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

Daily Archives: October 16, 2018

FBI Releases Article on Defending Against Payroll Phishing Scams

US-CERT: “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released an article on building a digital defense against phishing scams targeting electronically deposited paychecks. In these schemes, scammers use phishing emails to direct employees to fraudulent websites and collect their work credentials. Scammers then use victims’ credentials to replace legitimate direct deposit information with their own account details. NCCIC encourages users to review the FBI Article and NCCIC Tip on Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more information. If you believe you have been a victim of these scams, report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.” [h/t Pete Weiss]

Are you using DuckDuckGo?

Via their Twitter feed: “DuckDuckGo fun fact: it took us seven years to reach 10 million private searches in one day, then another two years to hit 20 million, and now less than a year later we’re at 30 million! Thank you all.” [We are the Internet privacy company that lets you take control of… Continue Reading

Federal Reserve Payments Study finds U.S. payments fraud a small but growing fraction of overall payments

Changes in U.S. Payments Fraud from 2012 to 2016: Evidence from the Federal Reserve Payments Study. October 2018: “The value of fraudulent noncash payments in the United States rose significantly between 2012 and 2015–outpacing growth in noncash payments overall, according to a new report based on Federal Reserve Payments Study data. The study’s survey of… Continue Reading

Faced with daily barrage of news, college students find it hard to tell what’s real and what’s ‘fake news’

“College students turn to their peers and online versions of trusted newspapers for news at least twice as often as they do to print publications, TV, or podcasts. Those who get their news on social media turn to Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube more often than Twitter. And nine out of ten college students get their… Continue Reading

From Canada to Argentina, Security Researchers Have Rights—Our New Report

“EFF is introducing a new Coders’ Rights project to connect the work of security research with the fundamental rights of its practitioners throughout the Americas. The project seeks to support the right of free expression that lies at the heart of researchers’ creations and use of computer code to examine computer systems, and relay their… Continue Reading

Quickly Understand Complicated Ballot Initiatives in Your State Using This Site

lifehacker: “If the past few years have taught us as a nation nothing, it’s that we all should not only vote, but be informed about what we’re voting about. With all the information out there, figuring out what every item on the ballot means can be a daunting proposition. Vote Save America has created explainers… Continue Reading

‘Do Not Track,’ the Privacy Tool Used by Millions of People, Doesn’t Do Anything

Gizmodo: “When you go into the privacy settings on your browser, there’s a little option there to turn on the “Do Not Track” function, which will send an invisible request on your behalf to all the websites you visit telling them not to track you. A reasonable person might think that enabling it will stop… Continue Reading

Slack Doesn’t Have End-to-End Encryption Because Your Boss Doesn’t Want It

Motherboard: A former Slack employee and the company’s current chief information security officer say that Slack’s paying customers aren’t that interested in end-to-end encryption. “End-to-end encryption—where keys are stored on individual devices by users, meaning only the intended recipients can read message content—is continuing to spread across messaging platforms. But work communication service Slack has… Continue Reading

Political Lawyering for the 21st Century

Archer, Deborah N., Political Lawyering for the 21st Century (April 18, 2018). Denver Law Review (Forthcoming). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3164868 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3164868 “Legal education purports to prepare the next generation of lawyers capable of tackling the urgent and complex social justice challenges of our time. But law schools are failing in that public promise. Clinical… Continue Reading