Christina Pagel has mapped out 69 actions that President Trump has taken in the last twelve weeks to undermine democracy, undermine the rule of law, attack enemies, suppress dissent and control information.
Assistant Professor and Cataloging & Discovery Librarian at Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Mike Olson’s research focuses on the intersection of information systems and social critique. In this timely and insightful article Olson discusses why and how library catalogs have always been battlegrounds where content is not merely described but debated. President Trump’s January 20, 2025, Executive Order 14172 directing the renaming of longstanding geographical designations “Mount Denali” and “Gulf of Mexico” to the politically loaded “Mount McKinley” and “Gulf of America” reveal the naked truth of what cataloging has always been: a battlefield where meaning is contested and conquered.
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: Text Message Scams Cost Consumers $470 Million in 2024, FTC Reports; Trump is shifting cybersecurity to the states, but many aren’t prepared; Homeland Security Email Tells a US Citizen to ‘Immediately’ Self-Deport; OpenAI Tightens Access As Evidence Mounts of AI Model Mimicry; and ICE Just Paid Palantir Tens of Millions for ‘Complete Target Analysis of Known Populations.
On the morning of April 19 1995, anti-government right-wing extremist Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder truck loaded with 5,000 pounds of agricultural fertiliser and diesel fuel at the front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At 9am, McVeigh lit two separate fuses – in case one failed. Two minutes later, the bomb exploded, killing 168 people (including 19 children) and injuring close to 700. Today, the bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in United States history. But in the cultural memory, Oklahoma was eclipsed by 9/11, when America – and the world – shifted their attention to the threat posed by radical Islamic extremism. Kate Cantrell contends that three decades on, the bombing is back on the cultural agenda, as the right-wing extremism that drove McVeigh is on the rise.
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: Tariffs, Trump and AI Are Changing Everything. Should My Portfolio Change Too? And what about my career? Or retirement plans? Three experts weigh in on how to adjust to uncertain times; In today’s hyperconnected financial landscape, identity is the new perimeter. And attackers know it; How Much Should We Spend to Reduce A.I.’s Existential Risk?; How Good is AI at Twisting Arms? Experiments in Debt Collection; Artificial Intelligence in Investment Banking Transforming Operations and Client Services; and The Transformative Role of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Banking.
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: Biometrics vs. passcodes: What lawyers recommend if you’re worried about warrantless phone searches; DDoS Attacks Now Key Weapons in Geopolitical Conflicts, NETSCOUT Warns; Google Maps doubles down on preventing fake reviews; Large number of US adults view AI as a threat: Report; and Explosive Growth of Non-Human Identities Creating Massive Security Blind Spots.
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: What to Know About Trump’s Order to Phase Out Paper Checks; Apple faces $5 billion class action lawsuit over eBooks purchases; Why Encryption Matters for Your Data Backups (And How to Do It Easily); Texas’ AI-Powered Surveillance Arsenal Has Ballooned. Proposed Laws Provide Few Guardrails; and How to recognize and prevent deepfake scams.
Professor of Operational Research Christian 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.
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 …
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.