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Daily Archives: October 21, 2013

Report – What the Government Does with Americans’ Data

What the Government Does with Americans’ Data, by Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice, October 8, 2013.

“After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the government’s authority to collect, keep, and share information about Americans with little or no basis to suspect wrongdoing dramatically expanded. While the risks and benefits of this approach are the subject of intense debate, one thing is certain: it results in the accumulation of large amounts of innocuous information about law-abiding citizens. But what happens to this data? In the search to find the needle, what happens to the rest of the haystack? For the first time in one report, the Brennan Center takes a comprehensive look at the multiple ways U.S. intelligence agencies collect, share, and store data on average Americans. The report, which surveys across five intelligence agencies, finds that non-terrorism related data can be kept for up to 75 years or more, clogging national security databases and creating opportunities for abuse, and recommends multiple reforms that seek to tighten control over the government’s handling of Americans’ information.”

Updating the Statutory Framework for Communications for the Digital Age

CRS – Updating the Statutory Framework for Communications for the Digital Age: Issues for Congress. Charles B. Goldfarb, Specialist in Telecommunications Policy. September 30, 2013 “The statutory framework for the communications sector largely was enacted prior to the commercial development and deployment of digital technology, Internet Protocol (IP), broadband networks, and online voice, data, and… Continue Reading

Recent Articles from BLS Monthly Labor Review

Labor market lessons from occupational colleges 10/01/2013 Coming to America: the Latino impact 10/01/2013 Scheduled passenger air transportation in the Producer Price Index: improvements and trends 09/26/2013 Recent trends in spending patterns of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants and other low-income Americans 09/13/2013 Research highlights of the Consumer Expenditure Survey redesign 09/09/2013 A working we… Continue Reading

Report Card released by UNICEF charts well-being of children in 29 rich countries

“Report Card 11: Child well-being in rich countries, from UNICEF’s Office of Research, examines the state of children across the ‘rich’ world. As debates continue to generate strongly opposed views on the pros and cons of austerity measures and social spending cuts, Report Card 11 charts the achievements of 29 of the world’s advanced economies… Continue Reading

LexisNexis Report – Understanding human trafficking risks in the chocolate supply chain

“Dark Chocolate focuses on the 476 English language articles identified in the Nexis database since May 2010 directly relating to human trafficking and the global cocoa supply chain. Representing a tiny fraction of the total volume of articles within the Nexis database, these articles provide insight into the media coverage of this shocking issue. 265… Continue Reading

MIT Faculty share 10,000 articles freely – with an appreciative world

Ellen Duranceau: “In the four years since the MIT Faculty adopted their Open Access Policy, the collection housing their open access articles has shown steady growth, and recently topped 10,000 papers. These papers are not simply stored and counted, however. They are read by grateful readers from all around the world. The stories are as… Continue Reading

FAQ on JPMorgan’s $13 billion in progress settlement

Neil Irwin – Washington Post [snipped] “What is JPMorgan Chase? – It’s the largest bank in the United States, with $2.4 trillion in assets. It is active in a wide variety of financial services businesses, including both what you might think of as ordinary consumer banking–taking deposits and offering car loans, mortgages, and credit cards–and… Continue Reading

EBA publishes final draft technical standards on NPLs and Forbearance reporting requirements

“The European Banking Authority (EBA) released today its final technical standards on supervisory reporting on Non-Performing Exposures and Forbearance, which will provide consistent indicators of asset quality of banks across the European Union. The EBA also issued recommendations on asset quality reviews (AQRs) aimed at supporting existing and/or planned reviews across the EU. The standards… Continue Reading

How Confusing Labels Land Billions of Pounds of Food in the Trash

The Dating Game: How Confusing Labels Land Billions of Pounds of Food in the Trash – This brief is a summary of a joint report of NRDC and the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, September 2013. “Here’s a superbly-kept secret: all those dates on food products—sell by, use by, best before—almost none of those dates indicate the… Continue Reading