Monthly archives: June, 2026

Inside Trump’s takeover of the American regulatory machine

WSJ via MSN: “Trump has gotten involved in regulatory decisions big and small that once were made by independent agencies, according to interviews with business executives, lobbyists and administration officials, dramatically shifting the balance of power across Washington and reordering how influence campaigns are waged. Lobbying targeting the White House – Political appointees by nature …

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

How Donald Trump is insulating himself from future investigations

CNN – no paywall: “The deal that President Donald Trump reached with his own administration to set-up an “anti-weaponization fund” for his allies is the latest example of how his second stint in the White House has focused on undermining checks on presidential power and insulating himself from future investigations. The agreement highlights the new …

Subjects: Censorship, Congress, Courts, Financial System, Government Documents

We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract

404 Media: The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything – “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracted with a spyware company that tells customers it ensures they can use the tool without the agency being caught doing so, according to documents obtained by 404 Media through our ongoing lawsuit against ICE. In September, we sued ICE for …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

ICE to stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees

Washington Post Gift Article: The agency is facing pressure to improve medical care in its facilities after reporting the deaths of 18 detainees in the first five months of this year. As the number of immigrants dying in government custody rises, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is shrinking the scope of which deaths it will be …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

Inside the Trump-backed push to bring AI doctors into American medicine

Washington Post [no paywall]: “The administration is laying the groundwork for chatbots that can diagnose illness and prescribe medicine, but physicians say AI can introduce more problems…Today, chatbots can only legally offer medical guidance with a disclaimer attached: Neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nor any state licensing board, allows a fully autonomous AI …

Subjects: AI, Health Care, Medicine

DeFlock An open-source project mapping license plate readers.

DeFlock: “Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs or LPRs) are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car’s location, date, and time. They also capture your car’s make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points. …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Transportation

We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract. The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything

404 Media: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracted with a spyware company that tells customers it ensures they can use the tool without the agency being caught doing so, according to documents obtained by 404 Media through our ongoing lawsuit against ICE. In September, we sued ICE for documents related to its $2 million contract …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

AI as Social Technology

Henry Farrell and Cosma Rohilla Shalizi, AI as Social Technology, 26-5 Knight First Amend. Inst. (May 11, 2026), https://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-social-technology [https://perma.cc/25BX-GUQL].  “…Authors of speculative non-fiction about AGI are less inhibited, offering sweeping visions of how information technology will completely transform society, economy, politics, or all three. They treat AGI less as a technology than as Andreessen …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management

Tracking hallucination marketing claims from legal tech vendors

Via LLRX Tracking hallucination marketing claims from legal tech vendors – Damien Charlotin tracks the claims made by some LegalTech vendors in the past and today with respect to how they handle hallucinations from their offerings. Charlotin is relying on internet-based written marketing material, trying to highlight the changes in how these products are and …

Subjects: AI, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

DOJ Finds Loophole to Pay January 6th Rioters

Raw America: “The Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” may be dead, but the effort to pay Trump’s allies with taxpayer dollars is very much alive. After Republican lawmakers threatened to sink an ICE funding bill if the slush fund moved forward, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the Justice Department wouldn’t proceed with …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research