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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Federal Court Rules Backdoor Searches of 702 Data Unconstitutional

EFF: “Better late than never: last night a federal district court held that backdoor searches of databases full of Americans’ private communications collected under Section 702 ordinarily require a warrant. The landmark ruling comes in a criminal case, United States v. Hasbajrami, after more than a decade of litigation, and over four years since the… Continue Reading

World Monuments Fund Puts Moon on List of At-Risk Sites

The New York Times gift article: “The organization said that more than 90 important sites on the moon could risk destruction if space tourism is left unregulated. For years, the World Monuments Fund has sought to draw attention and resources to endangered cultural heritage sites including Machu Picchu in Peru, temples in Cambodia and the… Continue Reading

AI Mistakes Are Very Different from Human Mistakes

Schneier on Security: “Humans make mistakes all the time. All of us do, every day, in tasks both new and routine. Some of our mistakes are minor and some are catastrophic. Mistakes can break trust with our friends, lose the confidence of our bosses, and sometimes be the difference between life and death. Over the… Continue Reading

Case Western Reserve University School of Law to require legal AI education certification

Above the Law – “Case Western Reserve University School of Law becomes first law school in the U.S. to require legal AI education certification for all first-year law students – Case Western Reserve University School of Law will become the first in the nation to require all first-year law students to earn a certification in… Continue Reading

Donald Trump’s No. 2 Pick for the EPA Represented Companies Accused of Pollution Harm

ProPublica: “The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution. David Fotouhi, a partner in the global law firm Gibson Dunn, played a key part in rolling… Continue Reading

Guidance on Presidential Memorandum Return to In-Person Work

OPM Memorandum, January 22, 2025 “…The President’s PM directs agency heads to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis” “as soon as practicable.” It allows agency heads to “make exemptions they deem necessary” and directs that… Continue Reading

House G.O.P. Floats Medicaid Cuts and More to Finance Trump’s Huge Agenda

The New York Times: “President Trump wants a massive tax cut and immigration crackdown bill. Now Republicans must decide what to cut to help pay for it. Top Republicans are passing around an extensive menu of ideas to cover the cost of a massive tax cut and immigration crackdown bill. They could create a 10… Continue Reading

Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders

OPM Memorandum to Heads and Acting Heads of All Agencies, January 21, 2025. – Pursuant to its authority under 5 U.S.C. § 1103(a)(1) and (a)(5), the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”) is providing the following initial guidance to agencies regarding the President’s executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing… Continue Reading

LinkedIn accused of using private messages to train AI

BBC: “A US lawsuit filed on behalf of LinkedIn Premium users accuses the social media platform of sharing their private messages with other companies to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. It alleges that in August last year, the world’s largest professional social networking website “quietly” introduced a privacy setting, automatically opting users in to a… Continue Reading

webcurios

“This website is the home of Web Curios, a blognewslettertypething which has existed in various forms in various places online since about 2010 (it also exists as a bot on Bluesky, for anyone who, inexplicably, doesn’t want to read 10k words about ‘stuff on the internet’ in one go each week). First published on the… Continue Reading