Author archives

What is end-to-end encryption?

Mashable: “One easy way to up your privacy game and communicate securely online is to start using apps that utilize end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption prevents any bad actors from picking up your messages in between you and the person you’re sending a message to. Basically, end-to-end encryption means that your messages are for your eyes …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

The Datafication of Law: How Technology Encodes Carceral Power and Affects Judicial Practice in the United States

Rothschild Elyassi, Gil, The Datafication of Law: How Technology Encodes Carceral Power and Affects Judicial Practice in the United States (April 10, 2022). Law and Social Inquiry, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4080216 “This inquiry explores how data analyses about US Federal sentences have transformed sentencing practice beginning in the mid-1980s. I …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Celebrating over 3,000 Historical and Contemporary Legal Reports Now Online

In Custodia Legis: “For more than eighty years, the Law Library of Congress has been engaged in the preparation of research reports on legal topics, with an emphasis on foreign, comparative, and international law, in response to requests from Congress, the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, and others. The Law Library has …

Subjects: Congress, Education, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Open-source flight trackers have been repeatedly used to break news over the last few weeks

Vice: “More than 700,000 people were tracking the flight path of the U.S. military plane believed to be carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this morning. She touched down in Taiwan at 10:50 pm local time, making Pelosi the first high-ranking American official to visit the self-governing island in 25 years, amid threats of a military …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Energy, Environmental Law, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Transportation

Walgreen Covid Test Results

Poynter: “The Walgreens drug store chain posts the results of the COVID-19 tests it oversees, and the picture is grim. More than a third of the tests are positive and some states have seen a spike of 25% in the last week. Click on the map, which is linked to an interactive for each state…”

Subjects: Health Care, Medicine

The Fortune Global 500

“The rebound from COVID-19 created a huge tailwind for the world’s largest companies by revenue. Aggregate sales for the Fortune Global 500 hit $37.8 trillion, an increase of 19%—the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history. Walmart landed at No. 1 for the ninth straight year, trailed by Amazon, which reached its highest ranking …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System

How flood maps can illuminate the risk from toxic waste sites

Fast Company: Climate science is clear: “Floodwaters are a growing risk for many American cities, threatening to displace not only people and housing but also the land-based pollution left behind by earlier industrial activities. In 2019, researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated climate-related risks at the 1,571 most polluted properties in the …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Housing, Legal Research

Time to update: Latest Google Chrome browser fixes 27 security flaw

ZDNet – “Google has released Chrome 104 stable with fixes for seven ‘high’ and 15 ‘medium’ severity flaws. Google has released Chrome version 104 for Windows, Mac and Linux, with fixes for 27 security bugs reported by third parties.  None of the flaws are listed as being actively exploited, but the release notes for Chrome …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Search Engines