Data is Plural: Western water rights. Matthew D. Lisk et al. have compiled and standardized a dataset of water rights records — key documents in the allocation of the scarce resource — in the Western United States. Drawing on raw data collected from 11 states, the harmonized dataset “provides consistent unique identifiers for each spatial… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Records
Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American. How to protect yourself
LA Times via Yahoo: “…Data breaches have been so common over the years, some security experts say sensitive information about you is almost certainly available in the dark corners of the internet. And there are a lot of people capable of finding it; VPNRanks, a website that rates virtual private network services, estimates that 5… Continue Reading
Study finds 94% of business spreadsheets have critical errors
PHYS.org – A recent study published in the journal Frontiers of Computer Science “reveals that 94% of spreadsheets used in business decision-making contain errors, highlighting significant risks of financial and operational mistakes. Phys.org reports: Errors in spreadsheets can lead to poor decisions, resulting in financial losses, pricing mistakes, and operational problems in fields like health… Continue Reading
Texas AG Sues GM for Unlawfully Collecting Drivers’ Private Data and Selling It To Several Companies, Including Insurance Companies
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors for its false, deceptive, and misleading business practices related to its unlawful collection and sale of over 1.5 million Texans’ private driving data to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent. This action follows Attorney General Paxton’s June 2024 announcement that he opened an investigation into several car… Continue Reading
US government wants to make it easier for you to click the ‘unsubscribe’ button
“Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris are launching “Time Is Money,” a new governmentwide effort to crack down on all the ways that corporations—through excessive paperwork, hold times, and general aggravation—add unnecessary headaches and hassles to people’s days and degrade their quality of life. Americans are tired of being played for suckers, and President… Continue Reading
How to Turn Off AI Overview Results in Your Google Searches
How to Geek – “Have you been scrolling through Google settings looking for the button that turns off AI overviews in search? I tried it too and learned two things. First, there’s no official way to disable AI overviews. Luckily, there are workarounds to get rid of those experimental search results on Google. Google Doesn’t… Continue Reading
Thousands of Corporate Secrets Were Left Exposed. This Guy Found Them All
Wired – Security researcher Bill Demirkapi found more than 15,000 hardcoded secrets and 66,000 vulnerable websites—all by searching overlooked data sources [unpaywalled]: “If you know where to look, plenty of secrets can be found online. Since the fall of 2021, independent security researcher Bill Demirkapi has been building ways to tap into huge data sources,… Continue Reading
Evaluating People Search Site Removal Services
New Report: Data Defense: Evaluating People-Search Site Removal Services – “Seven years ago, I typed my own name into a search engine and was horrified to learn that my name, age, home address, and phone number were publicly posted by multiple people-search sites without my knowledge, let alone consent. Shortly after finding my own data… Continue Reading
Trump presidential library?
Via Ben Amata: A Trump presidential library exists and appears to be only digital – The Donald J. Trump Presidential records are governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA). Under the provisions of the PRA, Trump Presidential records are not available to public access requests for the first five years after the end of the… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 9, 2024
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 9, 2024 – 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… Continue Reading
Public records data must be off-limits for AI
The Hill – “Companies are looking for innovative ways to collect data to feed their data-hungry artificial intelligence systems and create innovative applications. Fortunately, some do not have to go too far. Then, there are the companies that collect data from public records to share on the internet and run analytics. There are many compelling… Continue Reading
How to protect your college laptop: A student’s guide to cybersecurity
PCWorld: “Security is essential for any laptop, whether you’re on a college laptop, a gaming laptop, or especially a business laptop. But college laptops face unique challenges. For example, if you’re a student and you’re connecting your own laptop to your school’s network — perhaps in a dorm — then you should really be using… Continue Reading
