Author archives

Pentagon Should Focus on Defense Priorities After Historic $93.4B “Use-It-or-Lose-It”

Open the Books – “Defense officials typically enter the end of each fiscal year with at least one goal in mind: spend the rest of the military’s budget by any means necessary. Otherwise, “use-it-or-lose-it” funding rules force the Pentagon to forfeit its unused money and potentially see reduced funding next year. Open the Books has …

Subjects: Defense, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Credit Bureaus Are Leaving More Mistakes on Frustrated Consumers’ Reports Under Trump’s CFPB

ProPublica: “…The timing of the drops at TransUnion and Experian coincides with the Trump administration’s dismantling of the CFPB. In February 2025, Russell Vought, a White House official who oversaw sweeping cuts across federal agencies, took control of the CFPB as acting director. He quickly ordered a stop to  nearly all agency work. Under his …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Much of the government’s technology isn’t accessible, internal report finds

NextGov/FCW: “Nearly 30 years after Congress put accessibility requirements for government technology into law, much of the federal government’s technology still isn’t fully meeting accessibility standards.  Less than 40% of the government’s most-viewed public webpages are fully accessible, according to a new report by the General Services Administration.  Overall, the federal government’s technology, including internal …

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

CRS U.S. Military Operations Against Iran’s Missile and Nuclear Programs

U.S. Military Operations Against Iran’s Missile and Nuclear Programs – P.L.111-84; P.L.119-60 – Publication Date: 03/06/2026. On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran. The same day, President Donald J. Trump listed among the operation’s objectives preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, destroying Iran’s missiles, and “[razing] their …

Subjects: Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research

CITR Challenges US Government Censorship Policy

CITR Challenges US Government Censorship Policy Threatening Deportation for Work on Social Media Platforms and Online Harms – The Coalition for Independent Technology Research filed a lawsuit today in partnership with the Knight First Amendment Institute and Protect Democracy, challenging the US government’s Censorship Policy that unconstitutionally targets noncitizen researchers, fact-checkers, and trust and safety workers for …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Legal Research, Social Media

DOGE employee stole Social Security data – put it on a thumb drive

TechCrunch: “A former employee of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency reportedly stole Americans’ personal data from the U.S. Social Security Administration and stored it on a thumb drive, according to a whistleblower complaint reported by The Washington Post. The former DOGE software engineer told co-workers at his new job that he “possessed two tightly …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Amazon wins court order to block Perplexity’s AI shopping agent

CNBC: “A federal judge temporarily blocked startup Perplexity from accessing Amazon’s site with its Comet artificial intelligence browser, according to court filings. Amazon sued Perplexity in November, alleging the startup took steps to “conceal” its AI agents so they could continue to scrape the online retailer’s website without its approval. Perplexity called the lawsuit, which …

Subjects: AI, Courts, E-Commerce, Legal Research

The Most Dangerous Branch – Liberty and the presidency

“Jack Goldsmith [Executive Functions] speaks with Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, about his new book, Separation of Powers: How to Preserve Liberty in Troubled Times. They discuss why the executive is the most dangerous branch of government, the importance of responsible executive branch lawyers, and contemporary debates over the …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Education, Legal Research, Recommended Books

Elliott Report

The Elliott Report is a news site published by consumer advocate Christopher Elliott in association with Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization. The Elliott Report features articles and commentary about how to become a smarter consumer. We publish an authoritative list of executive contacts. If you have a problem with a company, this information will help …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines, Transportation

From Iran to Ukraine, everyone’s trying to hack security cameras

Ars Technica: “Research shows apparent Iranian state hackers trying to hijack consumer-grade cameras. For decades, satellites, drones, and human spotters have all been part of war’s surveillance and reconnaissance tool kit. In an age of cheap, insecure, Internet-connected consumer devices, however, militaries have gained another powerful set of eyes on the ground: every hackable security …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Free Speech, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

How AI Assistants Are Moving the Security Goalposts

KrebsOnSecurity: AI-based assistants or “agents” — autonomous programs that have access to the user’s computer, files, online services and can automate virtually any task — are growing in popularity with developers and IT workers. But as so many eyebrow-raising headlines over the past few weeks have shown, these powerful and assertive new tools are rapidly …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research