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Daily Archives: December 23, 2014

The Future of Privacy

The terms of citizenship and social life are rapidly changing in the digital age. No issue highlights this any better than privacy, always a fluid and context-situated concept and more so now as the boundary between being private and being public is shifting. “We have seen the emergence of publicy as the default modality, with privacy declining,” wrote Stowe Boyd, the lead researcher for GigaOm Research in his response in this study. “In order to ‘exist’ online, you have to publish things to be shared, and that has to be done in open, public spaces.” If not, people have a lesser chance to enrich friendships, find or grow communities, learn new things, and act as economic agents online. Moreover, personal data are the raw material of the knowledge economy. As Leah Lievrouw, a professor of information studies at the University of California-Los Angeles, noted in her response, “The capture of such data lies at the heart of the business models of the most successful technology firms (and increasingly, in traditional industries like retail, health care, entertainment and media, finance, and insurance) and government assumptions about citizens’ relationship to the state.” This report is a look into the future of privacy in light of the technological change, ever-growing monetization of digital encounters, and shifting relationship of citizens and their governments that is likely to extend through the next decade. “We are at a crossroads,” noted Vytautas Butrimas, the chief adviser to a major government’s ministry. He added a quip from a colleague who has watched the rise of surveillance in all forms, who proclaimed, “George Orwell may have been an optimist,” in imagining “Big Brother.” This issue is at the center of global deliberations. The United Nations is working on a resolution for the General Assembly calling upon states to respect—and protect—a global right to privacy.”

First Global Maps from Orbiting Carbon Observatory

“The first global maps of atmospheric carbon dioxide from NASA’s new Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission show elevated carbon dioxide concentrations across the Southern Hemisphere from springtime biomass burning and hint at potential surprises to come. At a media briefing  at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California;… Continue Reading

Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems

Goldstein, Herman and Scott, Michael S., Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems (December 22, 2014). Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, Response Guide Series No. 3, Center for Problem-Oriented Policing , U. S. Department of Justice (2011); Univ. of Wisconsin Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1340. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2541922 “The public calls… Continue Reading

Internet Monitor 2014: Reflections on the Digital World

“Internet Monitor is delighted to announce the publication of Internet Monitor 2014: Reflections on the Digital World, the project’s second annual report. The report is a collection of roughly three dozen short contributions that highlight and discuss some of the most compelling events and trends in the digitally networked environment over the past year. The publication,… Continue Reading

Principles for financial market infrastructures: Assessment methodology for the oversight expectations applicable to critical service providers

December 2014 – The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have published the Assessment methodology for the oversight expectations applicable to critical service providers. The Principles for financial market infrastructures, published by the then Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and IOSCO in April 2012, include… Continue Reading

Spillovers of US unconventional monetary policy to Asia: the role of long-term interest rates

“This paper reviews the role of long-term interest rates in international monetary transmission and related policy challenges in the wake of exceptionally easy US monetary policy. It employs a panel VAR model to examine the impact of a very low US term premium on relatively small open Asian economies. The results show that unconventional US… Continue Reading

America’s wealth gap between middle- and upper-income families widest on record

“The wealth gap between America’s high income group and everyone else has reached record high levels since the economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-09, with a clear trajectory of increasing wealth for the upper-income families and no wealth growth for the middle- and lower-income families. A new Pew Research Center analysis of wealth finds… Continue Reading

SEC Office of the Investor Advocate Report FY2014

REPORT ON ACTIVITIES FISCAL YEAR 2014 – Office of the Investor Advocate. “THE OFFICE OF THE INVESTOR ADVOCATE was established pursuant to Section 915 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), as codified under Section 4(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 78d(g). Exchange Act Section… Continue Reading

Florida Passes New York to Become the Nation’s Third Most Populous State

“By adding an average of 803 new residents each day between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, Florida passed New York to become the nation’s third most populous state, according to U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates released today. Florida’s population grew by 293,000 over this period, reaching 19.9 million. The population of New… Continue Reading