Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
Follow up to Judge Rules Flock Surveillance Images Are Public Records That Can Be Requested By Anyone, How Cops Are Using Flock Safety’s ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists and DeFlock – Automated License Plate Readers – See Also: “The University of Iowa’s Technology Law Clinic and the ACLU of Iowa today released a …
Forbes: “Welcome to Dangerous December. Emergency updates have been released for all iPhone and Android users. Google and Apple issued attack warnings to users around the world, before deploying updates for billions of smartphones. And Google also warns Chrome users are under attack, rushing out an emergency update for all platforms. Dangerous December—Emergency Update Warning …
Mother Jones – “The secret airport deportation program denies victims any semblance of due process. The Transportation Security Administration is forwarding passenger lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in order to detain and deport travelers while denying them the chance to challenge the process, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. A Times …
Ars Technica: “Smart TVs can feel like a dumb choice if you’re looking for privacy, reliability, and simplicity. Today’s TVs and streaming sticks are usually loaded up with advertisements and user tracking, making offline TVs seem very attractive. But ever since smart TV operating systems began making money, “dumb” TVs have been hard to find. …
Wired [no paywall]: “Four sources close to the situation claim OpenAI has become hesitant to publish research on the negative impact of AI. The company says it has only expanded the economic research team’s scope. OpenAI has allegedly become more guarded about publishing research that highlights the potentially negative impact that AI could have on …
Todayville: “When Google flipped a digital switch in October 2025, few users noticed anything unusual. Gmail loaded as usual, Chat messages zipped across screens, and Meet calls continued without interruption. Yet, according to a new class action lawsuit, something significant had changed beneath the surface. We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here. Plaintiffs …
NBC News: “The Trump administration plans to require travelers from more than 40 countries to provide their social media histories from the last five years to enter the U.S., according to a notice published Tuesday in the Federal Register. The data would be “mandatory” for new entrants to the U.S., who hail from 42 countries …
“The Data Foundation today announced the launch of the Evidence Act Hub, a comprehensive digital repository designed to preserve and organize strategic plans, reports, and toolkits related to federal data and evaluation activities required under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act). This living archive serves as a central resource for researchers, …
The Nation’s Data at Risk: 2025 Report – “This report continues ASA’s multiyear effort to assess the state of the U.S. federal statistical system, with a focus on developments in 2025. It highlights challenges and opportunities across five dimensions: staffing and capacity; system structure and funding; innovation; congressional engagement; and stakeholder support. It concludes with …
Washington Post [no paywall]: “Do yourself a favor and download iFixit’s new app. The free app from iFixit, a repair and advocacy organization, has one extremely handy feature for any smartphone model: It shows a personalized “death date” of when you should replace your phone’s battery, long before it fails on you. Think of it …
404 Media: “We’ve got new photos and videos showing a Border Patrol agent using Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses during an immigration raid. When we’ve covered CBP’s use of the tech before, the recording light on the glasses was not on. That’s different this time: the glasses are clearly in use. This matters because DHS bans …
Brainyacts: 1. A user pulled out an internal company document just by prompting. Let that sink in. A determined user was able to extract, through the chat interface, an internal memo that was never meant to be disclosed. Not “state secret” level, but still: a company document that describes how the model is trained and …
