Author archives

Supreme Court Poised to Reconsider Key Tenets of Online Speech

The New York Times: “On Friday, the Supreme Court is expected to discuss whether to hear two cases that challenge laws in Texas and Florida barring online platforms from taking down certain political content. Next month, the court is scheduled to hear a case that questions Section 230, a 1996 statute that protects the platforms …

Subjects: Courts, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Social Media

Disquiet in the archives: archivists make tough calls with far-reaching consequences – they deserve our support

The Conversation: “Right now, for technological, ethical and political reasons, the world’s archivists are suddenly very busy. Advances in digital imaging and communications are feeding an already intense interest in provenance, authorship and material culture. Two recent discoveries – a woman’s name scratched in the margins of an 8th-century manuscript, and John Milton’s annotations in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Addressing the risks in crypto: laying out the options

BIS Bulletin | No 66 | 12 January 2023 by Matteo Aquilina, Jon Frost and Andreas Schrimpf PDF full text  The recent high-profile failures of FTX and other crypto firms have re-ignited the debate on the appropriate policy response to address the risks in crypto, including through regulation. The “shadow financial” functions enabled by crypto markets share …

Subjects: Cryptocurrency, Economy, Financial System

Predictive Justice in Light of the New AI Act Proposal

Gallese, Chiara, Predictive Justice in Light of the New AI Act Proposal (September 29, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4286023 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4286023  – “In the latest years, there has been an increasing trend for police forces and judicial authorities to employ predictive profiling technologies in criminal justice, posing major risks to the fundamental rights of citizens. …

Subjects: AI, E-Records, EU Data Protection, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

The Financialization of Recession Response

The Financialization of Recession Response, Yale Program on Financial Stability, December 22, 2022, Aaron Klein: “This paper analyzes economic policy responses to the COVID-19-induced recession, focusing on the American policy response. Despite widespread political distrust between the two parties sharing control of the government and the timing of the upcoming presidential election, America’s political system …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Health Care, Legislation

FBI warns of neo-Nazi plots as attacks on Northwest power grid spike

OPB – “Plots by white supremacists to target electrical infrastructure in the United States have increased dramatically since 2016, according to a report published by the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University in September. “The rise of accelerationist ideology and doctrine during the past decade likely fueled the increased risk of attack plots …

Subjects: Energy

SCOTUS Statement Concerning the Leak Investigation Jan 19, 2023

I am updating this post with the most recent article in response to the “we do not have any idea who did it” investigation [hint – they did not quiz the justices and spouses]. CNN –  Supreme Court embarrassed by the opinion leak is embarrassed again Follow up to May 2, 2022 Politico article – …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

AI Accountability in the US Federal Government – A Primer

American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) – “Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been implemented for hundreds of use cases across the Federal government. Given this increased adoption, Federal leaders have an opportunity to lean in to take responsible and prudent measures to address AI accountability in the context of their unique mission. This paper outlines …

Subjects: AI, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Websites Selling Abortion Pills Are Sharing Sensitive Data With Google

ProPublica – “Some sites selling abortion pills use technology that shares information with third parties like Google. Law enforcement can potentially use this data to prosecute people who end their pregnancies with medication. These third-party trackers, including a Google Analytics tool and advertising technologies, collect a host of details about users and feed them to …

Subjects: AI, Health Care, Internet, Legal Research, Medicine, Privacy, Search Engines