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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Systems used by courts and governments across the US riddled with vulnerabilities

Ars Technica: “Public records systems that courts and governments rely on to manage voter registrations and legal filings have been riddled with vulnerabilities that made it possible for attackers to falsify registration databases and add, delete, or modify official documents. Over the past year, software developer turned security researcher Jason Parker has found and reported dozens of critical vulnerabilities in no fewer than 19 commercial platforms used by hundreds of courts, government agencies, and police departments across the country. Most of the vulnerabilities were critical. One flaw he uncovered in the voter registration cancellation portal for the state of Georgia, for instance, allowed anyone visiting it to cancel the registration of any voter in that state when the visitor knew the name, birthdate, and county of residence of the voter. In another case, document management systems used in local courthouses across the country contained multiple flaws that allowed unauthorized people to access sensitive filings such as psychiatric evaluations that were under seal. And in one case, unauthorized people could assign themselves privileges that are supposed to be available only to clerks of the court and, from there, create, delete, or modify filings…”

EDGAR Next – Improving Filer Access and Account Management

EDGAR Filers: Understand and Prepare for EDGAR Next – The SEC adopted changes to EDGAR filer access and account management (“EDGAR Next”) on September 27, 2024. From September 30, 2024 through March 21, 2025, filers will be able to prepare for enrollment, and a Beta environment will be available for testing. Enrollment begins March 24,… Continue Reading

Unlocking AI for All: The Case for Public Data Banks

LawFare: “The data relied on by OpenAI, Google, Meta, and other artificial intelligence (AI) developers is not readily available to other AI labs. Google and Meta relied, in part, on data gathered from their own products to train and fine-tune their models. OpenAI used tactics to acquire data that now would not work or may… Continue Reading

License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of Political Lawn Signs and Bumper Stickers

Wired: While people put up signs in their yards or bumper stickers on their cars to inform people of their views and potentially influence those around them, the ACLU’s Stanley says it’s intended for “human-scale visibility.” not to that of machines. “They may want to express themselves in their communities, to their neighbors, but they… Continue Reading

The Supreme Court Needs a Mandatory and Enforceable Code of Ethics

“The City Bar, through its Rule of Law Task Force, Federal Courts Committee, Professional Responsibility Committee, and Professional Ethics Committee, asserts that Congress has the Constitutional authority to enact binding and enforceable ethics rules for the U.S. Supreme Court, and endorses the creation of a Judicial Investigation Panel and an Office of the Inspector General… Continue Reading

Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests

ProPublica: “Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and… Continue Reading

WH Science and Technology Policy report – implementation of federal scientific integrity policy and practice

Science.gov: Protecting scientific integrity in government is vital to the Nation. Scientific integrity is defined as: “The adherence to professional practices, ethical behavior, and the principles of honesty and objectivity when conducting, managing, using the results of, and communicating about science and scientific activities. Inclusivity, transparency, and protection from inappropriate influence are hallmarks of scientific… Continue Reading

Trump’s crimes, Supreme Court’s culpability

Follow-up to previous posting – Judge Chutkin unsealed Jack Smith’s redacted immunity brief v Trump see The Cornerstone of Democracy, Essentials, October 2, 2024: A compendium of the best reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States….What you will find are links, with brief commentary, to work that I believe advances the… Continue Reading

Judge Chutkin unsealed Jack Smith’s redacted immunity brief v Trump

Via Court Listener – 165 pages – IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD J. TRUMP, Defendant. CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257 (TSC) GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR IMMUNITY DETERMINATIONS. The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election… Continue Reading

AI assistants are blabbing our embarrassing work secrets

Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “Corporate assistants have long been the keepers of company gossip and secrets. Now artificial intelligence is taking over some of their tasks, but it doesn’t share their sense of discretion. Researcher and engineer Alex Bilzerian said on X last week that, after a Zoom meeting with some venture capital investors, he got… Continue Reading

Microsoft brings AI-powered overviews to Bing

TechCrunch: Microsoft has launched its answer to Google’s AI-powered search experiences: Bing generative search. On the heels of a pilot in July, Bing generative search — albeit still under development — began rolling out to all U.S. users this morning. The easiest way to invoke it is by searching “Bing generative search” on Bing; Microsoft also… Continue Reading