• Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities – Professor of Operational Research Christina Pagel has mapped 35 of the Trump administration’s attacks on science and universities to the authoritarian playbook – and considers what it means for attacks still to come. Pagel states that the attacks on science and universities are neither random nor new, and identifies key factors at work – controlling research to serve those in power; undermining independence and suppressing dissent; and attacking work that the Trump roadmap characterizes as having a foundation in neoliberal agendas that undermine national sovereignty and prioritize global elites over local needs.
• Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired, Colleges Erase Programs, Law Firms Blackballed, Holocaust Denied – This March 27, 2025 update by Sabrina I. Pacifici chronicles Trump’s ongoing actions to purge critical climate science and climate resources, content on diversity, heath care and education, and How Donald Trump Throttled Big Law: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has removed the 2024 Climate Literacy Guide; also deleted, a searchable climate future risk tool developed by FEMA – first free, localized resource showing how much climate change impacts will cost American communities; there was a massive purge of Pentagon websites including content on Holocaust remembrance, sexual assault and suicide prevention; and a continuous stream of Trump Executive Actions that targeted BigLaw. 20 Biglaw firms received letters from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas informing them they’re being investigated by the agency; the US Army Is Using ‘CamoGPT’ to Purge DEI From Training Materials; and What happens to health research when ‘women’ and ‘diversity’ are banned words?
• AI in Finance and Banking, March 31, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Five highlights from this post: More than 200 Lloyds bank bosses to receive artificial intelligence training; How Much Should We Spend to Reduce A.I.’s Existential Risk?; China’s Central Bank Pushes for Artificial Intelligence Integration in Digital Finance; Why, what; and how financial services firms can be AI-First; and Euromoney report – AI in Banking.
• Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy – AI tools can do amazing things, such as make 3D models of digitized versions of the items in museum collections, but only if there’s enough well-organized data about that item available. To see how AI can help museum collections, Bradley Wade Bishop’s team of researchers started by conducting focus groups with the people who managed museum collections. We asked what they are doing to get their collections used by both humans and AI.
• Your law firm needs a Situation Room – Jordan Furlong advises law firms that in this chaotic new world order, organizations cannot sit back waiting for the next bombshell to drop. Firms need to anticipate, analyze, and address critical new developments — before they affect the organization and its clients. Furlong highlights the components of well grounded strategic action plans to reduce risk and respond in a firm wide manner.
• Lawmakers worldwide want to talk to the Meta insider whose memoir is a US bestseller – after Zuckerberg took her to court – Sarah Wynn-Williams, once director of global public policy at Meta, morphed from a Zuckerberg acolyte to author of a scathing memoir on the company. John Hawkins’ book review covers Mark Zuckerberg’s attempts to muzzle his former employee, and how the plan backfired and helped create a bestseller.
• Interview: Jerry Lawson – Attorney, legal tech expert, author, writer and educator Jerry Lawson shares an interview about his background, his career as a civil service lawyer, and his extensive contributions to continuing legal education programs from the nascent World Wide Web to present day innovations in AI technology.
• Without a Trace: How to Take Your Phone Off the Grid – Monique O. Madan and Wesley Callow from The Markup walk us through each step to safely purchase, set-up, and connect an off-the-grid phone, using multiple email accounts, and thereafter how and when to use it, keeping it otherwise turned off and not connected to WiFi.
• Does the Government Decide What Your Law Firm Will Do? Jordan Furlong states that “If anyone’s going to speak up, it should be law firms. If anyone’s going to take a stand, it should be law firms.” This position resonates as more than 20 major law firms have been directed by Trump’s EEOC to provide information about their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) related employment practices.
• AI in Finance and Banking, March 18, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Five highlights from this post: The Finance Sector Is Hitting an Inflection Point With AI; Artificial Intelligence and the Labor Market; China’s central bank vows to promote applications of AI large language models; AI and the Extended Workday: Productivity, Contracting Efficiency, and Distribution of Rents; and The AI supply chain – We find that the LLM agents display mixed performance in these general tasks. They lack the awareness to learn from mistakes and the capacity for self-correction. LLMs’ performance in the most complex cognitive subtasks may not be the limiting factor for their deployment in real-world environments. Instead, it would be important to evaluate the capabilities of AGI-aspiring LLMs through general tests that encompass multiple cognitive tasks, enabling them to solve complete, real-world applications.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 29, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, 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. Five highlights from this week:  Google Confirms Gmail Upgrade – 3 Billion Users Must Now Decide; What is Signal, the app where Trump officials texted war plans?; Even More Venmo Accounts Tied to Trump Officials in Signal Group Chat Left Data Public; NIST releases finalized guidelines on protecting AI from attacks; Canada – We partner with world-renowned scambusters to create our own fraud-fighting call centre.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 22, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, 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. Five highlights from this week: Memo details Trump plan to sabotage the Social Security Administration; Everything You Say To Your Fire TV & Echo Will Be Sent to Amazon Soon; The DNA of organised crime is changing – and so is the threat to Europe; Judge Rips DOGE Dig Into Social Security Records; and Big AI platforms can generate Chrome malware with this technique.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March, 15, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, 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: The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring; US cities warn of wave of unpaid parking phishing texts; OPM watchdog to investigate IT risks tied to DOGE’s agency access; and A Brand-New Botnet Is Delivering Record-Size DDoS Attacks.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 8, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, 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: 89% of enterprise AI usage is invisible to the organization; The Digital Packrat Manifesto; Cellebrite Is Using AI to Summarize Chat Logs and Audio from Seized Mobile Phones; and Flock Threatens Open Source Developer Mapping Its Surveillance Cameras.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 1, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, 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. Five highlights from this week: Trump has purged government websites; The Wayback Machine is trying to preserve the record; Turn off your read receipts. They’re a security risk; You can now easily remove personal info from Google Search results; Google plans to end SMS verification in favor of QR codes; and Verizon isn’t doing enough to protect customers from robocall scams.

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