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Category Archives: Legislation

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 14, 2021

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 14, 2021 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading

The Digital Divide: What Is It, Where Is It, and Federal Assistance Programs

CRS – The Digital Divide: What Is It, Where Is It, and Federal Assistance Programs, March 09, 2021: “As the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began to unfold, many federal, local, and state governments, in addition to large and small businesses, implemented remote working or distance learning options to help abate the spread of the… Continue Reading

Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.

Washington Post – “…Librarians have been no match for the beast. When authors sign up with a publisher, it decides how to distribute their work. With other big publishers, selling e-books and audiobooks to libraries is part of the mix — that’s why you’re able to digitally check out bestsellers like Barack Obama’s “A Promised… Continue Reading

Everything to know about the third stimulus check: Timeline, IRS calculations and more

CNET – “A third stimulus check for up to $1,400 per person could become real this week, as Congress works to finish up the final COVID-19 relief package and get to the President Joe Biden to sign in the coming days. While there’s an outside chance details on the new stimulus payment could change before the… Continue Reading

America, Your Privacy Settings Are All Wrong

The New York Times Editorial Board – Using an opt-in approach will help curb the excesses of Big Tech. “Despite what corporations profess, much of this personal data is used not to improve products themselves, but to make those products more attractive to advertisers. One straightforward solution is to let people opt in to data… Continue Reading

Levin, Senator Jack Reed Introduce Legislation to Modernize Library Infrastructure

Rep. Andy Levin: “[On March 3, 2021], Congressman Andy Levin (D-MI) teamed up with Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) to introduce the House companion of S.127, the Build America’s Libraries Act, which provides long-term improvements to library facilities and updates library infrastructure, prioritizing libraries in predominantly low-income and underserved communities. The Build America’s Libraries Act authorizes… Continue Reading

Interim National Security Strategic Guidance

On March 3, 2021 “the Administration released the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, attached. This interim guidance has been issued to convey President Biden’s vision for how America will engage with the world, and to provide guidance for departments and agencies to align their actions as the Administration begins work on a National Security Strategy.”… Continue Reading

CRS – Banking Policy Issues in the 117th Congress

Banking Policy Issues in the 117th Congress, March 2, 2021: “Over the past 14 years, banking has experienced significant events and changes and has regularly been the subject of policymaker initiatives and debates. In response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, Congress—primarily through the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act; P.L.… Continue Reading

Zombie Laws

Wasserman, Howard, Zombie Laws (February 2, 2021). Florida International University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 21-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3778122 “Zombie laws” are the statutory remainder from constitutional litigation. Neither a judicial declaration of constitutional invalidity nor an injunction prohibiting enforcement removes or erases a challenged law from the books. The court stops the defendant… Continue Reading

Accidental Wiretaps: The Implications of False Positives By Always-Listening Devices For Privacy Law & Policy

Barrett, Lindsey and Liccardi, Ilaria, Accidental Wiretaps: The Implications of False Positives By Always-Listening Devices For Privacy Law & Policy (February 8, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3781867 “Always-listening devices like smart speakers, smartphones, and other voice-activated technologies create enough privacy problems when working correctly. But these devices can also misinterpret what they hear, and thus… Continue Reading

The Little Magazine That Incubated Team Biden

The New York Times: “It has only 500 subscribers. And yet Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, a 15-year-old quarterly run by a three-person staff out of a small office blocks from the White House, may be one of the most influential publications of the post-Trump era. Six of President Biden’s 25 Cabinet-level officials and appointees,… Continue Reading