Category «Civil Liberties»

How Infrared Images Could Be Part of Your Daily Life

The New York Times – “In a post-quarantine world, heat sensors could help spot sick people with elevated temperatures as they enter public places. But it’s not that simple. “A fever is one indicator that someone may be exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends temperature screenings in a variety of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Food and Nutrition, Health Care, Legal Research, Transportation

The U.S. Is Lagging Behind Many Rich Countries

The New York Times – These Charts Show Why. “The United States is different. In nearly every other high-income country, people have both become richer over the last three decades and been able to enjoy substantially longer lifespans. But not in the United States. Even as average incomes have risen, much of the economic gains …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Economy, Education, Environmental Law, Financial System, Health Care

Social Media: Threat to or Tool of Authoritarianism?

HBR – “…Given the growing weight of social media’s influence on society, the key question is whether social media will become a sentinel against systematic oppression and injustice, effectively posing a serious challenge to authoritarian regimes. In the case of China, while social media may not have the power to cause a regime change, it …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Health Care, Social Media

You Purged Racists From Your Website? Great, Now Get to Work

Wired: “The Covid-19 infodemic taught social media giants like YouTube and Reddit an important lesson: They can—and must—take action to control the content on their sites. For those who follow the politics of platforms, Monday’s great expulsion of malicious content creators was better late than never. For far too long, a very small contingent of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Legal Research, Social Media

Thousands of U.S. judges who broke laws or oaths remained on the bench

“…In the first comprehensive accounting of judicial misconduct nationally, Reuters reviewed 1,509 cases from the last dozen years – 2008 through 2019 – in which judges resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined following accusations of misconduct. In addition, reporters identified another 3,613 cases from 2008 through 2018 in which states disciplined wayward judges but kept hidden from …

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

Public’s Mood Turns Grim; Trump Trails Biden on Most Personal Traits, Major Issues

New National Survey by Pew Research Center – Just 17% say they are ‘proud’ when thinking about state of the U.S. – “With less than five months until the 2020 elections, Americans are deeply unhappy with the state of the nation. As the United States simultaneously struggles with a pandemic, an economic recession and protests …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Financial System, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Picking Prosecutors

Carissa Byrne Hessick & Michael Morse, Picking Prosecutors, 105 Iowa L. Rev. 1537 (2020): “The United States imprisons its citizens at such a remarkable rate ––unprecedented in American history and without international parallel ––that critics have characterized the country as a carceral state. Despite its size, the “carceral state has been a largely invisible feature” …

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

Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues June 27, 2020

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues June 27, 2020 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Internet, Legal Research, Libraries, Privacy, Search Engines

Demographic report on protests shows how much info our phones give away

Buzzfeed: “On the weekend of May 29, thousands of people marched, sang, grieved, and chanted, demanding an end to police brutality and the defunding of police departments in the aftermath of the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. They marched en masse in cities like Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, empowered …

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

Trafficking in Persons Report 2020

U.S. Department of State – Trafficking in Persons Report 2020, June 2020: “For 20 years, the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) has demonstrated the United States’ conviction that human trafficking is a global threat necessitating a global response. Traffickers are denying nearly 25 million people their fundamental right to freedom, forcing them to live …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Knowledge Mismanagement – How the Virus Won

The New York Times – article and infographics – “Invisible outbreaks sprang up everywhere. The United States ignored the warning signs. We analyzed travel patterns, hidden infections and genetic data to show how the epidemic spun out of control…How the First Outbreaks Spread – Top federal health experts concluded by late February that the virus …

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