Ebook Sales Model Brings Together High-Profile Players

Inside Higher Ed – “Seeking sustainable new revenue streams, 16 major university presses have partnered with a for-profit publishing house to sell digital versions of their annual front-list collections. Sixteen major university presses have signed with a Berlin-based scholarly publishing house, De Gruyter, as part of a new initiative to broker ebook sales between presses and …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Marketing

Shootings never stopped during the pandemic

Washington Post – 2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades: “Until two lethal rampages this month, mass shootings had largely been absent from headlines during the coronavirus pandemic. But people were still dying — at a record rate. In 2020, gun violence killed nearly 20,000 Americans, according to data from the Gun Violence …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

US sinks to new low in rankings of world’s democracies

Freedom House Special Report 2021 – From Crisis to Reform: A Call to Strengthen America’s Battered Democracy: “The events of the past several months amounted to an acute crisis for democracy in the United States. An incumbent president attempted to overturn election results, a violent mob assaulted the Capitol as Congress met to formalize his …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Data Protection

Poscher, Ralf, Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Data Protection (January 19, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3769159 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3769159 “One way in which the law is often related to new technological developments is as an external restriction. Lawyers are frequently asked whether a new technology is compatible with the law. This implies an asymmetry between …

Subjects: AI, Legal Research, Privacy

Federal Data on Hate Crimes in the United States

CRS – Federal Data on Hate Crimes in the United States, March 22, 2021: “A number of recent and high-profile crimes where the offenders’ actions appeared to be motivated by their bias or animosity towards a particular race, ethnicity,religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity has contributed to a perception that hate crimes are on …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Federal Deficits, Growing Debt, and the Economy in the Wake of COVID-19

CRS – Federal Deficits, Growing Debt, and the Economy in the Wake of COVID-19, March 23, 2021: “The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused a swift and deep economic downturn from which the country has yet to fully recover. In response to COVID-19, the federal government enacted expansionary fiscal policy to provide relief and stimulus …

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

Three billion phishing emails are sent every day. But one change could make life much harder for scammers

ZDNet – “Three billion phishing emails are sent every day. But one change could make life much harder for scammers. Phishing attacks remain extremely popular with cyber criminals – but by applying DMARC, organisations can help thwart them. Cyber criminals are sending over three billion emails a day as part of phishing attacks designed to …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, Economy, Financial System, Internet

Firefox 87 introduces SmartBlock for Private Browsing

Mozilla Security Blog – “Today, with the launch of Firefox 87, we are excited to introduce SmartBlock, a new intelligent tracker blocking mechanism for Firefox Private Browsing and Strict Mode. SmartBlock ensures that strong privacy protections in Firefox are accompanied by a great web browsing experience. Privacy is hard – At Mozilla, we believe that …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Search Engines

Credit Report Errors on the Rise

NBCMiami – “CARES Act Unintentionally Leads to an Increase in Credit Report Mistakes – Credit reports errors are quite common. In fact, a study found that one in four people has at least one error on their report, which Consumer Reports money reporter Octavio Blanco says can lead to problems.  “The worst thing that you …

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

Global Student Policy Alliance Creates Climate Policy Database

“Students from four universities — including Cornell — and two countries have worked to compile a comprehensive database of climate policy initiatives from the 193 member states of the United Nations. These students comprise the Global Student Policy Alliance, a transatlantic association of think tanks based at Cornell, the University of Chicago, the University of …

Subjects: Climate Change, Education, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research