Category «Search Engines»

Fair Use in the Age of AI: When Training Isn’t Copying, and Licensing Isn’t the Law

Kyle K. Courtney, both lawyer and librarian, is the Director of Copyright and Information Policy for Harvard Library. He guides us through the rapidly evolving legal landscape around artificial intelligence and copyright where two district court opinions now serve as early landmarks. As a result of these recent decisions, he concludes that the case is even stronger, and far more compelling, for libraries doing the same work in service of research, education, and public access.

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Courts & Technology, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 12, 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: Employees are quietly bringing AI to work and leaving security behind; AI could harm your critical thinking skills. Should that change how you use it?; Device disregard is multiplying digital ghosts across federal agencies; Fake online stores look real, rank high, and trap unsuspecting buyers; and Appeals court strikes down ‘click-to-cancel’ rule.

Subjects: AI, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Education, Financial System, KM, Privacy, Search Engines

We caught 4 more states sharing personal health data with Big Tech

State-run health care websites around the country, meant to provide a simple way to shop for insurance, have been quietly sending visitors’ sensitive health information to Google and social media companies, Colin Lecher and Tomas Apodaca of The Markup and CalMatters found. The data, including prescription drug names and dosages, was sent by web trackers on state exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act to help Americans purchase health coverage. The exchange websites ask users to answer a series of questions, including about their health histories, to find them the most relevant information on plans. But in some cases, when visitors responded to sensitive questions, the invisible trackers sent that information to platforms like Google, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. The Markup and CalMatters audited the websites of all 19 states that independently operate their own online health exchange. While most of the sites contained advertising trackers of some kind, The Markup and CalMatters found that four states exposed visitors’ sensitive health information.

Subjects: Big Data, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Health, Healthcare, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 17, 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: License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows; Senators want TSA to scale back facial recognition at airports; How Signal, WhatsApp, Apple, and Google Handle Encrypted Chat Backups; Deepfakes, Scams, and the Age of Paranoia; Does One Line Fix Google?

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, KM, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media, Spyware

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 19, 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: 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.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

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.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Encryption, Privacy, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media, Technology Trends

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.

Subjects: AI, Education, Information Management, Search Engines

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.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Search Engines

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.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Search Engines