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The dataindex.us team is excited to launch the Data Checkup – a comprehensive framework for assessing the health of federal data collections, highlighting key dimensions of risk and presenting a clear status of data well-being. When we started dataindex.us, one of our earliest tools was a URL tracker: a simple way to monitor whether a …
The New York Times Gift Article – “President Trump’s declaration that he wants to “nationalize” voting in the United States arrives at a perilous moment for the relationship between the federal government and top election officials across the country. While the executive branch has no explicit authority over elections, generations of secretaries of state have …
“The Cambridge Online Trust & Safety Index (COTSI) tracks the dynamics of the fake SMS-verifications market across different platforms and countries. The Index aims to answer the following questions: How easy (and cheap) is it to engage in online manipulation? Is the situation with fake accounts improving or worsening over time? Which online platforms are …
The Atlantic [no paywall]: Even the administration’s budget proposals read like Truth Social posts. “…No one better exemplifies the clicktatorship than the president himself. Trump routinely makes policy announcements via social media. Consider when, in August, he attempted to fire the Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook on Truth Social. When a government lawyer was …
PCMag: “The next time you’re standing in a checkout line, imagine the cashier asking, “Would you like me to keep your credit card on file for future purchases?” That would feel odd—maybe even unsettling. Yet online, we agree to the same thing all the time when a browser offers to save our card details or …
Notus: The Trump administration has disrupted data collection on everything from homeland security, maternal mortality, hunger, drug use, education, disaster preparation and the economy. Joy Binion worked for the federal government collecting data on emerging substance abuse trends in emergency rooms across the country. Her work was part of the Drug Abuse Warning Network, which …
The Verge – Key privacy settings and best practices. “With ICE and CBP roaming the streets, united community action is more important than ever right now — from local mutual aid groups to school safety patrols. Known for its privacy features and end-to-end encryption, the Signal messaging app has become a popular platform for organizing …
Wired [no paywall]: “A new report from the Public Service Alliance finds state privacy laws offer public servants few ways to protect their private data, even as threats against them are on the rise…A new report published Tuesday finds that while violent threats to public servants across the US have been increasing, “comprehensive” state-level consumer …
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 31, 2026 – 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 increasingly …
Security Week – “Two Biden-era memorandums have been revoked, but some of the resources they provide can still be used by government organizations. The White House has announced that software security guidance issued during the Biden administration has been rescinded due to “unproven and burdensome” requirements that prioritized administrative compliance over meaningful security investments. The …
The Deportation Data Project collects and posts public, anonymized U.S. government immigration enforcement datasets. We use the Freedom of Information Act to gather datasets directly from the government, and we also post datasets that the government has posted proactively or in response to others’ requests. We expect these datasets to be used by journalists, researchers, …
Via LLRX – Reducing The Threat Of Drive-By Downloads – When people think about malware, they often imagine someone clicking a suspicious attachment or downloading a shady file. In reality, Jerry Lawson describes how one of the most dangerous forms of infection requires no obvious mistake at all. It’s called a drive-by download, and it remains a …
