Category «Government Documents»

Opposing Attempts to Criminalize Librarianship through State Obscenity Laws

EveryLibrary Institute: “In 2023-2024, we anticipate that many legislators whose bills failed the last session will reintroduce language in this session and anti-access activists will be inspired to sponsor their own regressive initiatives. The EverLibrary Institute is releasing a new Policy Brief “Opposing Attempts to Criminalize Libraries and Education Through State Obscenity Laws” to help …

Subjects: Censorship, Education, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries, Privacy

Visualizing Congressional Productivity

Center for Data Innovation: The Economist has created a visualization tracking productivity in the U.S. Congress. The visualization shows the number of major bills passed in every session of Congress from 1947 to 2023 as well as the party that held control over the House, Senate, and presidency during each session. In the visualization, bills …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Database States – No database is neutral

The Baffler -Sanjana Varghese: The UK, as it turns out, is not particularly adept at securing its data. In 2009, a group of British academics released a report calling the UK a “database state,” citing the existence of forty-six leaky databases that were poorly constructed and badly maintained. Databases that they examined ranged from one …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

How Policymakers Can Thwart the Rise of Fake Reviews

Center for Data Innovation: As businesses compete for customers in the digital economy, some use deceptive tactics to manipulate consumer reviews about their goods or services, or those of their competitors, including by posting fake reviews. These fake reviews can damage honest companies’ reputation and deceive consumers into purchasing goods or services of substandard quality. …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Intellectual Property, Legal Research, Legislation

Biden’s New Open Government Plan Lays Out a Progressive Regulatory Reform Agenda

Center for Progressive Reform: “In case you missed it, the Biden administration capped off 2022 with the release of a new “open government” plan that aims to improve access to federal data and information, better engage the public in the regulatory process, and streamline delivery of government services and benefits. While the 21-page document — …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Close to 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year

Missing Profits: “Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen estimate that close to 40% of multinational profits (close to $1 trillion in 2019) are shifted to tax havens each year. This shifting reduces corporate income tax revenue by more than $200 billion, or 10% of global corporate tax receipts. Explore …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters

NOAA – “The U.S. has sustained 341 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2022). The total cost of these 341 events exceeds $2.475 trillion. In 2022, there were 18 weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect the United States. …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Housing, Legal Research, Transportation

EEOC on the lookout for tech-fueled employment bias

FCW: “The federal agency responsible for enforcing employment discrimination rules plans to sharpen its focus on algorithmic and other tech-related employment discrimination.  The new strategic enforcement plan released by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission on Tuesday covers priorities for fiscal years 2023-2027, and is open for comment through Feb. 9, 2023. The document states that …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Government watchdog spent $15,000 to crack a federal agency’s passwords in minutes

TechCrunch: “A government watchdog has published a scathing rebuke of the Department of the Interior’s cybersecurity posture, finding it was able to crack thousands of employee user accounts because the department’s security policies allow easily guessable passwords like ‘Password1234’. The report by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, tasked …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Economy, Government Documents, Internet

Coastal Risk Screening Tool

“An interactive map showing areas threatened by sea level rise and coastal flooding. Combining the most advanced global model of coastal elevations with the latest projections for future flood levels. Flood maps are only as good as the elevation data they’re founded on. We used machine learning to develop CoastalDEM ®, a high-accuracy digital elevation …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Housing, Transportation