Monthly archives: July, 2025

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE

ProPublica: “The Internal Revenue Service is building a computer program that would give deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data. ProPublica has obtained a blueprint of the system, which would create an “on demand” process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the home addresses of people it’s seeking to deport. Last month, in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

The Light Pollution Map

The loss of dark skies is so painful, astronomers coined a term for it – ‘Noctalgia’ is a feature of the modern age. The Light Pollution Map uses the Bortle Scale to help find places to mitigate noctalgia. Building the world’s most detailed, interactive global light‑pollution map. Visualize Bortle classes, SQM values & certified Dark‑Sky …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

Libraries Pay More for E-Books. Some States Want to Change That

Follow up to Unlawful Orders: How Libraries Became the Front Line in the Fight for Democracy – See also The New York Times / no paywall – Proposed legislation would pressure publishers to adjust borrowing limits and find other ways to widen access. “It’s hard to imagine a library that doesn’t carry “Fahrenheit 451.” But …

Subjects: Copyright, Digital Rights, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries

AI in Finance and Banking, July 15, 2025

Via LLRX – AI in Finance and Banking, July 15, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

New Warren Report and Bill Exposes Potential Trump Corruption, Bribery Through Presidential Library Donations

“Warren analysis reveals at least half a billion dollars in monetary contributions, gifts, in-kind donations flowing into Trump Presidential Library. Donations come while Trump makes critical decisions that may impact donors; raises serious concerns about bribery, influence-peddling. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a new Report (PDF)  exposing how companies, special interests, and foreign governments …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries

Food Policy Tracker

Food Policy Tracker – “Every day, decisions are made in Washington, D.C. that have profound consequences for how we grow, process, transport, and consume food in this country. We’re keeping track: Consider this your go-to source for actions taken by the president, federal agencies, and Congress that directly relate to or have significant implications for …

Subjects: Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care

White House’s plan to downsize the federal government, in charts

Washington Post – no paywall: “President Donald Trump and his advisers have called for dramatically shrinking the size and scope of the federal government, dispatching officials to agency after agency to block funding and slash staffing. The Supreme Court has revived the administration’s efforts to lay off workers, allowing planned reductions in force to resume …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, Courts, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents

The End of Cheating As We Know It

The Augmented Educator: “After decades of playing cat-and-mouse with academic dishonesty, we’ve reached an inflection point. I strongly believe that the old definition of cheating is obsolete and pretending otherwise helps no one. As I reflect on the rapid transformation of educational assessment over the past two years, I’m struck by how fundamentally generative AI …

Subjects: AI, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

Nobody (Not Even Trump) Can Control the Epstein Story

The Atlantic – no paywall: “Donald Trump helped create a monster. Now he’d like for everyone to ignore it. After years of sounding dog whistles and peddling outright conspiracism to work his supporters into a lather about global pedophile rings, Trump is telling those same people to move on. Earlier today, Trump posted on Truth …

Subjects: Censorship, Congress, Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Social Media

OPM will disclose civil service benefit and payment data to SSA

Federal Register on 07/17/2025 and available online – SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. [Docket No. SSA-2025-0031]. Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA). ACTION: Notice of a new matching program. SUMMARY: In accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act, as amended, this notice announces a new matching program with the Office of …

Subjects: E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

Inside efforts to capture federal data after ‘the big takedown’

NextGov/FCW: “Days after President Donald Trump took office again in January, thousands of government pages with critical data were taken down as agencies rushed to comply with executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, as well as what the administration calls “gender ideology.” That day activated a community, said Denice Ross, the government’s former …

Subjects: Censorship, E-Government, E-Records, Education, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research