Category «Civil Liberties»

Can making employers share pay in job postings help fix the gender pay gap?

The 19th: “Tuesday March 15, 2022 was Equal Pay Day, the first in a series of reminders of how persistent the pay gap has been. More states and cities hope laws requiring employers to share pay minimums and maximums on job postings will shrink this gap.  After years of little progress toward pay equity, more …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Tracking the Refugee Crisis in Europe

UN Refugee Agency – The Ukraine Refugee Situation: “The Operational Data Portal (ODP) was created in 2011 to enable UNHCR’s institutional responsibility to provide an information and data sharing platform to facilitate coordination of refugee emergencies. This was achieved using independent ‘situation views’ covering major emergencies such as the Syria situation or the Central African …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Knowledge Management

Ukraine’s libraries are offering bomb shelters, camouflage classes and, yes, books

NPR – “…Oksana Brui, who is the president of the Ukrainian Library Association…is among the Ukrainians who were taken by surprise when sirens rang out on Feb. 24 announcing Russia’s invasion. While some of Ukraine’s libraries have been destroyed by the fighting, she says that all over the country, libraries are “buzzing like hives,” full …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Defense, Libraries

Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress

CRS Report – Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress, Updated March 9, 2022: “Cluster munitions are air-dropped or ground-launched weapons that release a number of smaller submunitions intended to kill enemy personnel or destroy vehicles. Cluster munitions were developed in World War II and are part of many nations’ weapons stockpiles. Cluster munitions have …

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

Twitter quietly launches Tor service in the face of Russian censorship

Mashable: “Twitter just struck a blow against government censorship, even if the tech giant won’t come out and say so directly. On Tuesday morning, Alec Muffett, a cybersecurity professional with a long history of working with the Tor network, announced he’d brought skills to bear at Twitter. Specifically, Muffett wrote that he’d helped the company …

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

The secret police: Cops built a shadowy surveillance machine in Minnesota after George Floyd’s murder

“An investigation by MIT Technology Review reveals a sprawling, technologically sophisticated system in Minnesota designed for closely monitoring protesters. Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have been carrying out a secretive, long-running surveillance program targeting civil rights activists and journalists in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Run under a consortium …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Ten new books to read this Women’s History Month

Oxford University Press: “Since 1987, Women’s History Month has been observed in the US annually each March as an opportunity to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. This month, we’re sharing some of the latest history titles covering a range of eras and regions but all charting the lives …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Libraries

Pair of cases on the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” could eviscerate legal safeguards protecting free and fair elections

Vox: “A pair of cases are currently pending before the Supreme Court that could fundamentally rewrite the rules of US elections. Both cases are redistricting cases. In Moore v. Harper, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down gerrymandered congressional maps drawn by the state’s Republican legislature. In Toth v. Chapman, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court selected …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research