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Daily Archives: March 6, 2013

Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Fatalities in the United States

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Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Fatalities in the United States. Eric W. Fleegler, MD, MPH; Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH; Michael C. Monuteaux, ScD; David Hemenway, PhD; Rebekah Mannix, MD, MPH

  • “Results: Over the 4-year study period, there were 121 084 firearm fatalities. The average state-based firearm fatality rates varied from a high of 17.9 (Louisiana) to a low of 2.9 (Hawaii) per 100 000 individuals per year. Annual firearm legislative strength scores ranged from 0 (Utah) to 24 (Massachusetts) of 28 possible points. States in the highest quartile of legislative strength (scores of ≥9) had a lower overall firearm fatality rate than those in the lowest quartile (scores of ≤2) (absolute rate difference, 6.64 deaths/100 000/y; age-adjusted incident rate ratio [IRR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.37-0.92). Compared with the quartile of states with the fewest laws, the quartile with the most laws had a lower firearm suicide rate (absolute rate difference, 6.25 deaths/100 000/y; IRR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.48-0.83) and a lower firearm homicide rate (absolute rate difference, 0.40 deaths/100 000/y; IRR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.38-0.95).
  • Conclusions and Relevance: A higher number of firearm laws in a state are associated with a lower rate of firearm fatalities in the state, overall and for suicides and homicides individually. As our study could not determine cause-and-effect relationships, further studies are necessary to define the nature of this association.”

EFF – States Seek Ban to Employers' Social-Media Snooping

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EFF: “Last year, Maryland became the first state to explicitly prohibit employers from forcing applicants or workers to disclose their personal names or passwords as a condition of employment. California followed soon after with its own measure, which further bars private employers from even requesting access to their workers social-media accounts. According to the National… Continue Reading

EFF – Google Transparency Report Provides Info on National Security Letters

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EFF: “In an unprecedented win for transparency, yesterday Google began publishing generalized information about the number of National Security Letters that the company received in the past year as well as the total number of user accounts affected by those requests. Of all the dangerous government surveillance powers that were expanded by the USA PATRIOT… Continue Reading

Electronics Disposal Efficiency (EDE): An It Recycling Metric for Enterprises and Data Centers

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White Paper #53 – Electronics Disposal Efficiency (EDE): An It Recycling Metric for Enterprises and Data Centers, March 6, 2013 “This white paper outlines the new Electronics Disposal Efficiency (EDE) metric. EDE is the first universal metric launched by The Green Grid to help end-users of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) measure their success in… Continue Reading

Study: Web-scale pharmacovigilance: listening to signals from the crowd

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Web-scale pharmacovigilance: listening to signals from the crowd. Ryen W White1, Nicholas P Tatonetti, Nigam H Shah, Russ B Altman, Eric Horvitz. J Am Med Inform Assoc amiajnl-2012-001482 Published Online First: 6 March 2013. “Adverse drug events cause substantial morbidity and mortality and are often discovered after a drug comes to market. We hypothesized that… Continue Reading

Silent Listeners: The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook

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Silent Listeners: The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook by Fred Stutzman, Ralph Grossy, Alessandro Acquistiz. Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality. Issue 4/2/2012 [via Study: Facebook Users More Protective Even as They Reveal More About Themselves] “Over the past decade, social network sites have experienced dramatic growth in popularity, reaching most demographics and providing… Continue Reading

House Report – IG Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers $67 Billion

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Open and Unimplemented – IG Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers $67 Billion, Staff Report Prepared for Chairman Darrell Issa, House of Representatives, 113th Congress, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. March 5, 2013 “The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has jurisdiction over the IG community. This staff report is a compilation of four years’… Continue Reading

Social media is transforming how government engages with citizens

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“Social media is transforming how government engages with citizens, allowing agencies to share information and deliver services more quickly and effectively than ever before. As social content, data, and platforms become more diverse, agencies have a responsibility to ensure these digital services are accessible to all citizens, including people with disabilities. To address this need,… Continue Reading