Harvard's Drew Gilpin Faust says history should make us uncomfortable; Fresh Air, NPR, August 22, 2023

 Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR; Harvard's Drew Gilpin Faust says history should make us uncomfortable

"Drew Gilpin Faust is known as a historian, a civil rights activist and the first woman president of Harvard — but she was groomed to become a proper Southern lady...

Faust's new memoir, Necessary Trouble, takes its name from a quote by the late Rep. John Lewis, who Faust knew and approved of using his words. The book is about growing up in Virginia and coming of age during a period of rapid social transformation...

On the mischaracterization of slavery included in Florida's new standards of Black history education, proposed under Gov. Ron DeSantis

It's preposterous and it's extremely distressing. It's a complete distortion of the past, which is undertaken in service of the present, of minimizing racial issues in the present by saying everything's been "just great" for four centuries. Slavery was not "just great." It was oppressive. It was cruel. It involved exploitation of every sort, physical violence, sexual exploitation. We know that we have pieces of paper where slave owners wrote it down. I did a biography of a South Carolina planter who recorded in detail what his mastery of slaves entailed. And there are dozens and dozens and dozens of studies that show this...

On the notion that students shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable about history

It's a betrayal of the commitment to truth and to fact. And it so undermines the ability of people in the present to understand who they are. How do we have history that's not uncomfortable? How do we have any kind of education that doesn't make you in some way uncomfortable? Education asks you to change. The headmistress of my girls school many years ago said to us, "Have the courage to be disturbed, to learn about the Holocaust and see what evil can mean, to learn about slavery and think about exploitation that is empowered by an ideology of race that we haven't entirely dismantled. Understand what people did in the past so that you can, in the present, better critique your own assumptions, your own blindnesses, and make a world that's a better world." If we don't acknowledge those realities, we are disempowered as human beings."

AI Is Being Used to Ban Books From School Libraries; Gizmodo, August 15, 2023

 Mack DeGeurin, Gizmodo; AI Is Being Used to Ban Books From School Libraries

"You can add regressive academic censorship to the list of unintended use cases for ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence models. In Iowa, a school district reportedly deployed AI software to identify and remove 19 books in order to comply with legislation prohibiting titles with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” from school libraries. The law has already led to the hasty removal of crucial 20th-century literary classics like Maya Angelou’s Where the Caged Bird Sings, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, among others. AI models scanned libraries’ books for sexual content and flagged them to administrators.

The Mason City Community School District, according to local paper, The Gazette, reportedly used an unnamed AI software to scan school library books ahead of the 2023-2024 academic year. Board members reportedly compiled a list of “commonly challenged books” and used the AI system to scan the list for supposed sexual content. Those flagged books were then removed from 7-12th grade school library collections and “stored in the Administrative Center.” These 19 books were removed following the AI analysis, according to The Gazette."

‘It’s a small number of people who are very loud’: Local libraries grapple with book challenges, bans; TribLive, August 22, 2023

QUINCEY REESE , TribLive; ‘It’s a small number of people who are very loud’: Local libraries grapple with book challenges, bans

"“It’s a small number of people who are very loud,” Coronado said.

In accordance with the library’s reconsideration policy, Coronado and other library staff members review all challenges that are brought to them and determine the best course of action, which could be moving a book to a new section, removing a book entirely or keeping it at its spot on the shelves.

“My role is to listen, no matter what the (patron) is saying,” Coronado said...

“We’re caught in the crossfire here, but we stick to our tenets,” Riegner said. “We live in a democratic society. We try to provide materials for all walks of life.”

Riegner acknowledged that patrons will inevitably disapprove of some content in the library.

“Some people may like (our book selections). Some people may not like them,” Riegner said. “We’re a public institution, so we will expect complaints from time to time.”

For Beth Mellor, listening to these complaints is essential.

“Our libraries are community-­facing,” said Mellor, director of Oakmont Carnegie Library. “When you are dealing with children, it is so important that you know what’s going on and that you listen.”"

