Why the White House keeps shitposting

“A political comms professional breaks down Trump’s meme media strategy, Tina Nguyen [no paywall – The Verge: Last week was a grim reminder that no matter what sort of horror is being perpetrated or how many people end up dead, the Trump administration’s knee-jerk response is to shitpost through it. The White House’s response on …

Subjects: AI, E-Government, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Social Media

OpenAI’s ChatGPT translator challenges Google Translate

The Verge [no paywall]: “OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Translate, a standalone web translation tool that supports over 50 languages and is positioned as a direct competitor to Google Translate. The two services look visually similar: both feature two text boxes — one for typing or pasting the source text and another that displays the translated …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Legal Research, Search Engines

The Top 10 Fastest Growing Technologies of 2025

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services: Fast Growing Technologies Look For Circular Economy – “The big 2025 technology story was a recurrence of what we saw in 2024 and 2023: artificial intelligence, and all the ways AI is changing (and will surely transform) the way the world does business and the structure of society. So you would think IFI …

Subjects: AI, Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Internet, Legal Research, Patent and Trademark

FBI Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist in a Leak Investigation

Updated January 21, 2026, Washington Post: “The Washington Post demanded in a court filing Wednesday that federal law enforcement officials return electronic devices the government seized from a staff reporter’s home last week, writing that the extraordinary search “flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists.” Federal agents executed a search warrant …

Subjects: Legal Research

Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error

404 Media – np paywall: “A handful of police departments that use Flock have unwittingly leaked details of millions of surveillance targets and a large number of active police investigations around the country because they have failed to redact license plates information in public records releases. Flock responded to this revelation by threatening a site …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Internet, Search Engines, Transportation

Disable your phone’s biometrics, and 6 more ways to protect your privacy

ZDNET: ” Many of us would have preferred a few slow news days easing into 2026, but the year is off to a particularly volatile start. With widespread protests erupting across the globe, concerns turn once again to how we can demonstrate safely in a surveillance-heavy world. You have the right to protest, but you …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Mail, E-Records, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Global publisher – Google traffic dropped by a third in 2025

Press Gazzette. “Google’s search traffic to publishers declined globally by a third in the year to November, according to new Chartbeat data. In addition, referrals to more than 2,500 publisher websites from Google Discover, a feed served to users on Google’s native mobile apps and within its Android operating system, were down 21% year on …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

The Top Ten Policies Your State Can Use to Target Monopoly Harms

Institute for Local Self Reliance: “State leaders are increasingly standing up for small businesses, workers, and citizens by taking on overreaching corporate power. While some states are pursuing legislation to update their broad state-level antitrust laws, this fact sheet spotlights 10 targeted antimonopoly policies across states. For more information, check out ILSR’s resources or contact …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

10 DOJ Prosecutors Resign Over Renee Godd Murder; ICE Is Okay With Renee Good’s Killing

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office left after pressure to investigate the widow of a woman slain by an ICE officer. [no paywall] “Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned today over the Justice Department’s handling of the Renee Good shooting, bringing the total to ten after four Civil Rights Division prosecutors walked out yesterday. The …

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

I turned off these Google settings to improve privacy

MakeUseOf: “I use Google for almost everything. Search, email, maps, videos, documents, even my calendar. The biggest advantage here is convenience. I don’t have to create dozens of accounts and manage them separately. But it also means I’m giving way too much data to a single company. That’s not exactly a smart thing to do …

Subjects: E-Mail, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines