The New York Times – “What little privacy people don’t give away, companies tend to take. Given this unfortunate reality, to get complete privacy you’d need to install a labyrinthine series of software tools that make the internet slow and unusable — think specialty Web browsers, encrypted email and chat; virtual private networks; and security-focused… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Mueller fought release of Comey memos to prevent Trump and others from changing stories
CNN – “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors didn’t want former FBI Director James Comey’s memos released because they feared that President Donald Trump and other witnesses could change their stories after reading Comey’s version of events, according to an argument they made in a January 2018 sealed court hearing. The newly released record gives a… Continue Reading
NYT obtained 10 yrs of previously unrevealed figures from Trump’s federal income-tax returns – 1985 to 1994
“The New York Times has obtained 10 years of previously unrevealed figures from Donald Trump’s federal income-tax returns – from 1985 to 1994. Trump ran up $1.2 billion in core business losses in the decade we examined…” Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Losses – By the time his… Continue Reading
Google Lens can now read translated text to you and highlight top meals at restaurants
Venture Beat: “Today Google introduced new features for Lens, its Visual search and computer vision tool that can recognize plants, animals, text, celebrities, and over a billion shopping items. Google Lens will soon be able to highlight top meals at a restaurant simply by pointing your camera at the menu…Lens began as a feature exclusive to… Continue Reading
New Version Of The Mueller Report Has Been Released In Response To A BuzzFeed News Lawsuit
BuzzFeedNews – Jason Leopold – The new version released Monday further explains why certain details were redacted from the public report. “The Department of Justice on Monday released a new version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election and President Donald Trump’s campaign, shedding light on why significant portions… Continue Reading
Winners of the 2019 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition
Follow up to my previous posting on April 6, 2019 – Report – Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’ – Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’ – via The Atlantic – “Entrants in this year’s contest were invited to submit images that showcase Earth’s biodiversity and show some of the mounting threats to the natural world. These images originally appeared… Continue Reading
Consider this – Alexa is always listening and collecting data about you
The Daily Dot – Here’s what you need to know about the security and privacy implications of smart speakers, both the myths and the realities – 1) Smart speakers are always listening – One of the first things you’ll hear about smart speakers like echo is that they’re “always listening” to your conversations—which is technically… Continue Reading
Bike lanes need physical protection from car traffic, study shows
Really! – that took how long to determine?….ars technica – Drivers left bikes less room in the presence of parked cars and painted bike lanes. ” There are plenty of good reasons that people should cycle more. People who exercise more are healthier and can score higher on cognitive tests, for one thing. And replacing… Continue Reading
Microsoft offers software tools to secure elections
AP – “Microsoft has announced an ambitious effort to make voting secure, verifiable and subject to reliable audits by registering ballots in encrypted form so they can be accurately and independently tracked long after they are cast. Two of the three top U.S elections vendors have expressed interest in potentially incorporating the open-source software into… Continue Reading
Why You Should Start Binge-Reading Right Now
The New York Times – Ditch Netflix for a novel. And not just because a novelist is telling you to. By Ben Dolnick. Mr. Dolnick is a novelist. “…But in book after book, if you do push on through one chapter break, and then on through the chapter break after that, something amazing happens. Subplots… Continue Reading
Human Rights Watch World Report 2019
“World Report 2019 is Human Rights Watch’s 29th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from late 2017 through November 2018. In his keynote essay, “World’s Autocrats Face Rising Resistance,” Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth… Continue Reading
New Rules On E-Evidence Could Streamline Criminal Investigations in the EU
Center for Data Innovation – “Law enforcement authorities have a problem: Evidence from crimes is often digital, such as emails or documents in the cloud, but investigators cannot easily access data stored in another country. While this issue is global, it is particularly acute within the EU. According to the European Commission, nearly two-thirds of… Continue Reading
