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

Daily Archives: August 14, 2017

Perspectives on Harmful Speech Online

Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University – “This collection of essays includes perspectives on and approaches to harmful speech online from a wide range of voices within the Berkman Klein Center community. Recognizing that harmful speech online is an increasingly prevalent issue within society, we intend for the collection to highlight diverse views and strands of thought and to make them available to a wide range of audiences. We issued an open call to our community for short pieces that respond to issues related to harmful speech online. Through this collection, we sought to highlight ongoing research and thinking within our extended community that would be available to readers in a way that is more accessible than traditional academic research. The 16 short essays compiled in this collection are authored by a global group of friends, colleagues, and collaborators. We hope that this diverse mix of perspectives, viewpoints, and data points provokes thought and debate, and inspires further exploration. Evidence of the complexity of the issue is that no two writers sought to cover the same topic from a similar point of view; from legal perspectives to research results to paradigm-shifting provocations, a multitude of topics, opinions, and approaches are included. Many pieces draw from research, while others are more opinion-based, indicating that discourse around this topic can be inherently opinionated and passionate as well as scholarly and academic. Some pieces are written in a style evocative of advocacy, whereas others are written with scholarly communities in mind. The range of perspectives and opinions found here—and the lack of consensus on some topics—highlight the dynamic complexity of the issues and how competing values are frequently entangled. The pieces are organized into three categories: Framing the Problem, International Perspectives, and Approaches, Interventions, and Solutions. The first and last sections include essays that build upon our understanding of their categories, and the section on International Perspectives addresses specific geopolitical contexts and ways in which the regulation of harmful speech may or may not be serving the citizens of a particular country or region..”

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade: 2017 Annual Report

United States International Trade Commission – Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade: 2017 Annual Report, May 2017 “Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade: 2017 Annual Report focuses on U.S. exports and imports of professional services, particularly accounting and auditing, architecture and engineering, legal, and management consulting services. In 2015, the United States exported $139.7 billion… Continue Reading

GAO reports continuing security controls for protecting confidentiality of taxpayer data

Information Security: Control Deficiencies Continue to Limit IRS’s Effectiveness in Protecting Sensitive Financial and Taxpayer Data, GAO-17-395: Published: Jul 26, 2017. Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2017. “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made progress in addressing previously reported control deficiencies; however, continuing and newly identified control deficiencies limited the effectiveness of security controls for protecting the… Continue Reading

Ozone treaty taking a bite out of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions

NOAA – “The Montreal Protocol, the international treaty adopted to restore Earth’s protective ozone layer, has significantly reduced emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals from the United States. A new study by NOAA and CIRES scientists shows the 30-year old treaty has also significantly reduced climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. That’s because the ozone-depleting substances… Continue Reading

Nuclear Threat Initiative Report on North Korea

“Nuclear Threat Initiative is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to reduce global threats from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.” Last Updated: July, 2017 [Except as follows with the full report here] “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has an active nuclear weapons program and tested nuclear explosive devices in 2006, 2009, 2013, and twice… Continue Reading

International Privacy Experts Adopt Statements on E-Learning, Intelligence Gathering

EPIC – “The International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications has adopted new recommendations to improve privacy and security standards for e-learning platforms and government intelligence gathering. The Berlin-based Working Group includes Data Protection Authorities and experts who work together to address emerging privacy challenges. The Working Paper on “E-Learning Platforms” highlights privacy risks… Continue Reading

Library Guides for Detecting Fake News – AALL Spectrum July 2017

Genevieve Zook [excerpted from her article] – JULY/AUGUST 2017 | AALL SPECTRUM 23 American Library Association bit.ly/JA17ALA Bowdoin College Library bit.ly/JA17Bowdoin Harvard Library bit.ly/JA17Harvard Hillsborough Community College Libraries bit.ly/JA17Hills Indiana University East bit.ly/JA17IU Pace University Library bit.ly/JA17Pace Penn State University Libraries bit.ly/JA17Pace http://bit.ly/JA17Pace The Public Library of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County bit.ly/JA17 Toronto Public Library… Continue Reading

Those supposed;y secure passwords you routinely create are not secure at all

WSJ.com – “…Back in 2003, as a midlevel manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Bill Burr was the author of “NIST Special Publication 800-63. Appendix A.” [this is the 2017 version] The 8-page primer advised people to protect their accounts by inventing awkward new words rife with obscure characters, capital letters and… Continue Reading

Where You Live Impacts Ability To Obtain Representation in Immigration Court

“Newly obtained case-by-case court records show that depending upon the community in which the immigrant resides, the odds of obtaining representation in Immigration Court deportation proceedings vary widely. If you happen to live in Honolulu, Hawaii, the odds are over 90 percent that you will be able to find an attorney to represent you. The… Continue Reading