News release: “Illegal pre-recorded “robocalls” are a growing annoyance for millions of American consumers and the target of an enforcement crackdown by the Federal Trade Commission. What should you do when you get one of these calls? [July 10, 2012] the FTC issued tips for consumers, as well as two new consumer education videos explaining… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Locate federally-funded health centers online
“Federally-funded health centers care for you, even if you have no health insurance. You pay what you can afford, based on your income. Health centers provide. Health centers are in most cities and many rural areas. Type in your address and click the ‘Find Health Centers’ button to find health centers near you. checkups when… Continue Reading
The LexisNexis 14th Annual Mortgage Fraud Report
The LexisNexis® 14th Annual Mortgage Fraud Report, July 2012 “With still-high delinquency and foreclosure rates, little economic progress in depressed markets, and unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of the financially disenfranchised, 2011 was a bleak year for the mortgage industry. As industry insiders and economic analysts hope for noticeable recovery, 2011s mortgage loan originations were at… Continue Reading
CBO Releases Report on Infrastructure Banks for Transportation
Infrastructure Banks and Surface Transportation, July 12, 2012 “From 2008 to 2011, governmental spending on surface transportation infrastructurehighways, mass transit, and passenger railtotaled $200 billion a year. The federal government spent more than $50 billion a yearmostly in the form of grants to state and local entities, which then determined what projects to fundand state… Continue Reading
Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2012
The Reuters Institute Digital Report 2012, edited by Nic Newman “reveals new insights about digital news consumption across Europe and the United States. Based on a representative survey of online news consumers across five countries UK, US, Germany, France and Denmark the report is the start of an ambitious project to track changing… Continue Reading
Congressional Connection – Privacy Trumps Cybersecurity, Poll Shows
Via EFF: Josh Smith: “Proposals to increase cybersecurity by allowing businesses and government to share information may enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, but Americans arent sold on the idea, the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll finds. Almost two-thirds of respondents63 percentsaid government and businesses should not be allowed to share information because it… Continue Reading
Report: Dangerous Partnership – Private Military and Security Companies and the UN
Global Policy Forum has published a report titled Dangerous Partnership – Private Military and Security Companies by the United Nations, by Lou Pingeot. This investigative report reveals that the UN has dramatically increased its use of these companies in recent years, hiring them for a wide array of security services and giving them considerable influence… Continue Reading
TRAC: Consumer Credit Lawsuits Up 194% from Five Years Ago
Consumer Credit Civil Filings for May 2012: “The latest available data from the federal courts show that in May of this year there were 890 new consumer credit lawsuits filed, most under the Fair Debt Enforcement Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act. According to the case-by-case civil enforcement information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access… Continue Reading
Computing Research for Sustainability
“The focus of Computing Research for Sustainability is “greening through IT,” the application of computing to promote sustainability broadly. The aim of this report is twofold: to shine a spotlight on areas where IT innovation and computer science (CS) research can help, and to urge the computing research community to bring its approaches and methodologies… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Information Technology Reform , Ryan White Care Act
Information Technology Reform – Progress Made but Future Cloud Computing Efforts Should be Better Planned, GAO-12-756, Jul 11, 2012: “As part of a comprehensive effort to increase the operational efficiency of federal technology assets, federal agencies are shifting how they deploy IT services. OMB issued a Cloud First policy in December 2010 that requires federal… Continue Reading
FinCEN Assesses Suspicious Activity Involving Title and Escrow Companies
News release: “Pressing forward in its efforts to address a wide range of criminal risks, particularly in the residential real estate market, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today released its first targeted study analyzing reports indicating suspicious activities involving the Real Estate Title and Escrow Industry. The study identified thousands of instances where financial… Continue Reading
Long-Term Implications of the 2013 Future Years Defense Program
“In most years, the Department of Defense (DoD) provides to the Congress a five-year plan, called the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), along with its budget request for the coming year. Because decisions made in the near term can have consequences for the defense budget well beyond that period, CBO regularly examines the plans in… Continue Reading
