Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance: “Roughly one in 37 homes are now considered seriously underwater in the US, and that share is much higher across a swath of southern states. Nationally, 2.7% of homes carried loan balances at least 25% more than their market value in the first few months of the year. That’s up from… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
What Can Go Wrong When Police Use AI to Write Reports?
EFF: “Axon—the makers of widely-used police body cameras and tasers (and that also keeps trying to arm drones)—has a new product: AI that will write police reports for officers. Draft One is a generative large language model machine learning system that reportedly takes audio from body-worn cameras and converts it into a narrative police report… Continue Reading
How to Block Companies From Tracking You Online
Lifehacker: “…Currently, there are two major methods of data-tracking online: The first, cookies, is on the way out, but pixel trackers are a bit more complicated. You’ve probably heard the term cookies before. These are little packets of information that allow websites to store data like your password, so you don’t need to log in… Continue Reading
Thwarted cyberattack targeted LC in tandem with October British Library breach
NextGov/FCW:”The Library of Congress was targeted in a cyberattack that occurred in parallel with a high-profile intrusion into the United Kingdom’s British Library in late October, but the hackers failed to access the U.S. library’s systems, according to internal documents obtained by Nextgov/FCW. The attempted breach occurred around Oct. 28, the same day the U.K.’s… Continue Reading
Top spy official releases principles on intel agency use of info bought from data brokers
Cyberscoop: “The U.S. spy chief on Wednesday published its policies for how intelligence agencies collect and use information from data brokers, but a prominent Hill critic says the guidance doesn’t address a key point about what kind of information it can or can’t obtain. The “Policy Framework for Commercially Available Information,” or CAI, released by… Continue Reading
4 fresh new AI-powered websites to make you more productive
Fast Company via MSN: “Have we reached the tipping point for AI as a useful element of everyday productivity? Ironically, that’s probably a question best suited for AI to answer. We do know, however, that people the world over are launching AI-infused websites at a feverish clip. In that spirit, here are four intriguing newcomers… Continue Reading
Most common 4 digit PIN numbers from an analysis of 3.4 million
“The top 20 constitute 27% of all PIN codes! Chip and PIN card, phone passcode, hotel safe – how predictable is your chosen PIN number? 3.4 million data points visualized from several data breaches. Created by the late great Nick Berry of Data Genetics (redesigned and used with permission). He wrote a great data story… Continue Reading
Researchers warned against using AI to peer review academic papers
Semafor [read free on first click only]: “Researchers should not be using tools like ChatGPT to automatically peer review papers, warned organizers of top AI conferences and academic publishers worried about maintaining intellectual integrity. With recent advances in large language models, researchers have been increasingly using them to write peer reviews — a time-honored academic… Continue Reading
Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases
The New York Times – “Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study.” Nature, Published 8 May 2024 – A meta-analysis on global change drivers… Continue Reading
How Congress would decide the presidency if there’s an Electoral College tie
The Hill: “A tie in the Electoral College in November is a very real possibility — and it could even end with a new President Trump and a new Vice President Harris sharing power. The odds are unprecedented in modern history, but the setup of the country’s electoral system and the fact that a nail-biter… Continue Reading
Inside libraries’ battle for better e-book access
Axios: “Librarians are mounting a fierce state-by-state battle against the high prices they pay to provide patrons with e-books — so far, with little to show for it. Why it matters: The ongoing dispute threatens library patrons’ access to e-books. Where it stands: Publishers typically require libraries to renew the license to each e-book every… Continue Reading
U.S. Federal Court Cases Dockets
M Thatcher Clark describes his work – Pacer Tracker – available on Internet Archives – “At its creation in April 2024, this database contained the metadata of more than 350 million docket entries filed since 2013 in more than 13 million federal court cases. The data was obtained from RSS feeds published by many of… Continue Reading
