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Category Archives: Government Documents

Visualizing Political Bias in Bicameral Legislatures

The Economist – See the visualization here: “Left-of-centre Americans often bemoan their country’s Senate, in which each state gets two seats regardless of population. This has always given the least populous states extra sway in the upper chamber of Congress. But in recent years, smaller states have become more Republican, and Democrats have called for reform. Relative to parliaments elected by proportional representation, a method that matches shares of seats and votes, America’s Congress looks badly malapportioned. But many countries, seeking to ensure that regional interests are heard, use systems that represent both places and people. And according to a new working paper by Pablo Beramendi, Carles Boix, Marc Guinjoan and Melissa Rogers, all political scientists, imbalances like America’s are common in countries with bicameral legislatures. The authors measured malapportionment, defined as the gap between districts’ shares of seats and eligible voters, in 247 elections across 65 countries…”

FTC Proposes Rule Provision – “Click to Cancel” Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships

“The Federal Trade Commission today proposed a “click to cancel” provision requiring sellers to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up. That is just one of several significant updates the Commission is proposing to its rules regarding subscriptions and recurring payments. The new click to cancel… Continue Reading

Utah parent says the Bible contains porn – remove from school libraries

The Salt Lake Tribune: “Frustrated by the books being removed from school libraries, a Utah parent says there’s one that hasn’t been challenged yet, but that they believe should be, for being “one of the most sex-ridden books around.”So they’ve submitted a request for their school district in Davis County to now review the Bible… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 25, 2023

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 25, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading

Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence

A Rule by the Copyright Office, Library of Congress on 03/16/2023 – “The Copyright Office (the “Office”) is the Federal agency tasked with administering the copyright registration system, as well as advising Congress, other agencies, and the Federal judiciary on copyright and related matters. Because the Office has overseen copyright registration since its origins in… Continue Reading

TSA confirms plans to mandate mug shots for domestic air travel

Papers Please: “In an on-stage interview [March 14, 2023] at South By Southwest by a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, the head of the US Transportation Security Administration made explicit that the TSA plans to make collection of biometric data mandatory for airline travel: According to a report in [March 15, 2023] of the… Continue Reading

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan Issues Sweeping Subpoenas to Universities Studying Misinformation

Pro Publica: “In the subpoenas, Jordan asserted that the schools may have contributed to the Biden administration’s “censorship regime by advising on so-called misinformation. House Republicans have sent letters to at least three universities and a think tank requesting a broad range of documents related to what it says are the institutions’ contributions to the… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 18, 2023

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 18, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the… Continue Reading

Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to the Human Rights Council

President of Human Rights Council appoints members of investigative body in Ukraine English | 30 March 2022 Infographic – Main Findings – Report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, March 2023 War crimes, indiscriminate attacks on infrastructure, systematic and widespread torture show disregard for civilians, says UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine… Continue Reading

The Unabridged Fifteenth Amendment

Crum, Travis, The Unabridged Fifteenth Amendment (March 15, 2023). Yale Law Journal, Forthcoming, Washington University in St. Louis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 23-03-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract= “In the legal histories of Reconstruction, the Fifteenth Amendment’s drafting and ratification is an afterthought compared to the Fourteenth Amendment. This oversight is perplexing given that the… Continue Reading

16 Agencies Create One Confidential Data Process to Rule Them All

NextGov: “Through three years, 16 federal agencies, more than 1,300 datasets and a cascade of privacy laws and interagency agreements underpinned by decades-old entrenched processes, a team of federal employees launched the Standard Application Process in December, creating for the first time a single portal for U.S. researchers to request access to the mountains of… Continue Reading