Final report of the ABA Task Force for American Democracy

“The American Bar Association today announced the release of the final report of the ABA Task Force for American Democracy, a two-year, bipartisan effort to address the most pressing threats to the rule of law and democratic institutions in the United States. Co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh C. Johnson and retired …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Legal Research

Award-Winning THE LIBRARIANS Documentary Sets Widespread Release

Book Riot – “In a room filled to the brim, attendees at the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference in Philadelphia this summer watched Kim A. Snyder’s documentary The Librarians. The Librarians debuted at Sundance Film Festival in January 2025, and in the following months, traveled the country doing shows at libraries and festivals. ALA …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Epstein’s Inbox – A trove of emails reveals Ghislaine Maxwell’s Secrets

Follow up to previous posting – Epstein Files Are Out. The Coverup is Worse Than You Think, please see Bloomberg [this article appears to have no paywall on first click – do not click again though] “NEW: We got access to Jeffrey Epstein’s personal Yahoo inbox – more than 18,000 emails. It shows Epstein’s world …

Subjects: E-Mail, E-Records, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

National Guard documents show public ‘fear,’ troops’ ‘shame’ over DC presence

Washington Post – no paywall: “The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as ‘leveraging fear,’ driving a ‘wedge between citizens and the military,’ and promoting a sense of ‘shame’ among some troops and veterans.” (How do we have access …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research

New York Public Library Acquires Historic 1,200 Hours of September 11 Video Archives

“The New York Public Library today announced the acquisition of the CameraPlanet Archive, a world-renowned collection of more than 1,200 hours of video documenting September 11, 2001, its immediate aftermath, and the subsequent design and construction of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. This historic archive will be preserved, processed, and made publicly accessible through the Library’s …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries, Search Engines, Social Media

When the Vibes Are Off: The Security Risks of AI-Generated Code

LawFare: “….Vibe coding is a novel approach to developing software: Based on prompts, large language models (LLMs) take over the entire software development process, rather than simply supporting it. This innovation is possible because of agentic AI: systems of multiple AI agents that collaborate to solve complex, multi-step tasks. “Coding agents”—such as CodeGPT, Cursor, or …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

TikTok says its search engine usage rivals Google among Gen Z

tubefilter: “Is TikTok actually primed to disrupt Google in the realm of search, or is that claim overblown? You’ll get different answers depending on who you ask, but according to TikTok itself, the app’s search push is paying off. New research presented in a blog post shows a closing gap between Google and TikTok’s respective search engines, …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines, Social Media

Search Millions of YouTube Videos Used to Train Generative AI

The Atlantic [no paywall] – “Editor’s note: This search tool is part of The Atlantic’s investigation into how YouTube videos are taken to train AI tools. You can read an analysis about these data sets here. This work is part of AI Watchdog, The Atlantic’s ongoing investigation into the generative-AI industry. (A note for users: …

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Internet, Search Engines

75% Of Top Free Apps Are Spying On You

ITechPort – With Messenger, Pinterest And Lyft Leading 2025’s Most Invasive List: “An increasing number of top free apps are secretly monitoring their users, with three in every four applications tracking user data without consent. A recent study has shed light on the most invasive apps of 2025, revealing that Facebook Messenger, Pinterest and Lyft …

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

Mapped: How 6 Billionaire Family Fortunes Fund Project 2025

DeSmog – “As scrutiny of Project 2025 continues to grow, defenders of the Heritage Foundation-led initiative, which would reshape federal governance and give the next Republican president unprecedented new powers, say it’s the criticism — not the 922-page plan itself — that’s too extreme. In a piece published last month, Fox News cited prominent conservatives who …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research