Via LLRX.com – Vermont’s Legislature is Considering Support for Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts: Bitcoin is a significant disruptive technology with a growing impact on the financial sector and legal sectors, around the world. Alan Rothman expertly educates us on new legislation from Vermont that is intended to move the state towards using blockchain technology… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Legislation
Washington Post will publish all stories on Facebook
WSJ.com By Lukas I. Alpert – “While most publishers have been planning to post a trickle of stories on Facebook Inc. ’s Instant Articles platform, the Washington Post intends to go straight to a fire hose. The paper said Tuesday it will publish 100% of the stories that go on its website to Instant Articles. That… Continue Reading
ACLU – Capitol Hill staffers should be able to make encrypted calls, send secure text messages
“Today, the ACLU sent a letter to both the House and Senate, urging them to provide secure voice and text messaging capabilities to Members and their staff. (The Washington Post writes about our letter today. In recent years, computer security researchers have warned about the poor security of cellular networks, which in many cases use… Continue Reading
Union List of Legislative Histories
[Via Rick McKinney, Assistant Law Librarian, Federal Reserve Board Law Library, Washington, DC] “For several decades the Legislative Research Special Interest Section of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. published a Union List of Legislative Histories. The most recent edition is the 7th edition published in loose-leaf in the year 2000 and accompanied by a… Continue Reading
DOJ Policy Guidance – Use of Cell-Sites Simulator Technology
Department of Justice Guidance – Use of Cell-Sites Simulator Technology, September 3, 2015 “Cell-site simulator technology provides valuable assistance in support of important public safety objectives.Whether deployed as part of a fugitive apprehension effort , a complex narcotics investigation, or to locate or rescue a kidnapped child, cell-site simulators fulfill critical operational needs. As with… Continue Reading
EPA, California Notify Volkswagen of Clean Air Act Violations
News release: “[September 19, 2015], EPA is issuing a notice of violation (NOV) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (collectively referred to as Volkswagen). The NOV alleges that four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents EPA emissions… Continue Reading
Federal Court Invalidates 11-Year-old FBI gag order on National Security Letter recipient Nicholas Merrill
Calyx Institute: “A federal district court has ordered the FBI to lift an eleven-year- old gag order imposed on Nicholas Merrill [document is redacted] forbidding him from speaking about a National Security Letter (“NSL”) that the FBI served on him in 2004. The ruling marks the first time that an NSL gag order has been… Continue Reading
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Commercial Outlook for a New Industry
CRS – Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Commercial Outlook for a New Industry. Bill Canis, Specialist in Industrial Organization and Business, September 9, 2015. “Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) — commonly referred to as drones — have become a staple of U.S. military reconnaissance and weapons delivery in overseas war zones such as Afghanistan. Now some new… Continue Reading
USA.gov resources on voting, political candidates and parties
“With the 2016 Presidential Election a little over a year away, do you know how to research presidential candidates and their political parties? On The Issues [Every Political Leader on Every Issue] has a complete list of all the current presidential candidates and includes their views on issues important to constituents across the United States. For… Continue Reading
Pew Survey – Americans believe GMOs unsafe
“The debate over the safety of genetically modified foods has put state lawmakers who favor requiring labeling of these products at odds with counterparts in Congress who oppose it. Americans’ concerns about GM foods are providing the backdrop: A majority of them believe such foods are generally unsafe to eat.The House last month passed a… Continue Reading
NH Public Library retracts access to TOR after DHS intervention
techdirt – First Library To Support Tor Anonymous Internet Browsing Effort Stops After DHS Email – “Since Edward Snowden exposed the extent of online surveillance by the U.S. government, there has been a surge of initiatives to protect users’ privacy. But it hasn’t taken long for one of these efforts — a project to equip… Continue Reading
World Bank Group – Women, Business and the Law 2016
News release: “The world’s high-income economies boast wide-ranging laws to promote women’s economic advancement, but more needs to be done to protect them against violence, says the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2016 report, released today. Just over half of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) economies have laws that… Continue Reading
