Author archives

State Department Telecommunications: Information on Vendors and Cyber-Threat Nations

State Department Telecommunications: Information on Vendors and Cyber-Threat Nations, GAO-17-688R: Published: Jul 27, 2017. Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2017. “Federal telecommunications systems can include a variety of equipment, products, and services which may be produced by foreign manufacturers—and may potentially be vulnerable to manipulation by a cyber-threat nation like China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia. …

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Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Documents

Construction of Border Wall Threatens “Crown Jewel of Wildlife Refuge System”

If the levee wall is constructed, it will essentially destroy the refuge, a federal official told the [Texas] Observer: “For at least six months, private contractors and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have been quietly preparing to build the first piece of President Trump’s border wall through the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge in …

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Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

Sci-Hub’s cache of pirated papers continues to expand with ramifications for subscription journals

Sci-Hub’s cache of pirated papers is so big, subscription journals are doomed, data analyst suggests: “There is no doubt that Sci-Hub, the infamous—and, according to a U.S. court, illegal—online repository of pirated research papers, is enormously popular. (See Science’s investigation last year of who is downloading papers from Sci-Hub.) But just how enormous is its …

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Subjects: E-Commerce, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

How States Can Save Consumers Money, Energy, Water Waste, and Protect the Environment

States Go First: How States Can Save Consumers Money, Reduce Energy and Water Waste, and Protect the Environment with New Appliance Standards, July 25, 2017, Research Report A1702 Joanna Mauer, Andrew deLaski, and Marianne DiMascio. “National appliance standards cover products ranging from refrigerators to commercial air conditioners to electric motors. Most of today’s national standards …

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Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents

Ebook – Best Practices for Court Privacy Policy Formulation

“A State Justice Institute supported report, “Best Practices for Court Privacy Policy Formulation” authored by three of our NCSC colleagues, Tom Clarke, Jannet Lewis and Di Graski has just been released.  The report begins: “As state and local courts progressively convert their business processes from paper to electronic formats, policies around remote electronic access to …

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Subjects: Courts, Legal Research, Privacy

POGO Unveils Tool to Help Federal Whistleblowers Know Their Rights

“Whistleblowers throughout the federal government face a patchwork of legal protections. It can be difficult to know what the law protects and what it doesn’t. POGO’s new “Know Your Rights: Whistleblower Protections for Federal Sector Employees” tool is a starting point for figuring it out. In anticipation of National Whistleblower Appreciation Day this weekend, POGO …

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Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Field recordings from the Dictionary of American Regional English

University of Wisconsin – Madison Libraries: “From 1965–1970, Fieldworkers for the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) conducted interviews with nearly 3,000 “Informants” in 1,002 communities across America. They visited native residents in all fifty states and D.C., collecting local words, phrases, and pronunciations. In addition to answering more than 1,600 questions from the DARE …

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Subjects: Knowledge Management, Libraries

Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act

“The bipartisan Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) was introduced in the US House of Representatives on July 26, 2017. Co-sponsored by Representatives Kevin Yoder (R-KS-3), Mike Doyle (D-PA-14), and Zoe Lofgren, (D-CA-19), FASTR will accelerate scientific discovery and fuel innovation by making articles reporting on publicly funded scientific research freely accessible …

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Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legislation, Libraries

Federal Documents within the HathiTrust Digital Library, as of July 1, 2017

Searchable U.S. Federal Documents collection – “HathiTrust and Michigan staff have developed a new access point for federal documents within HathiTrust, the U.S. Federal Documents collection. This new collection enables users to search and browse a set limited to only federal documents in HathiTrust. Items included in the collection were identified as federal documents via …

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Subjects: E-Records, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

New Database Details Pollutants in Virtually All U.S. Public Water Systems

Environmental Working Group: “Starting today, the vast majority of Americans can learn about every potentially harmful chemical in their drinking water and what scientists say are the safe levels of those contaminants. EWG’s new national Tap Water Database is the most complete source available on the quality of U.S. drinking water, aggregating and analyzing data …

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Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents

Drug Prosecutions Drop To Historic Lows In Last 6 Months

“Despite widespread concern about an epidemic of opioid abuse, and announcements by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others of stepped up efforts by the Trump administration to address it, federal criminal prosecutions for drug offenses have dropped to historic lows. The latest data, current through June 2017, show that fewer drug offenders were federally prosecuted …

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