Author archives

Cultivating obedience: Using the Justice Department to attack former officials consolidates power and deters dissent

Via LLRX – Cultivating obedience: Using the Justice Department to attack former officials consolidates power and deters dissent – Political science scholars who study the origins of elected strongmen, Professors Joe Wright and Erica Frantz discuss how President Donald Trump’s first three months in office has been distinguished by how his administration has targeted dozens of former …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

How safe is your browser? Run a Test Using Cover Your Tracks

EFF: “Cover Your Tracks is two things: a tool for users to understand how unique and identifiable their browser makes them online, and a research project to uncover the tools and techniques of online trackers and test the efficacy of privacy add-ons. Running tests on Cover Your Tracks gives you information about your own browser’s …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Hack of Contractor Was at Root of Massive Federal Data Breach

Bloomberg – no paywall: “Failures in cybersecurity practices at a software company that helps federal agencies manage investigations and FOIA requests allowed two convicted hackers to delete databases, according to internal documents. A software company that handles sensitive data for nearly every US federal agency was the victim of a cyber breach earlier this year …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Legal Research

From Hype to Habits: Comparing Data on Generative AI in Law Firms

Via LLRX – From Hype to Habits: Comparing Data on Generative AI in Law Firms – Since generative AI was first publicly released over two years ago, a litany of reports has been released that provide insight into how law firms are approaching it and the changing perspectives on its benefits and risks. Nicole L. Black brings …

Subjects: AI, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Marketing

Diseases are spreading. The CDC isn’t warning the public like it was months ago

NPR: “To accomplish its mission of increasing the health security of the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that it “conducts critical science and provides health information” to protect the nation. But since President Trump’s administration assumed power in January, many of the platforms the CDC used to communicate with the public …

Subjects: E-Government, Education, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Microsoft

Thinking Like A Lawyer In The Age Of Generative AI: Cognitive Limits On AI Adoption Among Lawyers

Schwarcz, Daniel and Das, Debarati and Kang, Dongyeop and McDonnell, Brett H., Thinking Like A Lawyer In The Age Of Generative AI: Cognitive Limits On AI Adoption Among Lawyers(May 19, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5260645 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5260645 “As of mid-2025, there is robust evidence that generative AI possesses the technological capability to significantly reshape legal …

Subjects: AI, Education, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to keep DOGE records secret

CREW sues US DOGE Service to compel transparency – includes all related legal documents. “…May 14, 2025. The DC Circuit Court ruled unanimously—with judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans—that DOGE must submit to discovery. Read it here….US DOGE Service wields shockingly broad power over all manner of federal operations—which far exceeds its limited legal …

Subjects: Censorship, Courts, E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

A Comprehensive New Data Analysis Into Why Harris Lost in 2024

The Cook Political Report: “After every major presidential and midterm election, the Democratic data firm Catalist releases a comprehensive analysis of the composition and partisan leanings of the electorate. What distinguishes their analysis from election night exit polling is that it integrates data like vote history, Census data and Catalist’s own polling and modeling, which …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Researchers Scrape 2 Billion Discord Messages and Publish Them Online

404 Media: “Researchers published a massive database of more than 2 billion Discord messages that they say they scraped using Discord’s public API. The data was pulled from 3,167 servers and covers posts made between 2015 and 2024, the entire time Discord has been active. Though the researchers claim they’ve anonymized the data, it’s hard to …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Internet, Privacy

TSA complaint data disappeared. Here’s where you can still find it.

MuckRock: “Not long ago, I did a routine check-in on a project I hadn’t thought about in a while: a Data Liberation Project repo that scrapes and archives Transportation Security Administration (TSA) traveler complaints. It was supposed to be a quick check-in—just restart the scraper GitHub had paused for inactivity. No big deal. I’d just …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Transportation

Solo attorney compared current LEXIS subscription to ChatGPT Deep Research

Via LinkedIn – Carolyn Elefant – “I just compared my current LEXIS subscription to ChatGPT Deep Research and was blown away. My takeaways: ✅ ChatGPTDeepResearch – Comprehensive, well-organized memo. ❌ LEXIS – A big, over-inclusive data dump ❎ ChatGPTDeepResearch – Identified key SCOTUS precedent in first sentence. ❌ LEXIS – Missed precedent entirely. ✅ ChatGPTDeepResearch …

Subjects: AI, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

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