Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

You Are Here: Home » Archives: March 2025

Daily Archives: March 12, 2025

404 Media has obtained a list of 200+ sites monitored by a contractor for ICE

by on

404 Media [unpaywalled] – “A contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and many other U.S. government agencies has developed a tool that lets analysts more easily pull a target individual’s publicly available data from a wide array of sites, social networks, apps, and services across the web at once, including Amazon, Apple Music, BabyCenter, Bluesky, Facebook, Github, GoFundMe, OnlyFans, Instagra, according to a leaked list of the sites obtained by 404 Media. In all the list names more than 200 sites that the contractor, called ShadowDragon, pulls data from and makes available to its government clients, allowing them to map out a person’s activity, movements, and relationships.”

404 Media has uploaded the list here.

AI search engines fail accuracy test, study finds 60% error rate

by on

TechSpot: “In context: It is a foregone conclusion that AI models can lack accuracy. Hallucinations and doubling down on wrong information have been an ongoing struggle for developers. Usage varies so much in individual use cases that it’s hard to nail down quantifiable percentages related to AI accuracy. A research team claims it now has… Continue Reading

Paper Shredders and Burn Bags: The Vandalism of USAID Is Nearly Complete

by on

National Security Archive: “Official email Monday night ordered classified and personnel files into burn bags Shredding party at the Reagan Building tries to erase history and accountability. Washington, D.C., March 12, 2025 – The acting executive secretary of the U.S. Agency for International Development Monday night [March 10, 2025] ordered the destruction of classified records… Continue Reading

The dam, the myth, the legend: 50 years of the beaver

by on

Canadian Geographic: “…This spring marks 50 years since the beaver reached this exalted status [Beaver (Castor canadensis) as a symbol of the sovereignty of the Dominion of Canada]. Were O’Sullivan alive today, he’d surely be gratified by its persistent grip, literally and figuratively, on our collective soul and heart and emotions. Beaver imagery permeates every… Continue Reading

Rendering Social Security incapable of serving 71 million Americans is catastrophic

by on

ProPublica: “Since the arrival of a team from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, Social Security is in a far more precarious place than has been widely understood, according to Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration. “I don’t want the system to collapse,” Dudek said in a closed-door meeting last week,… Continue Reading

BBC – The internet’s memory problem

by on

Released On: 12 Mar 2025 Available for over a year.  We’re replacing BBC Sounds outside the UK and bringing you BBC.com, a seamless way to read, watch, and listen – all in one place. Visit bbc.com/audio or need more help?The internet is where much of our modern cultural, societal and political history is stored, but… Continue Reading

Spreading AI-generated content could lead to expensive fines

by on

PopSci: “AI-generated “deepfake” materials are flooding the internet, sometimes with dangerous results. In just the last year, AI has been used to make deceiving voice clones of a former US president and spread fake, politically-charged images depicting children in natural disasters. Nonconsensual, AI-generated sexual images and videos, meanwhile, are leaving a trail of trauma impacting… Continue Reading

ERIC – Institute of Education Sciences

by on

“ERIC is a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information. It is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education. For a brief overview, access the video. ERIC has five main user groups: academics, researchers, educators, policymakers, and the general public. Access our Who… Continue Reading