Saline County Quorum Court vote to pass ordinance, allows county judge to oversee county library board; KATV ABC7, August 22, 2023

 KATV ABC7 ; Saline County Quorum Court vote to pass ordinance, allows county judge to oversee county library board

"The Saline County Quorum Court voted to pass an ordinance in an 11 to 2 vote on Monday that gave county judge Matt Brumley authority over the county library board.

Before that court made its final vote after a third reading, the public provided their final comments in hopes of steering the decision one way or the other...

According to the ordinance, prior to the adoption of any rules, policies, procedures, or regulations under article seven, the board shall submit the proposals to the Saline County judge for viewing.

It also states that the board shall have the final authority to adopt or amend any rules, policies, procedures, or regulations subject to all applicable state and local laws."

When is it OK to lie?; NPR, August 22, 2023

 Frank Festa, NPR; When is it OK to lie?

"Knowing when a friend or loved one is seeking honest feedback can be difficult. The best way to find out is to ask them what they need — do they want your opinion? Or do they want you to listen to them vent?"

'The ghosts are not happy': 2 Fall River businesses clash over use of Lizzie Borden name; The Herald News, August 21, 2023

 Audrey Cooney, The Herald News; 'The ghosts are not happy': 2 Fall River businesses clash over use of Lizzie Borden name

"Zaal’s company US Ghost Adventures, which operates ghost tours in dozens of cities across the U.S., bought the house in 2021.

Miss Lizzie’s Coffee opened two weeks ago, on the anniversary of the Borden murders. The Lizzie-themed coffee shop features bloody axes in the decor and other nods to the slayings, like a "Lizspresso" menu item. Owner Joe Pereira bills it as "the most haunted coffee shop in the world."

Now, Zaal says the coffee shop violates his intellectual property."

The Book Banners and I Have One Thing in Common; The New York Times, August 14, 2023

Garret Keizer, The New York Times; The Book Banners and I Have One Thing in Common

"More than half a century has passed since I graduated from high school, an eon in digital time, but the project to remove books from schools and libraries was almost as hot an issue then as it is now. Even classics can go out of print, but the war on books is never out of style.

I was as opposed to that war at the age of 17 as I am at age 70. But there’s something I failed to see in my youth that I recognize today: the one piece of common ground between the book banners and me. We both believe that books matter, that they have the power to change a young person’s life. Like it or not, we belong to the same minority, the minority of those who believe in the power of literature in a post-literate age."

The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco.; The New York Times, August 13, 2023

 David Streitfeld, The New York Times; The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco.

"In the middle of this mess are writers, whose job is to produce the books that contain much of the world’s best information. Despite that central role, they are largely powerless — a familiar position for most writers. Emotions are running high...

It’s rarely this nasty, but free vs. expensive is a struggle that plays out continuously against all forms of media and entertainment. Neither side has the upper hand forever, even if it sometimes seems it might.

“The more information is free, the more opportunities for it to be collected, refined, packaged and made expensive,” said Stewart Brand, the technology visionary who first developed the formulation. “The more it is expensive, the more workarounds to make it free. It’s a paradox. Each side makes the other true.”"

‘Knowledge is power’: new app helps US teens read books banned in school; The Guardian, August 16, 2023

 Olivia Empson, The Guardian; ‘Knowledge is power’: new app helps US teens read books banned in school

"A recent PEN America study found that the bans were most prevalent this year in Florida, Texas, Utah, Missouri and South Carolina.

Consistently, these bans target materials written by and about people of color or LGBTQ+ individuals, and even though a 2022 poll found that 70% of parents oppose them, they are continuing at a rapid rate.

Now the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is trying to fight back. It recently launched the Banned Book Program, granting free nationwide access to books restricted in schools or libraries.

It functions through GPS-based geo-targeting; by typing in your zip code, you are shown the complete list of titles prohibited in your area. Once you download the Palace e-reader app, these books are available to download.

