Please watch this video via the Architect of the Capital – it is a fascinating story about the history of the adorable tiny doors in the Library of Congress. Enjoy.
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Category Archives: Government Documents
NARA Drives Govt Transition to All-Electronic Records
Secrecy News: “The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is embarking on an ambitious effort to phase out the acquisition of paper records by 2022 and to transition to all-electronic record keeping. The White House Office of Management and Budget has endorsed the initiative and has directed all federal agencies to adopt exclusively electronic formats… Continue Reading
The Regulation of Cryptocurrencies – Between a Currency and a Financial Product
Jabotinsky, Hadar Yoana, The Regulation of Cryptocurrencies – Between a Currency and a Financial Product (February 7, 2018). Hebrew University of Jerusalem Legal Research Paper No. 18-10. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3119591 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3119591 – “As cryptocurrencies gain popularity, the issue of how to regulate them becomes more pressing. The attractiveness of cryptocurrencies is due in… Continue Reading
ABA Profile of the Profession 2019 Survey
“The growth of the legal industry has slowed in recent years, according to the 2019 ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, a tally of lawyers by every state bar association and licensing agency.In the past year, from 2018 to 2019, the number of active lawyers grew 0.7%. It was the third time in the past four… Continue Reading
African Law for Everyone: AfricanLII and Laws.Africa
DipLawMatic Dialogues – “On Monday, July 15, 2019, the 2019 Schaffer Grant recipient, Mariya Badeva-Bright, who leads the AfricanLII project at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (and recently co-founded Laws.Africa, a legislative commons), delivered a fantastic presentation titled “African Law for Everyone: AfricanLII and Laws.Africa.” Mariya’s presentation was a summary of her motivations… Continue Reading
What is Section 230 and why does Donald Trump want to change it?
MIT Technology Review – This provision of the Communications Decency Act is being blamed for everything from social-media bias to enabling revenge porn. Here’s how to understand the law that created the modern internet. “Section 230 is one of the pieces of legislation that allowed today’s internet—and Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—to develop. Now, it’s being… Continue Reading
Voter Purge Rates Remain High, Analysis Finds
Brennan Center for Justice: “Using data released by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in June, a new Brennan Center analysis has found that between 2016 and 2018, counties with a history of voter discrimination have continued purging people from the rolls at much higher rates than other counties. This phenomenon began after the Supreme… Continue Reading
A Plan for Federal Engagement in Developing Technical Standards and Related Tools
NIST – U.S. Leadership in AI: A Plan for Federal Engagement in Developing Technical Standards and Related Tools. Prepared in response to Executive Order 13859 Submitted on August 9, 2019. “…United States global leadership in AI depends upon the Federal government playing an active and purpose-driven role in AI standards development. That includes AI standards-related… Continue Reading
Few Federal Hate Crime Referrals Result in Prosecution
“The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (18 USC 249) was passed by Congress in 2009. Despite around 50 criminal referrals each year to federal prosecutors for these hate crimes, few have resulted in actual charges filed in federal court. During the Trump Administration, the number of federal prosecutions under this… Continue Reading
Trump administration deals blow to Endangered Species Act and disregards climate crisis
Washington Post: “The Trump administration moved on Monday to weaken how it applies the 45-year-old Endangered Species Act, ordering changes that critics said will speed the loss of animals and plants at a time of record global extinctions . The action, which expands the administration’s rewrite of U.S. environmental laws, is the latest that targets… Continue Reading
Opinion – The Second Amendment doesn’t give you the right to own a gun
MarketWatch – Brett Arends: “Can we please stop pretending that the Second Amendment contains an unfettered right for everyone to buy a gun? It doesn’t, and it never has. The claims made by the small number of extremists, before and after the Orlando, Fla., massacre, are based on a deliberate lie. The Second Amendment of… Continue Reading
FCC Should Assess Making Off-School-Premises Access Eligible for Additional Federal Support
GAO Watch Blog – “These days, internet access is crucial for students both in and out of the classroom. “Underconnected” students—those with limited or no internet access at home—may have difficulty completing homework assignments. This puts them at risk of falling behind better-connected students. With back to school season on the horizon, today’s WatchBlog looks… Continue Reading
