Primer – Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law

The Alan Turing Institute and the Council of Europe: Primer – Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law: “…It is a remarkable fact that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies over the last two decades have placed contemporary society at a pivot-point in deciding what shape the future of …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Environmental Law, EU Data Protection, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Medicine, Transportation

U.S. appeals court preserves limited access to abortion pill

Reuters: “The abortion pill mifepristone will remain available in the United States for now but with significant restrictions, including a requirement for in-person doctor visits to obtain the drug, a federal appeals court ruled late on Wednesday. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold part of last Friday’s order by …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Medicine

Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to more users worldwide

Mozilla Blog: “Take back your privacy – Firefox is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to more Firefox users worldwide, making Firefox the most private and secure major browser available across Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Total Cookie Protection is Firefox’s strongest privacy protection to date, confining cookies to the site where they were …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Search Engines

Groundwater Gold Rush

Bloomberg [no paywall]: “Banks, pension funds and insurers have been turning California’s scarce water into enormous profits, leaving people with less to drink…Some of the world’s largest investment banks, pension funds and insurers, including Manulife Financial Corp.’s John Hancock unit, TIAA and UBS, have been depleting California’s groundwater to grow high-value nuts, leaving less drinking …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Food and Nutrition

LinkedIn Will Finally Offer Ways to Verify Your Job

Wired: “In the never-ending battle against online impersonation scams, the professional social media platform LinkedIn announced today a set of new verification features that enable users to authenticate aspects of their identities and job histories. Crucially, users will now have a few different options to verify their identity and current jobs on LinkedIn. That way, …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Microsoft, Privacy, Social Media

2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® Rankings

“The Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group present the 2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings. The full rankings include 17 large, 27 midsize and 30 small agencies as well as 432 subcomponents. Data is also included on employee views relating to 12 workplace issues that affect employee engagement and …

Subjects: Economy, Government Documents, Legal Research

Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community

ODNI, February 2023: Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community: “During the coming year, the United States and its allies will confront a complex and pivotal international security environment dominated by two critical strategic challenges that intersect with each other and existing trends to intensify their national security implications. First, great powers, rising regional …

Subjects: AI, Climate Change, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, Government Documents, Health Care

Gerald Ford tried to impeach a Supreme Court justice and failed

Washington Post: “A member of Congress called for the impeachment of a sitting Supreme Court justice, complaining that the justice had supported the idea that violence and rebellion against the government may be justified under some circumstances. The member noted that the code of ethics for federal judicial officers, which included the concept of recusal …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

AI Now 2023 Landscape Report

AI Now Institute – Confronting Tech Power Report [103 pages PDF]: “This report highlights a set of approaches that, in concert, will collectively enable us to confront tech power. Some of these are bold policy reforms that underscore the need for bright-line rules and structural curbs. Others identify popular policy responses that, because they fail …

Subjects: AI, Congress, Copyright, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

The Ruling That Threatens the Future of Libraries

The Atlantic – Knowledge is too precious to be abandoned to the whims of the profit motive. “By collecting and digitizing such a huge collection of works and lending them out online, the Internet Archive is making an incredible social contribution. The way the nonprofit manages that archive, however, has earned the wrath of book …

Subjects: Copyright, Courts, Digital Rights, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries