Monthly archives: March, 2020

EPA launches portal for Guidance Documents

EPA Guidance Documents – “On October 9, 2019, President Trump signed Executive Order 13891, “Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents.”  Among other things, the Executive Order directs federal agencies to make active guidance documents available via an online guidance document portal.   On October 31, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued implementing …

Subjects: Climate Change, E-Government, E-Records, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

TIME 100 Women of the Year

“For 72 years, TIME named a Man of the Year. With a few exceptions, it was almost always a man, usually a President or a Prime Minister or perhaps a titan of industry. Throughout history, these are the kinds of men who have wielded influence over the world. In 1999, Man of the Year gave …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Power Through apps, not warrants, ‘Locate X’ allows federal law enforcement to track phones

protocol: “U.S. law enforcement agencies signed millions of dollars worth of contracts with a Virginia company after it rolled out a powerful tool that uses data from popular mobile apps to track the movement of people’s cell phones, according to federal contracting records and six people familiar with the software. The product, called Locate X …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Robo lawyer will sue organizations that will not delete your personal info

Fortune: “In January, a new law gave consumers the power to stop companies collecting their personal information. The law, known as the California Consumer Privacy Act (or the CCPA), can be a powerful tool for privacy, but it comes with a catch: Consumers who want to exercise their CCPA rights must contact every data broker …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy, Transportation

Google Assistant can now read webpages aloud in 42 different languages

The Verge: “Google is beginning to roll out its article-reading feature on Google Assistant that will read webpages aloud. This was previewed back at CES in January and is becoming available globally starting today. To use the feature, users can simply say, “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page” for Assistant to …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management

Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center

“As the Wuhan coronavirus and the disease it causes — also known as COVID-19 — spread across the globe, so does disinformation and misinformation. Follow the spread of this dangerous information with NewsGuard’s new Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center. Listed below are all the news and information sites in the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy, and …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management

Emoji etiquette in the workplace

Human Resources – The good, the bad and the downright inappropriate – “Emojis are everywhere nowadays. When words fail us or we want to lighten the mood, very often we turn to emojis. In fact even in a professional work setting, 71% of respondents in Perkbox’s latest survey feel emojis should be encouraged. Polling 1000 UK workers, …

Subjects: E-Mail, Knowledge Management

Freedom in the World 2020

Freedom House – A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy – “Democracy and pluralism are under assault. Dictators are toiling to stamp out the last vestiges of domestic dissent and spread their harmful influence to new corners of the world. At the same time, many freely elected leaders are dramatically narrowing their concerns to a blinkered interpretation …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Education, Environmental Law, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Peak Bloom With Ten Fun Facts About Cherry Blossoms

Smithsonian Magazine – The National Park Service predicts the pink-and-white blossoms will reach peak bloom between March 27 and 30 – “very spring, the 3,800 cherry trees along Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin burst into a symphony of pink-and-white blossoms. Because this picturesque period lasts, on average, just four to seven days, the spectacle is a …

Subjects: Climate Change

How Information on the Coronavirus is Managed on Chinese Social Media

Citizen Lab – Censored Contagion – “Key Findings: YY, a live-streaming platform in China, began to censor keywords related to the coronavirus outbreak on December 31, 2019, a day after doctors (including the late Dr. Li Wenliang) tried to warn the public about the then unknown virus. WeChat broadly censored coronavirus-related content (including critical and …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Medicine, Social Media