Author archives

Why AI May Be Listening In on Your Next Doctor’s Appointment

WSJ no paywall: “Even the hospital walls may soon have ears. A fast-growing technology known as ambient listening is taking over an onerous but necessary task in healthcare: documenting what happens in the doctor-patient encounter. Already gaining traction for outpatient medical visits, the AI-powered systems are also moving into hospital rooms and emergency departments to …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Health Care, Legal Research, Medicine, Privacy

Harvard Is Not Launching Free Online Courses About Recognizing Dictatorship In Response To Recent Events

Fact Check: “Is Harvard launching free college courses on basic U.S. government understanding and “how to recognize a dictatorship” or a “dictatorship takeover” in response to recent actions from the Trump administration? No, that’s not true: According to a Harvard spokesperson the “edX” program has existed since 2012 and it takes about 12 to 18 …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

Harvard Defeats Trump Administration’s Attempt to Expel International Students

Via Legal AF: “Harvard just successfully blocked the Trump Administration’s attempt to get it out of the international students business, trying to destroy what makes “Harvard Harvard.” Read the Motion they filed that was successful, and Judge Burrows TRO against Trump, here – and the Harvard TRO here.” See also The New York Times – “The …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Education, Government Documents, Legal Research

Deleting History Under the Guise of Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History

SO 3431 – Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. May 20, 2025 – Sec. 1. Purpose. This Order implements provisions of President Trump’s March 27, 2025, Executive Order (EO) 14253, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” EO 14253 directs the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to provide sufficient funding, as available, to improve …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 24, 2025

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 24, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

How to Disappear

The Atlantic [no paywall] “Inside the world of extreme-privacy consultants, who, for the right fee, will make you and your personal information very hard to find. You could easily mistake Alec Harris for a spy or an escaped prisoner, given all of the tradecraft he devotes to being unfindable. Mail addressed to him goes to …

Subjects: Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, E-Mail, E-Records, ID Theft, Internet, Legal Research, Marketing, Privacy

Visualizing Sinking Cities

Center for Data Innovation: “Researchers from Columbia University, the University of California Irvine, and Virginia Tech have created a series of maps using satellite-based observations to show land subsidence—the gradual sinking of land—across the 28 most populous U.S. cities.This sinking is caused by both natural and human-driven factors, including groundwater extraction, heavy infrastructure, and sea-level …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Housing

Google Is Burying the Web Alive

New York Magazine no paywall: “By now, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered Google’s AI Overviews, possibly thousands of times. Appearing as blurbs at the top of search results, they attempt to settle your queries before you scroll — to offer answers, or relevant information, gleaned from websites that you no longer need to click on. …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

American Corruption – The Founders would have hated Trump’s luxury jet

The Atlantic: “In the years before the Constitution was written, two of the most famous figures of the American Revolution were caught up in controversy over fears of undue foreign influence caused by their receipt of opulent gifts from European kings. One was a gold snuff box encrusted with 408 diamonds that King Louis XVI …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research