Monthly archives: December, 2021

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Bill to Make PACER Free

Bloomberg Law – “The Senate Judiciary Committee approved bipartisan legislation Thursday designed to make U.S. court documents free to the general public. Committee members of both parties asked to be included as cosponsors of the measure (S. 2614) that would require the federal judiciary to create a new PACER system that would be free for …

Subjects: Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Earth Will Soon Have a Black Box to Chronicle Humanity’s Downfall

Singularity Hub: “If the world as we know it comes to an end (maybe even starting with an earthquake, birds and snakes and airplanes), future generations will have access to a vault containing duplicates of seed samples from the world’s crop collections, a frozen Noah’s Ark of animal DNA to bring species back from extinction, …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Knowledge Management

The James Webb Space Telescope in your living room

“On December 22, the world’s biggest and most powerful space science telescope will launch from Kourou, French Guiana, providing an unprecedented glimpse of our universe. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies, will study every phase of cosmic history — from within our solar system to distant galaxies …

Subjects: Education

Workers Are Using ‘Mouse Movers’ So They Can Use the Bathroom in Peace

Vice: “…At the beginning of the pandemic almost two years ago, there was much speculation about how the global crisis of COVID-19 would bring a newfound appreciation for how short life is, and how no one really wants to spend it chained to a desk. Out of that, we got the “Great Resignation” with people …

Subjects: E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy

A FOIA for Facebook: Meaningful Transparency for Online Platforms

Karanicolas, Michael, A FOIA for Facebook: Meaningful Transparency for Online Platforms (November 16, 2021). 66 St. Louis University Law Journal (Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3964235 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3964235 “Transparency has become the watchword solution for a range of social challenges, including related to content moderation and platform power. Obtaining accurate information about how platforms operate is …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Internet, Legal Research, Social Media

New NOAA tool pinpoints natural disaster risk down to county level

“NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has released an innovative mapping tool that provides county-level information on natural disaster hazards across the United States. This new feature provides significant enhancements to the state-level data on NOAA’s Billion-Dollar Disasters website. Developed by NCEI with data from NOAA, FEMA and academic institutions, this interactive NOAA mapping …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Housing

Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States

Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States DRAFT FINAL REPORT December 2021 – “…Consistent with the Executive Order, the Report identifies prominent proposals for reform and provides a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposals. This appraisal includes consideration of whether specific proposals could reasonably be expected to achieve …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research