Harvard Institute of Politics – Youth Poll: “A new national poll of America’s 18-to 29-year-olds by Harvard’sInstitute of Politics (IOP), located at the Kennedy School of Government, finds that nearly two-thirds (64%) of young Americans have more fear than hope about the future of democracy in America. For the first time, the Harvard Public Opinion… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: April 2018
How Will the New Tax Law Affect Homeowners in High Tax States? It Depends
New York Fed – Liberty Street Economics: “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) introduces significant changes to the federal income tax code for individuals and businesses. Several provisions of the new tax law are particularly significant for the owner‑occupied housing market. In this blog post, we compare the federal tax liability and… Continue Reading
The Verge – 7 takeaways from Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance before the House
These members of Congress did their homework: “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made his second of two appearances before Congress on Wednesday, enduring a five-hour session of questions from members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In contrast to their amiably confused counterparts in the Senate, members of the House committee demonstrated a generally better… Continue Reading
This is the new Gmail design
The Verge: A new sidebar includes Google Calendar alongside messages: “Google revealed yesterday that it’s planning to launch a new Gmail design in the coming weeks. The refreshed design will appear for Gmail users on the web, bringing it closer to the company’s tweaks for Gmail on mobile devices. The Verge has obtained screenshots of… Continue Reading
Latest update to Privacy Badger brings a new onboarding process and other improvements
“The new onboarding process will make Privacy Badger easier to use and understand. These latest changes are just some of the many improvements EFF has made to the project, with more to come! Privacy Badger was created with the objective of protecting users from third-party tracking across the web—all users. To do this, Privacy Badger… Continue Reading
The Personality Traits That Put You At Risk For Smartphone Addiction
Washington Post: “When the Trump-affiliated firm Cambridge Analytica obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users, it used the “Big 5” or “Five Factor Model” personality test to target them with ads designed to influence their votes in the 2016 election. The test scores people on five traits — openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and… Continue Reading
Zuckerberg denies knowledge of Facebook shadow profiles
TechCrunch: “The fact that Facebook probably has a profile of you whether you’re a Facebook user or not might come as a surprise to some users, though today even the company’s chief executive denied knowledge of the practice — or at least the term used to describe it. In the [April 11, 2018] hearing with… Continue Reading
K-12 Education: Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities
K-12 Education: Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities GAO-18-258: Published: Mar 22, 2018. Publicly Released: Apr 4, 2018. “Black students, boys, and students with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) in K-12 public schools, according to GAO’s analysis of Department of Education (Education) national civil rights data for school… Continue Reading
5 facts about Americans and Facebook
“Facebook is in the national spotlight this week as its co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, testifies before Congress. Zuckerberg is expected to face questions from lawmakers over the company’s recent disclosure that data on up to 87 million of its users may have been improperly shared with a political consulting firm during the 2016… Continue Reading
Major web browsers will support web-based fingerprint, facial authentication
“The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the entity that maintains the standards used across the internet, said on Monday, April 9, that Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla signed on to support web-based technology for biometric authentication. In other words, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox will soon support signing into online accounts using fingerprint scanners, voice authentication, facial recognition,… Continue Reading
IFLA Provides Input on the Challenges to Right of Privacy in the Digital Age
“The Human Rights Council adopted resolution 34/7 on March 23, 2017, on “the right to privacy in the digital age”. This contained two follow-up steps: organize an expert workshop on the topic and to prepare a report. The intent was to identify principles, standards and define best practices regarding the promotion and protection of the… Continue Reading
GAO – Assessment Methodology for Economic Analysis
Assessment Methodology for Economic Analysis GAO-18-151SP: Published: Apr 10, 2018. Publicly Released: Apr 10, 2018. “GAO identifies five key methodological elements to the baseline structure of an economic analysis: Objective and scope, Methodology, Analysis of effects, Transparency and Documentation. GAO’s assessment methodology evaluates each key element and provides an overall assessment based on the assessment… Continue Reading
