Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Daily Archives: January 9, 2010

Upcoming Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Hearing

WSJ: “The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission will require top bankers and regulators to testify under oath in the coming week when its first public hearings get under way, the panel’s chairman and vice chairman said Friday. Chairman Phil Angelides, a Democrat, and Vice Chairman Bill Thomas, a Republican, said in an interview that the commission also plans to call Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to testify under oath in the months ahead…The panel, established by Congress last year, got off to a slow start due to the complications of hiring staff and opening an office. But looming hearings show the panel is shifting into action and beginning to make its weight felt among banks and regulators. But its focus isn’t going to be on influencing legislation to overhaul financial-sector regulations, which has been moving through Congress as some lawmakers had envisioned. Instead, the committee is settling into the task of developing a detailed investigative report — due in December — on the causes of the financial crisis.”

BJS: Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09

Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09, Allen J. Beck, Paul Guerino, Paige M. Harrison. January 7, 2009 “Presents data from the 2008-09 National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), conducted in 195 juvenile confinement facilities between June 2008 and April 2009, with a sample of over 9,000 adjudicated youth. The report provides… Continue Reading

Debt Collection Supervisors Settle FTC Charges

News release: “Concluding a case that drew the largest civil penalty ever imposed on a debt collection business, the Federal Trade Commission settled with the two remaining individual defendants who allegedly misled, threatened, and harassed consumers; disclosed their debts to third parties; and deposited postdated checks early, in violation of federal law. The settlement order… Continue Reading

Book Review – The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security

The New York Review of Books – Who’s in Big Brother’s Database? By James Bamford – The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the, National Security Agency, by Matthew M. Aid, Bloomsbury. “…this library expects few visitors. It’s being built by the ultra-secret National Security Agency — which is primarily responsible for “signals intelligence,” the… Continue Reading