Year archives: 2018

Death of Colleague, Ken Strutin, Author of LLRX Criminal Justice Guides for 13 years

Kennard (Ken) R. Strutin, lawyer, law librarian, Director of Legal Information Services for the New York State Defenders Association, professor, author, teacher, colleague, friend and respected leader in the effort to illuminate the struggles of incarcerated persons and to champion justice for them, died on November 30, 2018 after a brief illness – he was …

Subjects: Big Data, Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Ethics, Government Resources, Human Rights, Legal Education, Legal Ethics, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 29 2018

Privacy and security 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Note – five significant highlights of this week’s column: Why you should be worried about getting hacked in 2019; Robocalls and Spoofing: The Spam Call Surge Explained; Batcaves, Bulletproof Shutters, Laser Curtains: High-End Home Security Is Crazier Than You Think; Teaching Cybersecurity Law and Policy: Revised 62-Page Syllabus/Primer; and Is 2019 the year you should finally quit Facebook?

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cyberlaw, Cybersecurity, Education, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 22 2018

Privacy and security 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Note – five significant highlights of this week’s column: Market volatility: Fake news spooks trading algorithms; Hackers Find a Way to Bypass Gmail Two-Factor Authentication; It’s Time for a Bill of Data Rights; Turning Off Facebook Location Services Doesn’t Stop Tracking; and Russia and 2016: Troll group sought to recruit ‘assets’ through social media, Senate told.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Email, Financial System, Privacy, Social Media

Will America’s libraries miss out while Harvard grows still richer? Library endowment could help.

David Rothman is an indefatigable advocate for a national library endowment. He states: “Just ten Americans are together worth more than half a trillion dollars, and the assets of the top 400 U.S. billionaires added up to a cool $2.7 trillion in October 2017. Charity-minded members of the super rich love to give to elite institutions such as Harvard. Its endowment is well north of $35 billion. The Gates Giving Pledge could free up countless billions in future years for prestigious institutions like Harvard. But will America’s libraries miss out while Harvard, Yale, and Princeton grow still richer? Very possibly, if the American Library Association and other good people in the library establishment fail to act in time.”

Subjects: E-Books, Economy, Education, Libraries & Librarians, Social Media

The Bullshit Algorithm

Jason Voiovich goes directly to the heart of the matter with his statements that are a lessons learned guide that no researcher can afford to ignore – “Wasn’t the promise of data-driven, search engine and social media algorithms that they would amplify the truth and protect us from misinformation by tapping the wisdom of crowds? The fact is that they do not. And cannot. Because that is not what they are designed to do. At the heart of every social media algorithm is a fatal flaw that values persuasion over facts. Social media platforms (as well as search engines) are not designed for truth. They are designed for popularity. They are bullshit engines.”

Subjects: Internet Resources, KM, Search Engines, Social Media

A Private Eye in The Library

Christopher Kenneally interviewed Marcy Phelps on his Copyright Clearance Center’s podcast series, Beyond the Book. A licensed private eye who earned her master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Denver, Marcy Phelps works for asset management firms, commodity pool operators, M&A professionals, and others. Her detective work combing through databases and other online data dumps helps build a definitive dossier documenting any litigation, bankruptcies, and regulatory actions that could raise unpleasant questions for investors and even uncover unsavory characters.

Subjects: Business Research, Competitive Intelligence, KM, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 15 2018

Privacy and security 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Note – four significant highlights of this week’s column: House Cmte Investigation Issues Scathing Report on Equifax Breach; How HTTPS Everywhere Keeps Protecting Users On An Increasingly Encrypted Web; CBP Officers Aren’t Deleting Data After Warrantless Device Searches, IG Says; and just in time for gift giving season, How to Stop Package Thieves!

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy

As a Matter of Fact: A New AI Tool for Real-Time Fact-Checking of News Using Voice Analysis

Alan Rothman suggests a new phrase for a growing subject matter area which he calls Fact-Check Tech. His article introduces to use a prototype TV news voice scanner and fact-checker called Voyc. The significance of this new technology will quickly become apparent to news consumers here in the U.S., and around the world, as we are increasingly confronted with endless charges of “fake news” and counter assertions of what is “real news.” The Voyc technology currently under development can assess the audio of live news media broadcasts to determine the veracity of statements made within seconds of being spoken.

Subjects: AI, Business Research, Communications Law, Competitive Intelligence, Congress, Internet Trends, KM, Libraries & Librarians, Reference Resources, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 9 2018

Privacy and security 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 security, often without our situational awareness.Note – four significant highlights of this week’s column: The web really isn’t worldwide – every country has different access; Measuring the “Filter Bubble”: How Google is influencing what you click; Grandparents Increasingly Targeted By Impostors Who Know ‘Everything’ About Them; Who lives with you? Facebook seeks to patent software to figure out profiles of households.

Subjects: Big Data, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Freedom of Information, Internet Filtering, KM, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 1 2018

Privacy and security 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Note – four significant highlights of this week’s column: Protecting Against Identity Theft; Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock; How to Protect Yourself From Cellphone Phishing Attacks; and CPAP breathing machines – insight into how your sleeping data is subject to surveillance as well as discussion on insurance pricing schemes.

Subjects: Cybersecurity, Financial System, Privacy