Year archives: 2021

How Can We Help To Free Legal Research From Algorithmic Bias?

Stephanie Farne, Legal Information Librarian and Lecturer in Law at Boston College Law School, raises increasingly important issues respective to the bias inherent in artificial intelligence powered search algorithms, both on the Internet and in commercial databases.

Subjects: AI, Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Online Legal Research Services, Technology Trends

The legal regulation revolution

Attorney, legal sector analyst and author of the book Law Is A Buyer’s Market: Building a Client-First Law Firm, Jordan Furlong’s long read offers insights on this unique time as North Americans venture briefly out of lockdown. Furlong states it seems like the right time to step back and consider the extraordinary shock-waved landscape of legal regulation change, and what it means for everyone. Furlong looks at four different dimensions in which law firm ethics models, legal services regulation, and lawyer licensing and competence standards are all beginning a process of transformation.

Subjects: Legal Ethics, Legal Profession

Limiting Human Rights during Pandemics

Cassandra Emmons, Cassandra Emmons a postdoctoral fellow with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs’ t Harvard Univrsity, discusses how COVID-19 has proven that public health emergencies are not equally recognized in either international law or national constitutions; some international treaties permit “limiting” rights in the name of public health rather than requiring derogation, and nationally some governments authorize emergency measures in practice without ever doing so in name. These parallel processes and conceptual gaps create space for governments to restrict individuals’ rights with little to no international accountability during pandemics.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Comparative/Foreign Law, Government Resources, Healthcare, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 25, 2021

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. Four highlights from this week: Landlords Use Secret Algorithms to Screen Potential Tenants. Find Out What They’ve Said About You; Even the NSA Agrees: Targeted Ads Are Terrifying; Massive Troll Farms Revealed to Be Operating on Facebook; and Ninth Circuit Says Warrantless Search of Google Files Automatically Reported to Police.

Subjects: AI, Competitive Intelligence, Congress, Criminal Law, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 18, 2021

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. Four highlights from this week: Apple’s Plan to Scan Your Phone Raises the Stakes on a Key Question: Can You Trust Big Tech?; ‘Breach of trust’: Police using QR check-in data to solve crimes; Agencies may want to establish a national strategy for contact-tracing apps; and Americans have little trust in online security: AP-NORC poll.

Subjects: Big Data, Blockchain, Computer Security, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Mining, Gadgets/Gizmos, Healthcare, Legal Research, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 12, 2021

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. Four highlights from this week: 8 Easy Ways to Stay Anonymous Online; Education Department Updates Rules and Criminal Penalties for Accessing Agency Data; ProtonMail Shares Activist’s IP Address With Authorities Despite Its “No Log” Claims; and As flood alerts lit up phones, did ‘warning fatigue’ set in?

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email Security, Encryption, International Legal Research, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 4, 2021

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. Four highlights from this week: Expired Driver’s Licenses Open Lane for Cybercriminals; Tips for Victims of Unemployment Benefit Fraud; Fraud Alert: Malicious QR Codes Now Used by Online Scammers; and FBI-CISA Advisory on Ransomware Awareness for Holidays and Weekends.

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Social Media

LLRX July – August 2021 Issue

Articles and Columns for July / August 2021 2021 Update to Choosing Law Librarianship: Thoughts for People Contemplating a Career Move – AALL Gallagher Award recipient Mary Whisner, Public Services Librarian, University of Washington, Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library, has updated her 2008 guide about choosing a career in law librarianship. With more than 30 …

Subjects: KM