Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
404 Media: “Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regularly searched more than 80,000 Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, according to data released by three police departments. The data shows that CBP’s access to Flock’s network is far more robust and widespread than has been previously reported. One of the police departments 404 Media spoke …
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding the factors that officers consider in certain benefit requests where an exercise of discretion is required, including factors relating to aliens’ past requests for parole and any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations, as well as the use of discretion in …
Washington Post [no paywall] – “Joe Gebbia, an Elon Musk ally who also worked for DOGE, said navigating dot-gov websites should be just as easy as visiting the Apple Store. President Donald Trump’s new chief design officer says he wants to overhaul the interface of government websites to make them more beautiful and less complicated …
An Interview with the Data Rescue Project Steering Committee – “Federal data are an essential public good, enabling cutting-edge research and underpinning decision making by governments, businesses, and individuals. However, continued public access to these data is no longer assured as federal agencies have removed datasets from government websites. Librarians, archivists, and other information professionals …
The New York Times [no paywall] – “In his seven months back in office, President Trump has declared nine national emergencies, plus a “crime emergency” in Washington. Those emergency declarations have been used to justify hundreds of actions — including immigration measures, sweeping tariffs and energy deregulation — that would typically require congressional approval or …
Data manipulation within the US Federal Government. The Lancet Volume 406, Issue 10500p227-228. July 19, 2025 – “A US Department of Veterans Affairs dataset compiling veteran health-care use in 2021 was quietly amended on March 5, 2025. A column titled gender was renamed sex, and the words were also switched in the dataset title and …
PC Mag: Privacy Under Fire: Instagram Is Mapping You, Otter Is Recording You, and Smishers Are After Your Amazon Account …Watch out for this one. If you’re not familiar with the term “smishing,” it’s a portmanteau of “SMS phishing.” It just describes attacks like this one, reported by IT Security Guru, where you get a …
The Hill – “More than 750 current and former staff members of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are calling on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop “spreading inaccurate health information” and do more to protect public health professionals in the wake of a shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for …
PCMag – “Your internet-connected TV has Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) features that track what you watch. Here’s how to disable it, along with smart privacy advice from security experts. Smart televisions offer internet access, streaming apps, and sometimes even built-in cameras and microphones. They’re also collecting loads of personal data in order to sell it …
Rebecca Williams: “In August 2025, I hosted a Burner Phone 101 Workshop at the Brooklyn Public Library. [The link to the full text PDF of the program is here.] Below is a summary of the workshop with key points in bold and additional resources that participants helped crowdsource. Before the workshop began, we set the …
MakeUseOf – “I use Firefox primarily because I have always believed it’s the gold standard for privacy. This is more than an assumption—it’s how the browser markets itself. However, after many years of using the browser, I quit. It took some deep digging, but honestly, beyond the surface, the cracks begin to show…So yes, I …
Coalition for Independent Technology Research: “A report on the struggle to keep public-interest technology research alive and the growing Coalition working to protect it. What’s At Stake – Understanding how technology shapes society shouldn’t be dictated by corporate agendas or political interests. It should be driven by and for the public, because without independent research, …
