Jeremy Singer-Vine, Data is Plural: “As part of its National Water-Quality Assessment Project, the US Geological Survey publishes maps and datasets that estimate local pesticide usage, based on “proprietary surveys of farm operations.” The datasets provide high/low estimates (measured in kilograms) by county, chemical, and year, as well as by crop group for each state. The most recent “preliminary” figures refer to 2019, with the next release not scheduled until “late 2024.” Read more: “Move to change how U.S. tracks pesticide use sparks protest,” an article by Virginia Gewin in Science, reporting on the pushback against USGS’s decision “to reduce the number of chemicals it tracks and to release updates less frequently.” [h/t Walt Hickey]
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Category Archives: Government Documents
How AI could take over elections and undermine democracy
Archon Fung, Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, Harvard Kennedy School and Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard University – The Conversation: “…Imagine that soon, political technologists develop a machine called Clogger – a political campaign in a black box. Clogger relentlessly pursues just one objective: to maximize the chances that its candidate –… Continue Reading
Teachers’ Views on School Safety
Rand Corporation – Consensus on Many Security Measures, But Stark Division About Arming Teachers: “Shooting incidents at kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) schools in the United States, including mass attacks like the one that killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, have sparked calls to increase security or adopt… Continue Reading
Struggles With Air Quality in Federal Offices Put Occupants At Risk of COVID Exposure
Office of Audits, Office of Inspector General, U.S. General Services Administration A201018/P/4/R2308. Audit of GSA’s Response to COVID-19: PBS Faces Challenges to Meet the Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality Standard in GSA-Owned Buildings. GovExec: “The federal government’s landlord has struggled to maintain air quality standards in its buildings thus putting occupants at risk for… Continue Reading
Florida Higher Ed Faces an Ideologically Driven Assault Unparalleled in US History
American Association of University Professors: “Earlier this year, the AAUP established a special committee to review the apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in Florida. Today, after interviewing dozens of faculty members at multiple public colleges and universities in the state, the committee has released a preliminary report… Continue Reading
Office of Civil Rights Issues Guidance on HIPAA Compliant Use of Meta Pixels
ABA: “A Meta Pixel is a code embedded in websites that tracks users’ online activities and sends such activities as discrete packets of user data to Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The Meta Pixel can track “users as they navigate through a website, logging which pages they visit, which buttons they click, and certain… Continue Reading
Short Supply – The Health and National Security Risks of Drug Shortages
U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – Majority Staff Report, Short Supply – The Health and National Security Risks of Drug Shortages – March 2023: “Shortages of critical medications continue to rise—including drugs used in hospital emergency rooms and to treat cancer, prescription medications, and even common over-the-counter treatments like children’s cold… Continue Reading
Former Gun Company Executive Explains Roots of America’s Gun Violence Epidemic
ProPublica: “From the movie theater to the shopping mall, inside a church and a synagogue, through the grocery aisle and into the classroom, gun violence has invaded every corner of American life. It is a social epidemic no vaccine can stem, a crisis with no apparent end. Visual evidence of the carnage spills with numbing… Continue Reading
AI Initiatives from Biden Administration
Via Tech Policy Press: “A little more than a week ago, the White House released its national research and development strategy for artificial intelligence. The document joins the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, a phalanx of AI initiatives from the Biden administration, including: The White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights;… Continue Reading
Is That Climate Change? The Science of Extreme Event Attribution
CRS, Is That Climate Change? The Science of Extreme Event Attribution. June 1, 2023: “Climate change attribution is the study of whether, or to what degree, human influence may have contributed to extreme climate or weather events. Scientists can now estimate whether human activities have influenced extreme weather or climate events and changed how likely… Continue Reading
Regulating AI
Gizmodo: “What Would AI Regulation Look Like? How could Congress corral artificial intelligence? Erect guardrails, ensure accountability, and address monopolistic power. A new federal agency to regulate AI sounds helpful but could become unduly influenced by the tech industry. Instead, Congress can legislate accountability. Instead of licensing companies to release advanced AI technologies, the government… Continue Reading
AI Bots Are Coming to Finance
Bloomberg [free link]: “Also direct listing lawsuits, SPAC lawsuits, unemployed Harvard MBAs and the CEO of Goldman Sachs is also a DJ. AI is also expensive, both to develop and to run. Estimates show the costs of using large language models to answer a question can be as much as $14 per query, compared with… Continue Reading
