A New Commerce Policy Could Mean Less Public Data, Not Better Public Data

DatIndexUS: “Late last week, the Department of Commerce quietly issued a sweeping new policy that could reshape how the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) protect the privacy of people and businesses whose information they collect. The policy bars the agencies from using “noise infusion,” a family of privacy-protection techniques that make …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy

The DOJ Prosecutors Who Think They’re Trump’s Personal Lawyers

The New Republic: “This week, more than 100 former federal prosecutors in Illinois sounded the alarm about the current leaders of the office where they all once served. “Regrettably,” their statement reads, “there is little doubt that actions taken by leadership in the last year have tarnished the reputation of the United States Attorney’s Office …

Subjects: Censorship, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The Feather Atlas

The Feather Atlas is an image database dedicated to the identification and study of the flight feathers of North American birds. The feathers illustrated are from the curated collection of the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory. TOTAL SPECIES REPRESENTED: 438. Note: In the United States, it is illegal to possess feathers from most native …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Search Engines

Free site checks whether your grocery store’s “sale” is actually below the average price

Internet is Beautiful: using government data, for your city (US & Canada). Maker here. A big “SALE!” sticker often isn’t actually a good price — it’s just a sticker. So I built this to answer one question: is this week’s price actually below the normal average, or does it just look like a deal? For …

Subjects: Economy, Food and Nutrition, Search Engines

Congress Demands List of People Who Have Applied for Trump Slush Fund

Scott McFarlane Reports: “In a memo obtained by Meidas Touch Network, a group of Members of Congress have demanded a list of people who have applied for taxpayer-funded payouts from the Trump Administration’s controversial $1.7 billion slush fund. The 3-page memo, which was submitted to the Justice Department and Treasury Department, said the “conflicting” statements …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Washington Post setting prices ‘based on personal data – slapped with massive lawsuit

The Washingtonian: “The Washington Post Is Using Reader Data to Set Subscription Prices. How Does That Work? Some subscribers recently received a heads-up that they’re on the hook for a new rate “set by an algorithm using your personal data.” We asked a UVA expert what that might mean. If recent events have not compelled …

Subjects: AI, E-Records, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Reuters Climate Monitor

Data Dashboard – Reuters Climate Monitor – How today’s temperatures compare to the historic average – Updates daily – The Reuters Climate Monitor shows where temperatures are unusually hot or cold in real time by comparing today’s conditions with what was typical in the past. We start by establishing what normal used to look like. Using …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Search Engines

Login.gov – identifying data about you in third party control

The Drey Dossier: “…Login.gov is open source, which means the government publishes its code in the open for anyone to read, so I read it, and I walked the recent changes, since every edit gets posted in public with a date stamped on it. Over the last couple of months somebody added a new piece …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, E-Government, Government Documents, ID Theft, Internet, Legal Research

Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files

CNN Reliable Sources: “Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files” is the title of Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s explosive excerpt from their forthcoming book “Regime Change.” Now comes the freakout over the “freakout” article. The New York Times published the “Regime Change” excerpt at 6 a.m. ET today, and it immediately intensified …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Mail, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research

Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology

Pew Research: Nine groups show the conflicting values underlying today’s polarized politics. American politics is deeply divided along partisan lines – and for many Americans, the choice between the two parties feels stark, even existential. But beneath that familiar red-blue partisan divide is a much more nuanced picture: Many Americans hold a complex mix of …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research