Redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears

The Guardian: “The National Design Studio, staffed by Doge veterans, installed visitor-tracking software on vital federal website. An opaque White House office staffed largely by veterans of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has quietly rebuilt some of the federal government’s most sensitive websites – for passport applications, voter registration, prescription-drug pricing and children’s …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Cybersecurity, E-Government, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Yahoo Scout

“Yahoo Scout is the Intelligence Platform behind AI-powered features across Yahoo. It helps you gain insights, find recommendations and confidently take action more easily — right where you already use Yahoo. The Yahoo Scout answer engine curates information from Yahoo and the open web into clear, helpful summaries, explanations, and insights and guides you to …

Subjects: AI, Intellectual Property, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 27, 2026

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 27, 2026 – 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 …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, E-Government, Internet, Privacy

Climate.us

DOGE fired NOAA’s climate scientists – they just launched Climate.us – “Keeping trusted climate information up to date and easy to find.. Climate hazards—both natural and human-caused—are a significant threat to public health and safety, to communities and infrastructure, to the economy, and to forests and other natural resources. Americans who don’t understand climate can’t …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, Education, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

White House Secretly Swayed Board Meant to Stop Civil Service Politicization

The New York Times – no paywall: “Behind the scenes, the Trump White House went to extensive lengths to advance its theory of executive power, potentially giving the president remarkable leeway to install loyalists at nearly every echelon of government. In the tiny corner of the legal world that follows such things, the March ruling …

Subjects: Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools

The Guardian: “A new report sheds light on the unprecedented growth of the US government’s immigration surveillance arsenal, revealing fresh details about how spending on technology and AI tools to find and track migrants has soared to record levels during Donald Trump’s second term. The report, released this week, analyzed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

‘Rush Project at Request of POTUS’

The Atlantic – no paywall: Money once used for crucial national-park repairs is now financing Trump’s redecorating projects. The pathway that connects the White House residence to the Oval Office has long been paved in Tennessee flagstone. Every president since Harry Truman made the 45-second commute, and made it without complaint, until Donald Trump. The …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

ProPublica – The Secret IRS Files: “In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes. Michael Bloomberg managed …

Subjects: E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Why the nation’s founding document is marred by stains, a mysterious handprint

Washington Post – no paywall: “Why the nation’s founding document is marred by stains, a mysterious handprint. The physical journey of the Declaration of Independence tells its own story. Its imperfections and endurance reflect those of the America it helped create…Two and a half centuries ago, the newborn United States did not yet reflect the …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission takes aim at church-state separation

“The Trump administration took aim at the separation of church and state June 26, 2026, issuing a draft report from the president’s Religious Liberty Commission that says the separation concept is a legal error and that Americans should view religion as an “essential support” and always remember “the Creator who made us and bestows our …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research

Politics Russia’s Wiki Warfare Tries to Distort Reality

Bloomberg – no paywall: “Leaked files reveal the Social Design Agency’s efforts to control the information that underpins search engines and AI chatbots. Russian influence operators called it Project 2026. The plan wasn’t just to spread fabricated stories on social media platforms. It outlined efforts to create an alternative information ecosystem. Leaked documents from a …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

Prompt Injection: What Lawyers Considering Agentic AI Must Know

Via LLRX – Prompt Injection: What Lawyers Considering Agentic AI Must Know – AI agents can fail in too many ways to count. This article by Jerry Lawson focuses on one of the biggest vulnerabilities, prompt injection. However, because there are so many other ways agentic AI can fail, the final sections will also discuss ways to …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Knowledge Management, Legal Research