ProPublica: “A long-awaited report from the Environmental Protection Agency has found that formaldehyde presents an unreasonable risk to human health. But the report, released Thursday, downplayed the threat the chemical poses to people living near industrial plants that release large quantities of the carcinogen into the air.The health risk assessment was published weeks after a… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 4, 2025
Via LLRX – 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… Continue Reading
I Configured These 5 Firefox Settings for Optimal Security
How to Geek: ” Enhanced Tracking Protection Website Privacy Preferences Website Advertising Preferences Use Primary Password Deceptive Content and Dangerous Software Protection I’ve been a Chrome user for the longest time, but I recently switched to Firefox because of its advanced security settings. If you’re considering switching to Firefox or are already using it, I… Continue Reading
The Ethics Complaint Against Liz Cheney: Blue Smoke Without Fire
Just Security: “A recently released House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight report accuses former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney of unethical conduct and concludes that “the Federal Bureau of Investigation must also investigate Representative Cheney.” The report is the House Republican majority’s investigation of the House’s own January 6 report, created when the Democrats still controlled the… Continue Reading
How to Use a Rice Cooker (for Rice and so Much More)
Lifehacker: “I have two rice cookers. Ol’ trusty, that I’ve used since college (and that was not recently), and a modern digital one from Toshiba. Judge me all you want, but I use them both and the old one is still kickin’. Whether your machine is $200 with 30 settings, or $15 with a single… Continue Reading
LLRX December 2024 Articles and Columns
December 2024 – LLRX.com® – the free web journal on law, technology, knowledge discovery and research for Librarians, Lawyers, Researchers, Academics, and Journalists. Founded in 1996. January 1, 2025 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1929 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1924 – by Jennifer Jenkins. AI in Finance and Banking,… Continue Reading
Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M
Ars Technica: “Apple has agreed (PDF) to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were then sold to third parties for targeted ads. In the proposed class-action settlement (PDF) — which comes after five years of litigation — Apple admitted to no wrongdoing. Instead,… Continue Reading
To kick off 2025, Netherlands throws open archive of suspected Nazi collaborators
JTA – Dutch privacy laws shielded the names from public view until the end of 2024: “A massive trove of documents about suspected Nazi collaborators in the Netherlands is now open to the public for the first time. For the past seven decades, only researchers and relatives of those accused of collaborating with the Nazis… Continue Reading
Inside Pinterest’s quest to restore internet optimism
Fast Company – “Most social media platforms have devolved into a network of bottom-feeders and rage-baiters. Yet somehow, Pinterest has kept its joy. According to Sprout Social’s 2024 content strategy report, more than half of social users think of Pinterest as “more positive” than other platforms. When Bill Ready became Pinterest’s CEO in 2022, he… Continue Reading
The religious composition of the 119th Congress
Pew Report: “When the U.S. Congress convenes for its 119th session on Jan. 3, it will have marginally fewer Christians than it did in the previous session (2023-25), continuing a gradual, 10-year decline. Christians will make up 87% of voting members in the Senate and House of Representatives, combined, in the 2025-27 congressional session. That’s… Continue Reading
New resource available to help scientists better classify cancer subtypes
“A multi-institutional team of scientists has developed a free, publicly accessible resource to aid in classification of patient tumor samples based on distinct molecular features identified by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Network. The resource comprises classifier models that can accelerate the design of cancer subtype-specific test kits for use in clinical trials and cancer… Continue Reading
The Changing Medical Debt Landscape in the United States
Urban.org: “Medical debt can intensify financial challenges, affect health care access, and potentially worsen health outcomes. Starting in 2022, the three nationwide credit reporting companies made significant changes to medical debt reporting. Paid medical collections were removed from credit reports, debt in collections would no longer be used in calculating Vantage credit scores, the grace… Continue Reading
