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

Monthly Archives: December 2018

Nearly 75% Of Coastal States Aren’t Prepared For Sea Level Rise

Forbes: “…As climate change progresses, storms will increase in strength,  sea levels will rise more rapidly, U.S. coasts will flood more frequently, and shoreline properties will disappear. Each year, $500 million worth of coastal structures are lost as coastlines disappear. The federal government spends nearly $150 million each year to manage the loss of beaches and coastal real estate. Two-thirds of… Continue Reading

How to Delete Online Accounts You No Longer Need

Consumer Reports – Having too many digital accounts raises your risk of data being misused or stolen. Here’s how to clean house. By Thomas Germain. December 27, 2018 [h/t Pete Weiss] “Deleting online accounts is one of the best ways to protect your data security and privacy. The less data you have stored on corporate databases… Continue Reading

Plastic Water Bottles, Which Enabled a Drinks Boom, Now Threaten a Crisis

WSJ (paywall) – Facing a consumer backlash and stricter regulation, companies are trying to do what’s eluded them for years: make a better bottle: “ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, France— A consumer backlash against disposable plastic plus new government mandates and bans in places such as zoos and department stores have the world’s biggest bottled-water makers scrambling to find… Continue Reading

Dante’s Inferno Illustrated Interactive Learning Tool

“The illustrated and interactive Dante’s Inferno, an alternative learning tool for the Divine Comedy first Cantica, made for aiding visual memory. The printed version and this digital version of the Dante’s Inferno have been developed to be a synsemic access point to Dante’s literature, aiding its study. The work is based on the anthology “Testi… Continue Reading

Dr. Google Is a Liar. Fake medical news threatens our lives.

The New York Times – Dr. Google Is a Liar. Fake news threatens our democracy. Fake medical news threatens our lives: “…While misinformation has been the object of great attention in politics, medical misinformation might have an even greater body count. As is true with fake news in general, medical lies tend to spread further… Continue Reading

IRS wants to use social media to catch tax cheats

Quartz: “The Internal Revenue Service is looking for ways to scour social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in its ongoing quest to catch tax cheats. That’s according to a request for information issued December 18 by the IRS’s National Office of Procurement. The mining of social media data by the agency has been… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 2018

Before the end of 2018, please take some time to catch-up with the cyber related updates provided by Pete Weiss every week on LLRX. Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational… Continue Reading

An Interview with UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye

Digital Rights Monitor: “The latest 2018 Freedom House report presents a dismal picture of internet freedom. Out of 65 countries studied for the report, internet freedom deteriorated in 26 countries including United States of America. The study also noted that more than a dozen countries were putting in place restrictive measures in the name of… Continue Reading

Bill Sets the ‘Strongest Clean Energy Requirement in the Nation

CityLab – “Washington, D.C. is positioning itself on the climate policy fast track. The District of Columbia city council voted unanimously last week to approve an expansive climate bill requiring utility providers to generate 100 percent of their energy supply from renewable sources by 2032. If D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signs the legislation as expected,… Continue Reading

How private equity firms are fueling the housing crisis

New York Magazine – Intelligencer: “Nationwide, single-family homes — white-picketed symbols of the American Dream — are increasingly owned by far-flung investors, with the percentage held by landlords growing from 13 percent nationally to 17 percent between 2008 and 2016, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. These homes are offered to local residents… Continue Reading