Former prosecutor pursued by Trump calls for crackdown on election lies: ‘Lying can be held to account’

The Guardian – Politicians must be held accountable if their lies damage democracy, according to a former US federal prosecutor and FBI general counsel who was pursued by Donald Trump. Andrew Weissmann argues for new law to hold political liars like US president accountable for harming democracy. The US must be “as creative as possible” …

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

AI Data Centers Across the United States

Brockovich Data Center Report – Key Concerns with AI Data Centers Energy Consumption – High energy usage contributes to significant environmental impact and escalating costs for surrounding communities. Water Usage – Cooling systems often require substantial water resources, straining local water supplies and ecosystems. E-Waste – Frequent hardware upgrades and replacements generate significant volumes of electronic …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Health Care, Housing, Legal Research

Your smart TV is tracking everything you watch – here’s why and how to stop it

MakeUseOf: “Most of us just want to relax at the end of a long day. Sure, there are plenty of people who like to go out and have an even crazier night after a full day of working. But more often than not, I’d bet that people are looking forward to catching up on some …

Subjects: E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Marketing

Three Search Alternatives to Google’s Brave New AI World

Follow up to Google Search as you know it is over [please please stop using Google – I will beg no more…] – See also Tara Calishain – “As you might imagine I’m not thrilled with Google’s decision to go full-in on AI. Even if Google’s AI consistently worked well enough to ensure minimal misinformation …

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

YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I.

The New York Times – Gift Article – Illegal, synthetically narrated copies of “The Hunger Games,” hit self-help books and everything in between are increasingly common on the platform: “…Illegally copied audiobooks have also turned up on other platforms, where pirates sometimes disguise them as podcasts by breaking them into chapters. But publishers say YouTube …

Subjects: Copyright, Internet, Legal Research, Libraries

The hidden way dictatorships are shaping what AI tells you

Vox – no paywall: “….AI models learn by identifying patterns within enormous bodies of text. This widely-understood fact has an underappreciated consequence: LLMs don’t necessarily give the same answers in every language — certain phrases or arguments may appear more regularly in Japanese training data than in the English kind. This is not inherently a …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents

The Sites We Lost

“Some sites we linked from the button don’t exist anymore. Some expired, some were squatted by gambling rings, some got ad-injected on top of what they were. We archived what we could and, where possible, are hosting the sites right here. The bees keep buzzing, the dog keeps barking, the pigeon keeps pigeon-ing.”

Subjects: Internet

The Coal Bare Questionnaire

“The Coal Bare Questionnaire is a tribute to the Colbert Questionert — a segment from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in which Stephen asked guests fifteen questions designed to “fully penetrate to the very soul of a person.” As the show comes to an end, this site exists to keep the segment alive: digitizing …

Subjects: Censorship, Internet

5 questions that make every purchase better

Daniel Pink – “You know how to earn money. But do you know how to spend it? In our newest YouTube video, I share five research-backed questions—from scholars like Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton—to help you spend your spondulicks in ways that actually improve your life. Before you buy almost anything, run it through this …

Subjects: Economy, Internet

The Typo Vibe Shift

The Atlantic Gift article – “To some, they’re no longer a sign of laziness but proof of human touch…More than two decades later, as AI-generated writing has flooded workplaces, social media, and dating apps, old hallmarks of sloppiness—typos chief among them—are getting a new gloss. Some job applicants are intentionally adding typos to their cover …

Subjects: AI, E-Mail, E-Records, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management