Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 15, 2026

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 15, 2026 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Justice Department subpoenas Wall Street Journal over media leaks 

Washington Post: “The Justice Department issued subpoenas to the Wall Street Journal in March, seeking records related to coverage of the conflict in Iran. The paper reported Monday [May 11, 2026] that the requests pertained to a Feb. 23 article that published before the war began. The story described internal Pentagon concerns about an extended military …

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

The Evolution of Epstein’s Trafficking Network, from Palm Beach to Paris and Beyond

The Price of Non-Prosecution: The Evolution of Epstein’s Trafficking Network, from Palm Beach to Paris and Beyond | May 12, 2026 – “Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Committee Democrats, and local Democratic Members held a hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, as part of its Jeffrey …

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

Amazon launches an AI shopping assistant for the search bar, powered by Alexa+

TechCrunch: “Whether you like it or not, Amazon continues to put AI at the center of the shopping journey. The company announced Wednesday “Alexa for Shopping,” its new personalized AI shopping assistant, powered by Alexa+.  Notably, the experience will replace Rufus, its generative AI shopping assistant that launched in 2024. According to the company, Alexa …

Subjects: AI, E-Commerce, E-Records, Economy, Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

The internet you grew up on isn’t dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is.

Take heart – the internet still exists. And you are on it now – as you read beSpacific and LLRX, so go out and discover all the other places, music, writing…enjoy. Terry Godier: “…The reason these systems survived is also the reason they are surviving the AI flood, and the reason they will probably outlive …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management

Still Night. A painting you can play.

“Still Night. A painting you can play. This isn’t music played over a painting. The painting is the instrument. For 400 years, people have tried to match color and sound. Most assumed notes translated to hues. It doesn’t work that way. Research found something simpler. Brightness shapes how we feel sound, the same way it …

Subjects: Internet

DOGE Cuts Unleashed a Deadly Wave of Violence Across Africa, Study Finds

404 Media: “The sudden shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by DOGE in 2025 is associated with a rise in violent conflicts across Africa, according to a study published on Thursday in Science. Days into Donald Trump’s second term, his administration began rapidly dismantling USAID, which had, up until that point, …

Subjects: Censorship, Economy, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents

Photos: The Global Cost of the Iran War

The Atlantic Gift Article – The continuing crisis in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have exacted a heavy cost worldwide. In addition to the steep price of military expenditures, destroyed infrastructure, and human lives lost, global shortages of fuel, fertilizer, and more have driven up costs everywhere.

Subjects: Climate Change, Defense, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System

Newspaper Finder

“Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank, NewspaperArchive, OldNews, Chronicling America … the list of historical newspaper websites goes on and on and on. Thanks to them, genealogists have access to a once-unimaginable number of digitized newspapers—in fact, so many publications in so many places that it can be hard to know where to look. Newspaper Finder, “A Database for …

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

Explore the data: 10,000 rulings against Trump in ICE cases

Politico: “Under President Donald Trump, ICE is locking up immigrants at an unprecedented scale, holding tens of thousands of people — many with no criminal records and deep roots in the U.S. — in detention facilities to await the outcome of deportation proceedings. POLITICO is tracking the surge in litigation triggered by the administration’s novel …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Security researchers use Anthropic’s Mythos AI model to crack Apple’s macOS

Fortune Tech: “Researchers with the Silicon Valley security firm Calif say they were able to use Anthropic’s Mythos AI model to corrupt an Apple Mac’s memory and gain access to parts of the machine that they shouldn’t. It’s called a “privilege escalation exploit,” and it can be used to seize control of a computer. The …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity