Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Your printing service might read your documents

Washington Post – Here’s what to know [free link]: “If you’re printing something on actual paper, there’s a good chance it’s important, like a tax form or a job contract. But popular printing products and services won’t promise not to read it. In fact, they won’t even promise not to share it with outside marketing… Continue Reading

How Threads’ privacy policy compares to Twitter’s (and its rivals’)

Ars Technica: “Here’s what is collected by Threads, as well as by Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, Spill, and Hive Social. Meta’s long-awaited Twitter alternative is here, and it’s called Threads. The new social media app launches at a time when alternatives, like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Spill, are vying for users who are dissatisfied with Elon Musk’s… Continue Reading

AI-Text Detection Tools are Really Easy to Fool

MIT Technology Review [free link]: “Debora Weber-Wulff, a professor of media and computing at the University of Applied Sciences, HTW Berlin, worked with a group of researchers from a variety of universities to assess the ability of 14 tools, including Turnitin, GPT Zero, and Compilatio, to detect text written by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Most of these… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 8, 2023

Via LLRX –  Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 8, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the… Continue Reading

The Hive Index

The Hive Index – A directory of online communities: “We believe that all who want to surround themselves with community should be able to do so. This website is a free resource for professionals, creatives, students, teachers, entrepreneurs, and those that are just looking for some likeminded souls to hang out with. With your help,… Continue Reading

The Atlas of Surveillance

EFF: “The Atlas of Surveillance is a database of surveillance technologies deployed by law enforcement in communities across the United States. This includes drones, body-worn cameras, automated license plate readers, facial recognition, and more. This research was compiled by more than 1,000 students and volunteers, and incorporates datasets from a variety of public and non-profit… Continue Reading

Format Swap

Format Swap – “Below you will find links to the multiple converters and tools we have available. We have conversion utilities for nearly all document and image formats. There is also a link to our Tech Tutorials Blog. On the blog you will find articles on Programming, Machine Learning, OS Installs, Linux, Windows, and more.” Continue Reading

Civic Information Handbook

Civic Information Handbook by Karen Kornbluh and Adrienne Goldstein, May 11, 2023. Offering insight on how to compete with coordinated deceptive information campaigns – created in collaboration with UNC Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life.  “This handbook aims to: Educate civic information providers about coordinated deceptive campaign…including how they build their audiences, seed compelling… Continue Reading

Don’t Use A.I. to Cheat in School. It’s Better for Studying

The New York Times – Generative A.I. tools can annotate long documents, make flashcards, and produce practice quizzes. “…First, let’s explore one of the most daunting studying tasks: reading and annotating long papers. Some A.I. tools, such as Humata.AI, Wordtune Read and various plug-ins inside ChatGPT, act as research assistants that will summarize documents for… Continue Reading

Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say.

The Scholarly Kitchen, Rick Anderson: “If you’ve ever made a photocopy in a U.S. library or received a copy of an in-copyright document supplied by your library, you’ve likely seen a notice that looks like this: The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other… Continue Reading

Nine British Banks Sign Up to New AI Tool for Tackling Scams

Bloomberg [alt free link]: “Mastercard Inc. is selling a new artificial intelligence-powered tool that helps banks more effectively spot if their customers are trying to send money to fraudsters.  Nine of the UK’s biggest banks, including Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Natwest Group Plc and Bank of Scotland Plc, have signed up to use the Consumer… Continue Reading