Category «Congress»

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 26, 2023

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: These 26 words ‘created the internet.’ Now the Supreme Court may be coming for them; Global internet connectivity at risk from climate disasters; Zelle fraud claims surge. How can you protect yourself?; and Email security still has a forwarding problem.

Read more

Subjects: AI, Communications, Congress, Criminal Law, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Email Security, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy

What social media regulation could look like: Think of pipelines, not utilities

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and his controversial statements and decisions as its owner, have fueled a new wave of calls for regulating social media companies. Elected officials and policy scholars have argued for years that companies like Twitter and Facebook – now Meta – have immense power over public discussions and can use that power to elevate some views and suppress others. Critics also accuse the companies of failing to protect users’ personal data and downplaying harmful impacts of using social media. As an economist who studies the regulation of utilities such as electricity, gas and water, Theodore Kury, Director of Energy Studies at the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Center, wonders what that regulation would look like. There are many regulatory models in use around the world, but few seem to fit the realities of social media. However, observing how these models work can provide valuable insights.

Read more

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Legal Research, Legislative, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 31, 2022

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: How to Wipe a Computer Clean of Personal Data; AI paper mills and image generation require a coordinated response from academic publishers; US House boots TikTok from government phones; and How to Use ChatGPT and Still Be a Good Person.

Read more

Subjects: AI, Congress, Criminal Law, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Financial System, Privacy, Social Media

Jan. 6 committee tackled unprecedented attack with time-tested inquiry

Claire Leavitt, Assistant Professor of Government, Smith College, presents an overview of the broad investigative powers of the Congress from the 1920s to the present. The latest investigation may be its most consequential to date. After 18 months, more than 1,200 interviews and 10 public hearings that presented 70 witnesses’ testimony, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack released its 845-page final report late on Dec. 22, 2022. The report recommended that the Department of Justice prosecute former President Donald Trump on four criminal charges, including conspiracy and incitement of insurrection. The committee’s recommendation to prosecute a former president was unprecedented. But its investigation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021 fell squarely within Congress’ power, and added a new chapter to a centuries-long history of congressional investigations into government scandals and failures.

Read more

Subjects: Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Election Law, Government Resources, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 3, 2022

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: 5 cybersecurity predictions for 2023; Cops Can Extract Data From 10,000 Different Car Models’ Infotainment Systems; A Peek Inside the FBI’s Unprecedented January 6 Geofence Dragnet; and Thinking about taking your computer to the repair shop? Be very afraid.

Read more

Subjects: Big Data, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email, Email Security, KM, Privacy, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media, Spyware, Travel

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 26, 2022

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: A Broken Twitter Means Broken Disaster Response; Third-party data brokers give police warrantless access to 250 million devices; House Dems say facial recognition company misrepresented its help to consumers; and Do’s and don’ts of data de-identification.

Read more

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Blockchain, Congress, Criminal Law, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Employment Law, Legal Research, Privacy

Fenced-off culture, the privatized Internet, and why book publishers lean on a 30-year-old doctrine

The Internet Archive (IA) “is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 624 billion archived web pages.” The IA offers users unrestricted access to its expansive ecosystem of knowledge and educational resources from the public domain. Andy Oram, prolific author, editor, publisher, and technical expert on all aspects of computing, undertook an extensive examination of a game changing case, Hachette v. Internet Archive, that may dismantle this unique, invaluable digital library. In this article Oram examines what the publishers are trying to protect and why they have to wield a large and heavy cudgel to protect it. His inquiry leads to a look at how culture has been privatized as it has become digitized—an effect quite opposed to the hopes of most public advocates who maintain the view that the Internet and the World Wide Web should remain focused on public access, not private sector monetization.

Read more

Subjects: Archives, Congress, Copyright, E-Books, Internet Resources, KM, Legal Research, Legislative, Libraries & Librarians, Publishing & Publishers (Legal), Search Engines, United States Law, Virtual Library

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 17, 2022

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Consumer Data: Increasing Use Poses Risks to Privacy; Border Agents Surveil Americans’ Phones Without Warrants: Wyden; Social Media Execs Submit to Time-Honored Public Lashing Before Congress; and You should know that most websites share your in-site search queries with third parties.

Read more

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Mining, Government Resources, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media, Travel, United States Law

A new US data privacy bill aims to give you more control over information collected about you – and make businesses change how they handle data

With rare bipartisan support, the American Data and Privacy Protection Act moved out of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce by a vote of 53-2 on July 20, 2022. The bill still needs to pass the full House and the Senate, and negotiations are ongoing. Given the Biden administration’s responsible data practices strategy, White House support is likely if a version of the bill passes. Legal scholar and attorney Professor Anne Toomey McKenna, who studies and practices technology and data privacy law, has been closely following the act, known as ADPPA. McKenna contends that if passed this legislation will fundamentally alter U.S. data privacy law.

Read more

Subjects: Congress, Cyberlaw, Cyberlaw Legislation, Cybersecurity, Federal Legislative Research, Legal Research, Legislative, Privacy, United States Law

Confidence in the Supreme Court is declining – but there is no easy way to oversee justices and their politics

Recent evidence showing that Virginia Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent at least 29 text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to help overturn the 2020 election has reignited a long-simmering debate about judicial ethics and the nation’s highest court. Professor Eve Ringsmuth writes, “As a Supreme Court scholar, I think it is important to recognize that there is no formal code of conduct guiding the work of the Supreme Court, which contributes to a lack of clarity regarding the ethical boundaries for justices.”

Read more

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Ethics, Leadership, Legal Research, United States Law
➤