Some of the key findings: 86% of internet users have taken steps …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, Government Documents, Internet, Privacy