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Monthly Archives: August 2021

Academic and Scholar Search Engines and Sources 2021

Via LLRXAcademic and Scholar Search Engines and Sources 2021Marcus P. Zillman’s new guide provides a wealth of information to enhance your efforts in conducting expert research on a wide range of subject matters. The guide is also another reminder that Google should not be your go-to subject search engine by demonstrating how choosing to use reliable topic specific sources can deliver greater scope, breath and depth of information for your analysis and reporting. These sites include metasearch, semantic and Deep Web search, with many sources offering advanced search functionality, unique and comprehensive data sets and repositories, dashboards and tools from around the world, all of which are updated and curated effectively and consistently. These sources represent the work of academic, government, consortium, firms and industry.

How to block Facebook from snooping on you

Washington Post: “Seven steps you can take to keep Facebook and Instagram from gathering so much of your personal information outside of their apps. If you ever get that eerie feeling Facebook or Instagram are listening to you, you’re not entirely hallucinating. Facebook says it’s not literally activating the microphones on our smartphones, but it… Continue Reading

Schools closing due to COVID: Track district updates as delta variant surges

Fast Company: “The new school year is beginning to look like the old one. With the delta variant of COVID-19 still raging, school districts across the country are facing outbreaks in their communities, and many are closing their physical classrooms just days or weeks into the school year. District Administration, a trade publication for K-12… Continue Reading

Data Brokers Know Where You Are and Want to Sell That Intel

Wired: “These firms could track whether you’ve visited your therapist’s office or your ex’s house. And without regulation, they’re a threat to democracy…In a new report for the Cyber Policy Program at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, I surveyed 10 major data brokers and the sensitive data they advertise. They openly and explicitly… Continue Reading

Why are hyperlinks blue?

distilled: “The internet has ingrained itself into every aspect of our lives, but there’s one aspect of the digital world that I bet you take for granted. Did you ever notice that many links, specifically hyperlinks, are blue? When a co-worker casually asked me why links are blue, I was stumped. As a user experience… Continue Reading

Copyright Office Releases Report on Sovereign Immunity in Copyright Infringement Cases

“August 31, 2021 the U.S. Copyright Office released a report entitled Copyright and State Sovereign Immunity. The report marks the completion of a study conducted by the Office in response to an April 2020 request by Senators Thom Tillis and Patrick Leahy following the Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Cooper. In that case, the… Continue Reading

RIP cloth masks? Why airlines and governments are banning them

Fast Company: “Many airlines now ban fabric masks on flights. Last week, Finnair was the latest to adopt this policy, joining Air France, Lufthansa, Swissair, Croatia Airlines, and LATAM Airlines in announcing that passengers would not be allowed to wear cloth masks on flights. The reason? “Fabric masks are slightly less efficient at protecting people… Continue Reading

Edelman Trust Barometer 2021

“After a year of unprecedented disaster and turbulence – the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis, the global outcry over systemic racism and political instability – the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world. Adding to this is a failing trust ecosystem unable… Continue Reading

Partisan divides in media trust widen, driven by a decline among Republicans

“In just five years, the percentage of Republicans with at least some trust in national news organizations has been cut in half – dropping from 70% in 2016 to 35% this year. This decline is fueling the continued widening of the partisan gap in trust of the media. Nearly eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (78%)… Continue Reading

EPIC Obtains Documents About DC’s Use of Automated ‘Risk Scores’ for Public Benefit Recipients

“EPIC, through a freedom of information request, has obtained new records about the D.C. Department of Human Services’ use of automated systems to track and assign “risk score[s]” to recipients of public benefits. The documents show that DCDHS has contracted with Pondera, a Thomson Reuters subsidiary, for case management software and a tool known as… Continue Reading

Scholarly Impact of Law School Faculties in 2021: Updating the Leiter Score Ranking for the Top Third

Sisk, Gregory C. and Catlin, Nicole and Anderson, Alexandra and Gunderson, Lauren, Scholarly Impact of Law School Faculties in 2021: Updating the Leiter Score Ranking for the Top Third (2021). U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3910536 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3910536 “This updated 2021 study explores the scholarly impact of… Continue Reading