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Category Archives: Legislation

Archival Records of Congress: Frequently Asked Questions

CRS – Archival Records of Congress: Frequently Asked Questions Updated December 7, 2023 – “Congressional offices and committees receive, generate, and process many paper and digital files in the course of their work. Archivists preserve some of this historical material, which can help inform future Congresses and researchers studying congressional history. This report is intended… Continue Reading

How Nations Are Losing a Global Race to Tackle A.I.’s Harms

The New York Times [read free]- “Alarmed by the power of artificial intelligence, Europe, the United States and others are trying to respond — but the technology is evolving more rapidly than their policies. When European Union leaders introduced a 125-page draft law to regulate artificial intelligence in April 2021, they hailed it as a… Continue Reading

Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable”

Ars Technica: “US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is one of the more technologically engaged of our elected lawmakers. And like many technologically engaged Ars Technica readers, he does not like what he sees in terms of automakers’ approach to data privacy. On Friday, Sen. Markey wrote to 14 car companies with a variety of questions… Continue Reading

Privacy First: A Better Way to Address Online Harms

EFF: “State, federal, and international regulators are increasingly concerned about the harms they believe the internet and new technology are causing. The list is long, implicating child safety, journalism, access to healthcare data, digital justice, competition, artificial intelligence, and government surveillance, just to name a few. The stories behind them are important: no one wants… Continue Reading

Unclassified Documents Contain Troubling Information About Dragnet Phone Surveillance Program

“Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on Attorney General Merrick Garland [Read the full letter to Attorney General Garland here] to make public documents related to the Hemisphere phone surveillance program, which allows federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement agencies to request searches of trillions of U.S. phone records, usually without warrants. Although the documents… Continue Reading

Education Department lists schools under investigation for ‘possible discrimination’ based on shared ancestry

The Hill: “The Department of Education released a list of higher education and K-12 institutions that are under investigation for alleged shared ancestry violations Thursday as part of the Biden administration’s effort to address reports of rising discrimination in schools. “Hate has no place in our schools, period. When students are targeted because they are–or… Continue Reading

As mass shootings multiplied, the horrific human cost was concealed

Washington Post: “States reeling from gun violence made graphic imagery confidential — part of a charged debate over privacy and public awareness. States have increasingly restricted records showing the impact of gun violence. How? Some have used or created exemptions to public records laws to withhold crime scene evidence, such as photos of mutilated bodies… Continue Reading

Sea Change: How a New Economics Went Mainstream

Roosevelt Institute, Sea Change: How a New Economics Went Mainstream – By Felicia Wong, Suzanne Kahn, Mike Konczal, Matt Hughes. November 16, 2023 In this report, we seek to offer an analysis of the people, institutions, and history that brought us to this moment in economic policymaking. From the Green New Deal, to the American… Continue Reading

Virtual Cloud Portals

Dark Clouds: Can Government Agencies Evade Public-Records Laws by Storing Documents in Privately Owned Digital Portals? Frank D. LoMonte, Adjunct Instructor, University of Georgia School of Law. Newsroom Legal Counsel, Cable News Network, Inc. J.D., University of Georgia School of Law, 2000. B.A., Georgia State University, 1992. “Laws enabling the public to inspect government records… Continue Reading

Supreme Court issues Code of Conduct

Supreme Court, November 13, 2023 [15 page PDF]: “The undersigned Justices are promulgating this Code of Conduct [there is no accountability nor enforcement mechanism] to set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the Members of the Court. For the most part these rules and… Continue Reading