Ars Technica – Phone calls. Web searches. Location tracks. Smart speaker requests. “…Data collected for one purpose can always be used for another. Search history data, for example, is collected to refine recommendation algorithms or build online profiles, not to catch criminals. Usually. Smart devices like speakers, TVs, and wearables keep such precise details of… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Search Engines
Congress.gov New, Tip, and Top 20 in 2020
In Custodia Legis – “Earlier this month, Margaret shared the enhancements to the Congress.gov Help Center and additional Congresses added to our Bound Congressional Record collection. One of the behind-the-scenes items that we worked on for the latest release was to prepare Congress.gov for the new 117th Congress. We also have been working to make… Continue Reading
Microsoft Edge Browser – New and Improved
Via LLRX – Microsoft Edge Browser – New and Improved – Catherine (Sanders) Reach has run the latest version of Microsoft Edge through its paces, and identifies the browser’s useful features (including security and privacy) and collaborative tools that make it worthy of your review and perhaps – switching from Chrome. Continue Reading
Google Search Redirects Readers From Local Outlets: Study
Gizmodo – “When we ask who should take the rap for the decline of local news, most folks agree the blame partially lies on Google’s shoulders. The tech giant has spent the past decade systematically swallowing a larger and larger chunk of the digital ad market, diverting the dollars that outlets—particularly smaller outlets—desperately need. That’s… Continue Reading
YouTube’s Copyright Filter Is Crushing Video Critique And It’s Getting Worse
Gizmodo – “YouTube’s copyright filter is a labyrinthine nightmare called Content ID. Content ID works by scanning all the videos on YouTube and comparing them to a database of material submitted by copyright holders—often music labels and movie and TV studios—which have been given the ability to add things to the database by YouTube. Once… Continue Reading
Google Faces Two Additional Antitrust Suits
EPIC – [week of December 14, 2020]: “Two antitrust lawsuits were filed against Google by state Attorneys General. On Wednesday, Texas and eight other states filed a suit alleging anticompetitive conduct, exclusionary practices and deceptive misrepresentations in connection with Google’s role in advertising technology. “Google’s entire business model is to collect comprehensive data about every… Continue Reading
LC – New “Past Presentations” Webpage in Legal Research Institute
In Custodia Legis – [December 15, 2020] marks the last webinar of 2020 for the Law Library, but don’t fear! We have created a new webpage so that you will be able to enjoy a selection of our past presentations again and again! We have expanded our previous “webinar archive” to include many of our… Continue Reading
Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources
CRS report via LC – Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, Updated December 16, 2020: “USAspending.gov, available at https://www.USAspending.gov, is a government source for data on federal awards by state, congressional district (CD), county, city, and zip code. The awards data in USAspending.gov are provided by federal agencies and represent contracts, grants, loans,… Continue Reading
Introducing the Open Library Explorer
Open Library Blog: “At the Library Leaders Forum 2020 (demo), Open Library unveiled the beta for what it’s calling the Explorer: an immersive digital library which powerfully recreates and enhances the experience of navigating a physical library. If the tagline doesn’t grab your attention, wait until you see it in action. Get Ready to Explore… Continue Reading
Your guide to every Google app’s privacy settings
Popular Science – You have the power to limit Google’s snooping. “It’s difficult to avoid Google apps, but using them doesn’t necessarily mean handing over all your data and online activity to the tech giant—you can still work within the Google ecosystem while maintaining a respectable level of privacy. Your options vary depending on the… Continue Reading
Google Adds Knowledge Panels in Search Results for Covid-19 Vaccines to Counter Misinformation
Gizmodo: “Google plans to counter vaccine conspiracy theories and misinformation by tacking on new knowledge panels to search results when people look up information about covid-19 vaccines. The feature’s launching first in the UK, where health authorities began rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine—the first of its kind approved in the West—this week. Google intends to… Continue Reading
Block specific websites in Google Search and other search engines with the uBlacklist extension for Firefox and Chrome
ghacks: “One of the biggest problems with search engines is their accuracy. Google is good for the most part, but sometimes you may find that the results are irrelevant, clickbait, and generally not what you were looking for. There are a few ways to tailor the result settings to your needs. Maybe you dislike a… Continue Reading
