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Category Archives: Legal Research

The Powerful AI Tool That Cops (or Stalkers) Can Use to Geolocate Photos in Seconds

404 Media: “A powerful AI tool can predict with high accuracy the location of photos based on features inside the image itself—such as vegetation, architecture, and the distance between buildings—in seconds, with the company now marketing the tool to law enforcement officers and government agencies. Called GeoSpy, made by a firm called Graylark Technologies out… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 18, 2025

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 18, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on… Continue Reading

FTC Surveillance Pricing Study – Wide Range of Personal Data Used to Set Individualized Consumer Prices

“The agency details interim insights from staff perspective examining how companies track consumer behaviors to inform surveillance pricing. The Federal Trade Commission’s initial findings from its surveillance pricing market study revealed that details like a person’s precise location or browser history can be frequently used to target individual consumers with different prices for the same… Continue Reading

Protecting Your Home From Wildfire

California Chaparral Institute: Please download our comprehensive booklet on wildfire safety that explains how you can take control of saving your home. From The House Outward – Protecting your Home From Wildfire THE 3 FACTORS 1. Flying embers ignite most homes, because most homes are flammable. 2. It’s not the wildland vegetation, it’s the location.… Continue Reading

The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants

Google DeepMind – “First, because LLMs display immense modeling power, there is a risk that the model weights encode private information present in the training corpus. In particular, it is possible for LLMs to ‘memorise’ personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, addresses and telephone numbers, and subsequently leak such information through generated text outputs… Continue Reading

Map: How big are the LA fires? Use this tool to overlay them atop where you live

CalMatters is joining with our public media partners at PBS SoCal, LAist and KCRW to bring you reliable, essential, free information to support people affected by the wildfires and keep all Californians up to date. Sign up for the Daily Wildfire Updates newsletter. “The fires sweeping across Los Angeles County for the past week have… Continue Reading

FBI Warned Agents It Believes Phone Logs Hacked Last Year

Bloomberg  [unpaywalled] – “FBI leaders have warned that they believe hackers who broke into AT&T Inc.’s system last year stole months of their agents’ call and text logs, setting off a race within the bureau to protect the identities of confidential informants, a document reviewed by Bloomberg News shows. FBI officials told agents across the… Continue Reading

Toyota exposed as major funder of climate change deniers

Raw Story: “Nearly three decades after its introduction, the hybrid Toyota Prius is still associated with environmental action and the scientific consensus that fossil fuel emissions, including those from vehicles, must be reduced to avoid the worst effects of planetary heating. But a Tuesday report from watchdog group Public Citizen reveals how Toyota has spent… Continue Reading

FTC Finalizes Order Prohibiting Gravy Analytics, Venntel from Selling Sensitive Location Data

“The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order prohibiting Gravy Analytics and its subsidiary Venntel from unlawfully tracking and selling sensitive location data from users, including data about consumers’ visits to health-related locations and places of worship. In a complaint first announced last month, the FTC alleged that Gravy and Venntel violated the FTC Act by unfairly… Continue Reading

Fluoride in water: A research roundup and reporting tip sheet

The Journalist’s Resource: “Several U.S. communities are debating whether to remove fluoride from their water supplies in the wake of comments by President-elect Trump’s Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who called the mineral an “industrial waste,” looking to remove it from water systems across the nation once Trump takes office. Local… Continue Reading

NSA Warns iPhone And Android Users – Disable Location Tracking

Forbes: “…NSA warns that “mobile devices store and share device geolocation data by design…Location data can be extremely valuable and must be protected. It can reveal details about the number of users in a location, user and supply movements, daily routines (user and organizational), and can expose otherwise unknown associations between users and locations.” EFF:… Continue Reading

When Do Parties Lie? Misinformation and Radical-Right Populism Across 26 Countries

Törnberg, P., & Chueri, J. (2025). When Do Parties Lie? Misinformation and Radical-Right Populism Across 26 Countries. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241311886 “The spread of misinformation has emerged as a global concern. Academic attention has recently shifted to emphasize the role of political elites as drivers of misinformation. Yet, little is known of… Continue Reading