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Daily Archives: November 6, 2017

NYT – Visualizing the Rise and Fall of ISIS

Center for Data Innovation: “The New York Times has created a data visualization illustrating how the size of territory controlled by ISIS has grown and shrunk since 2014. In 2014, ISIS controlled several important cities in Iraq and Syria, seizing control of over 50 cities and towns in June 2014, and growing to control nearly every province in Syria and northern and central Iraq by 2017. Throughout 2017, ISIS suffered heavy losses and though not defeated, now only controls a small handful of areas.”

Why Some Companies Restrict Data Access to Reduce Competition and How Open APIs Can Help

Center for Data Innovation: Blocked: Why Some Companies Restrict Data Access to Reduce Competition and How Open APIs Can Help, By Daniel Castro and Michael Steinberg | November 6, 2017.  Over the past few years, some scholars, advocates, and policymakers have argued that businesses which possess large quantities of data, such as social media companies,… Continue Reading

Mass Shootings in America Are Spreading Like a Disease

The Atlantic: “Several years ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article in The New Yorker positing that national school shootings might spread like a disease. He cited the models of the Stanford University sociologist Mark Granovetter, whose theory of social-influence “thresholds” explained the gathering force of a riot. Imagine an avalanche, where the first tranche of… Continue Reading

Comcast internet has been down across the country today

“Since this Monday morning [November 6, 2017], there have been massive Comcast internet outages across the U.S., particularly in big cities like New York, D.C., Portland and San Francisco, according to Level 3’s outtage map. Comcast tweeted this morning, “Some customers are having issues with their XFINITY Internet service. We apologize & appreciate your patience… Continue Reading

Problems and Solutions for Court Videoconferencing

Court Tech Bulletin: Problems and Solutions for Court Videoconferencing “A BuzzFeed News article brought to our attention a report done on the use of videoconferencing in the Courts of the United Kingdom and Wales.  We share some notes from the articles and discuss our potential technology solutions and other resources below. An article was posted… Continue Reading

Some “Acting” Officials in the Federal Government Will Authority

Steve Aftergood – Secrecy News, November 6, 2017: “Some government officials who are serving on an “acting” basis because a permanent replacement has not yet been named will lose their ability to function this month when their legal authority is nullified under the terms of the Vacancies Act. In the Trump Administration there are hundreds… Continue Reading

Challenges in Machine Generation of Analytic Products from Multi-Source Data

“The Intelligence Community Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on August 9-10, 2017 to examine challenges in machine generation of analytic products from multi-source data. Workshop speakers and participants discussed research challenges related to machine-based methods for generating analytic products and for automating the evaluation of these… Continue Reading

US Court Grants ISPs and Search Engine Blockade of Sci-Hub

Torrent Freak: “Sci-Hub, often referred to as the “Pirate Bay of Science,” has suffered another blow in a US federal court. The American Chemical Society has won a default judgment of $4.8 million for alleged copyright infringement against the site. In addition, the publisher was granted an unprecedented injunction which requires search engines and ISPs… Continue Reading

Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) – A new leak of confidential records reveals the financial hideaways of iconic brands and power brokers across the political spectrum. “A trove of 13.4 million records exposes ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, the secret dealings of the chief fundraiser for Canadian Prime… Continue Reading