News release: “FinCEN joins with other Federal, State and Local government agencies and consumer protection organizations to recognize the 12th Annual National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW), March 7-13. This coordinated consumer education campaign encourages individuals across the country to take full advantage of their consumer rights. FinCEN provides a number of special resources to educate… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: March 2010
Studies Reveal Why Drinking Water Wells are Vulnerable to Contamination
News release: “New USGS groundwater studies explain what, when, and how contaminants may reach public-supply wells. All wells are not equally vulnerable to contamination because of differences in three factors: the general chemistry of the aquifer, groundwater age, and direct paths within aquifer systems that allow water and contaminants to reach a well. More than… Continue Reading
EPIC v. DHS: EPIC Obtains Complaints About Airport Body Scanners
Follow up to previous postings on government implementation of whole body scanning technology at airports – “In response to an EPIC Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released more documents about body scanners in US airports. The documents include many complaints from travelers who went… Continue Reading
Justice Department Requires Key Divestiture in Election Systems & Software/Premier Election Solutions Merger
Follow up to previous postings on e-voting this News release: “The Department of Justice announced today that it will require Election Systems & Software (ES&S) to divest voting equipment systems assets it purchased in September 2009 from Premier Election Solutions Inc. in order to restore competition. The assets to be divested include the means to… Continue Reading
Treasury Said to Oppose Federal GAO Audit
Ryan Grim: “The Treasury Department is vigorously opposed to a House-passed measure that would open the Federal Reserve to an audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a senior Treasury official said Monday. Instead, the official said, the Treasury prefers a substitute offered by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), and would like to see it enacted… Continue Reading
Report: 100 Percent of Fish in U.S. Streams Found Contaminated with Mercury
News release: “In a new study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), every single fish tested from 291 freshwater streams across the United States was found to be contaminated with mercury. “This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds and many of our fish in freshwater streams,” said… Continue Reading
Report: Methane Releases From Arctic Shelf May Be Much Larger and Faster Than Anticipated
National Science Foundation: “A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov. The research results, published… Continue Reading
Vice President Biden Announces Nearly 200 New Recovery Act Transit Projects in 42 States
News release: “Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced funding for 191 new Recovery Act transit projects in 42 states and Puerto Rico that will help transform the nations infrastructure and support thousands of jobs across the country. In making the over $600 million in new awards, the Federal Transit… Continue Reading
M-Trends Report at U.S. Department of Defense: Cyber Crime Conference
News release: “MANDIANT, the information security industrys leading provider of incident response and computer forensics services and solutions, today announced formal distribution of its inaugural M-Trends report at the U.S. Department of Defense: Cyber Crime Conference 2010 in St. Louis. M-Trends spans seven years of lessons learned on the front lines of intrusion investigations for… Continue Reading
New on LLRX.com: DNA Identification Evidence in Criminal Prosecutions
LLRX.com: DNA Identification Evidence in Criminal Prosecutions In criminal cases, there have been challenges on sufficiency grounds and concerns over the use of forensic DNA evidence as the sole or primary proof of guilt. Uncorroborated DNA matching might not be enough to satisfy the burden of establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The reliability of… Continue Reading
New on LLRX.com: Cloud Computing for Lawyers
LLRX.com: Cloud Computing for Lawyers – This is Nicole L. Black’s primer for the legal profession on an emerging technology which is defined as a “type of computing that is comparable to grid computing, [and] relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. The goal of cloud… Continue Reading
New on LLRX.com: Social media, geolocation and privacy, oh my!
LLRX.com – Social media, geolocation and privacy, oh my! – Nicole L. Black highlights how our net activities are carefully monitored and meticulously tracked by some of the biggest players, including Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook. Our individual online footprints, from the Web sites we visit, the items we purchase, the people with whom… Continue Reading
