Category «Legal Research»

DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse

Wired – no paywall – DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse – “The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of …

Subjects: E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Angelo Carusone on tracking Project 2025 and right-wing media

PBS News: “Project 2025, the conservative policy project, became a flashpoint during the presidential campaign. Angelo Carusone of Media Matters studied the 900-page document and spoke with Geoff Bennett for our series, On Democracy, where we hear a range of perspectives on how government should function, what led to this moment in American history and …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Health Care, Housing, Internet, Legal Research, Social Media

Internal White House document details plans to fire employees across US agencies

Washington Post – no paywall – “Federal officials are preparing for agencies to cut between 8 and 50 percent of their employees as part of a Trump administration push to shrink the federal government, according to an internal White House document obtained by The Washington Post that contains closely held draft plans for reshaping the …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Education, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

The Subtle Resistance of Dictionary.com

The Contrarian: “There’s something pretty interesting happening on Dictionary.com and its sister site, Thesaurus.com. Scroll down to the example usages of a given word and you’ll see what I mean. Among the example sentences for “democracy” at time of publication: “It seems this 248-year-old experiment we call American democracy may very well rest in the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Cops Used the Shoplifting Panic to Buy Tons of New Equipment

The “crime panic” was a myth. But an analysis by The Appeal shows the narrative helped local police buy facial recognition software, drones, license plate readers, social media surveillance tech, and more. “Retail theft has dominated headlines, earnings calls, and political rhetoric for the last few years. Television news shows loop seemingly endless clips of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

The Five Pillars Of Trumpian Repression

Via Lawfare – Benjamin Wittes has categorized the authoritarian moves by Trump so far, and they fall into similar themes as the above “autocratic legal playbook”: attack on the government’s own power to spend money; internal retributions and restructurings within government itself—most importantly, in the power agencies: DoD, FBI, and DOJ; the overt creation of …

Subjects: Censorship, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal

Follow up to ‘Boggles the mind’: Trump aide central to war plan debacle left Venmo friends list public and The High Cost of Team Trump’s Sloppy OPSE, The Atlantic’s Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris respond with the transcript of the Signal group chat [unpaywalled] after Trump and participants on the national security …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Mozilla Calls for Action to Stop Surveillance Firm’s Data Scraping

Cyber Insider: “A Mozilla-led campaign is calling on major tech platforms to block surveillance firm ShadowDragon from scraping user data from over 200 websites — including Reddit, Tinder, Duolingo, and Etsy — to support U.S. government surveillance programs, especially those run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The controversy centers on ShadowDragon’s flagship tool, SocialNet, …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Job hunting and hiring in the age of AI: Where did all the humans go?

Washington Post via MSN – The proliferation of artificial intelligence tools and overreliance on software such as ChatGPT is making the job market increasingly surreal. “The speedy embrace of AI tools meant to make job hunting and hiring more efficient is causing headaches and sowing distrust in these processes, people on both sides of the …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Over 50 Bar Organizations Stand Up For The Rule Of Law

Above the Law – One of the first things you need to know in a fight is who you can and can’t rely on. Thankfully, time and resources were saved by knowing that Paul Weiss is a lost cause. But the search is still on for compatriots willing to speak out against the current administration’s …

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

People tend to choose search terms that will confirm their beliefs

Ars Technica: “Forcing the use of general search terms can help people change their minds. People are often quite selective about the information they’ll accept, seeking out sources that will confirm their biases, while discounting those that will challenge their beliefs. In theory, search engines can potentially change that. By prioritizing results from high-quality, credible …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines