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

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation Industry on the Rise

“First Industry Series Statistics Released from the 2012 Economic Census – Shuttle services, vanpools and similar businesses employed 17,719 people in 2012, a rise from 11,696 in 2007 or 51 percent, according to the first 2012 Economic Census industry series statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. These businesses (part of the All Other Transit and… Continue Reading

2013 Characteristics of New Housing

“Using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction, which is jointly funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, this report provides annual statistics on the characteristics of new privately owned residential structures in the four U.S. regions. The report includes characteristics such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the type of… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – VA Real Property, Consumer’s Data Location, DHS Intelligence Analysis, Education Grants and Promotion, Maritime Security

VA REAL PROPERTY: Action Needed to Improve the Leasing of Outpatient Clinics, GAO-14-300: Published: Apr 30, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 3, 2014. CONSUMERS’ LOCATION DATA: Companies Take Steps to Protect Privacy, but Practices Are Inconsistent, and Risks May Not be Clear to Consumers, GAO-14-649T: Published: Jun 4, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 4, 2014. DHS INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS: Additional Actions Needed to Address Analytic… Continue Reading

Federal Reserve announces new schedule of margins applicable for collateral pledged by depository institutions

“The Federal Reserve is announcing new collateral margins for discount window lending and payment system risk purposes, effective July 1, 2014. These changes stem from the most recent review of margins and valuation practices that the Federal Reserve periodically conducts, as well as the incorporation of updated market data. The new collateral margins table can… Continue Reading

Judge Releases Information about Police Use of Stingray Cell Phone Trackers – ACLU

“A Florida judge has sided with the ACLU to order release of information about police use of “stingrays,” which are invasive surveillance devices that send out powerful signals to trick cell phones into transmitting their locations and identifying information. The Tallahassee judge’s pro-transparency decision stands in contrast to extreme secrecy surrounding stingray records in another… Continue Reading

Model FOIA Regulations

“A coalition of transparency organizations set a new benchmark for transparency by publishing model Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations, building on FOIA’s 50-year legacy of making government more open and accountable. The groups—Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and the National Security Archive—all experts in FOIA litigation, recommend a common… Continue Reading

McKinsey Quarterly 2014 Number 2

“This issue includes articles on how technological advances are revolutionizing resource productivity, the future of lean, why leaders of organizational change must examine their own behavior, and the rising risk of cyberattacks.” Topics covered are: Resource revolution: Gathering force; The future of lean; Change leader, change thyself; and Research, trends, and emerging thinking.   Continue Reading

New CDC Data on Foodborne Disease Outbreaks

“Outbreaks provide important insights into how germs spread, which food and germ combinations cause illnesses, and how to prevent infections. Public health and industry use outbreak data to create information on prevention, education, and policy. CDC has a long history of summarizing outbreak reports from local and state health departments. CDC collects outbreak data and makes it available to… Continue Reading

Research using big data identifies gaps in timely release of classified documents

The Ghost Files published in Columbia Magazine, Winter 2013-14 by David J. Craig – writing about Columbia Professor Connolly’s Declassification Engine and his efforts to leverage big-data analysis to show what kinds of information the government is keeping classified. “…Then Connelly had an idea: could he use data mining to infer what types of information were being left out of the public… Continue Reading