Monthly archives: July, 2017

Cybersecurity: The cold war online

Cybersecurity: The cold war online, Steven Aftergood. Nature 547, 30–31 (06 July 2017) doi:10.1038/547030a. Published online 05 July 2017. “The Internet is under attack, and not just by hackers, thieves and spies. As Alexander Klimburg reports in The Darkening Web, governments that insist on their own primacy are increasingly assaulting the idea of this digitized …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Documents, Legal Research

VA fires over 500 federal employees

FCW.com – “In the wake of landmark workforce legislation giving the Veterans Affairs secretary new authority to fire and discipline employees [H.R.1259 – VA Accountability First Act of 2017], the agency released a list of adverse personnel actions from the past six months. VA isn’t naming names, but the adverse action report released July 3 …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

The Atlantic examines role of CBO in healthcare debate

The Congressional War on Expertise – The Congressional Budget Office is a controversial part of the health-care debate, but that just proves its importance. “…The CBO is supposed to stay above the political fray, serving as an independent, nonpartisan source of analysis. Both teams must be able to trust the agency’s neutrality, or its work …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management

Google Map users can now directly share accessibility information about a place or add details about many places

Google Blog: “…Many of us take for granted simple things like walking through a doorway, taking the stairs to the next floor, or always having a comfortable seat at a restaurant table. But for tens of millions of people worldwide, those very things aren’t possible unless a place has a wheelchair accessible entrance, elevator or …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Search Engines

Black Hat USA Report – Portrait of an Imminent Cyberthreat

July 2017 Portrait of an Imminent Cyberthreat – Cyber attacks on US enterprises and critical infrastructure are coming soon, according to some of the industry’s most experienced and highly informed security professionals. And in most cases, defenders are not prepared. “Most information security professionals believe that the US critical infrastructure will be breached by a …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity

In Voter Privacy Case EPIC Files for Temporary Restraining Order

Follow up to previous resources included in this posting – Trump’s fraud commission demanded all states deliver personal voter info – Not! – via EPIC: “The federal District Court in Washington, DC has scheduled a hearing on Friday, July 7, 2017 at 4:00 pm, to consider EPIC’s motion for a Temporary Restraining Order. EPIC is …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Google Posts 2017 Scholar Metrics

Google Scholar Blog: “Scholar Metrics provide an easy way for authors to quickly gauge the visibility and influence of recent articles in scholarly publications. Today, we are releasing the 2017 version of Scholar Metrics. This release covers articles published in 2012–2016 and includes citations from all articles that were indexed in Google Scholar as of …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Search Engines

City cyclists monitored for particulate matter pollution and health impact

The New York Times: On Your Bike, Watch Out for the Air “…a five-year study…aims to find out at what point the harm done by pollution to cyclists might outweigh the health benefits accrued from the exercise…strapped-on sensors measure levels of PM 2.5, the fine particulate matter that is about one-thirtieth the diameter of a …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Health Care