“Saying ‘Just to go to the library’ is no longer a stable alternative to having these books in schools,” Jen said. “Some kids don’t have supportive parents or live near public transport. The DPLA has created a resource that will benefit so many.”"

AI is coming for your audiobooks. You’re right to be worried.; The Washington Post, August 16, 2023

Katherine A. Powers , The Washington Post; AI is coming for your audiobooks. You’re right to be worried.

"Apple’s narrators are cloned from the voices of professionals who have licensed the rights to their voices. Their identities are secret, but speculation abounds. It’s a touchy subject, and you can see why. Whether to sell the rights to one’s voice is an agonizing decision for a professional narrator. The money offered amounts to something like what a midrange narrator makes in four years; on the other hand, agreeing to the deal seems to many to be a betrayal of the profession, one that would risk alienating one’s peers.

According to Culp, narrators are alarmed by the advent of AI narration “as, naturally, it might mean less work for living, breathing narrators in the future."

Saudi LGBTQ refugees live in fear of being kidnapped; Index on Censorship: A Voice for the Persecuted, August 17, 2023

John Lubbock, Daisy Steinhardt and Max Colbert, Index on Censorship: A Voice for the Persecuted; Saudi LGBTQ refugees live in fear of being kidnapped 

"A note from the authors: The piece published below was originally written for and pitched to Vice World News, who wanted exclusive publishing rights for it. Subsequently, the piece was delayed for weeks on end, while the editorial staff informed us that this was because the publication maintained a team in Saudi Arabia and they were worried about safety. 

We were concerned privately that this could amount to a case of catch-and-kill, so asked to be released from the contract to find another publisher. We were then told from a senior executive that they still wanted to publish the piece, and that it would be out within the next two weeks following this discussion. After this period, we were let go from our contract, with the piece not being published and with no more concrete update as to the precise nature of the problem. Following that, the story behind our piece was among those picked up by the Guardian, as part of an investigation into a pattern of behaviour at Vice with regards to Saudi Arabia.

The resulting noise created by the publication of the Guardian article helped us make the connections and get enough attention to be able to help place this important piece instead with Index on Censorship...

These incidents contradict Saudi Arabia’s efforts to present itself as more progressive to the outside world, including by relaxing female guardianship laws and allowing women to drive. The Saudi tourism authority recently updated its website to claim that LGBTQ travellers would be welcome to visit the country."

Vice blocked an article criticising Saudi Arabia. This is why we published it instead; The Guardian, August 18, 2023

Jemimah Steinfeld , The Guardian; Vice blocked an article criticising Saudi Arabia. This is why we published it instead

"If you want proof Saudi Arabia is trying to improve its reputation, visit the website of the Saudi Tourism Authority. There you will find the Q&A section has recently been updated to state that LGBTQ visitors to the country are welcome. This from a country that executed five men for same-sex relationships just four years ago. The hubris is astonishing. And yet to directly challenge those contradictions isn’t easy, something John Lubbock, Daisy Steinhardt and Max Colbert recently learned.

As reported by the Guardian on Tuesday, the journalists had co-written an article for Vice World News, which looked at how LGBTQ Saudis face threats from their families and state authorities. It was commissioned after Vice signed a partnership deal with the MBC Group, a media company controlled by the Saudi government. The article’s publication was first delayed and eventually spiked. The reason given? To protect staff at Vice’s offices in Riyadh."

Ron DeSantis’ ethics chair either has to give that up or his $400,000 salary as Disney’s administrator, judge rules; Fortune, August 21, 2023

MIKE SCHNEIDER AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS , Fortune; Ron DeSantis’ ethics chair either has to give that up or his $400,000 salary as Disney’s administrator, judge rules

"The chair of Florida’s ethics commission has an ethics problem, but it’s due to working at The Mouse rather than being a rat.

Glen Gilzean, the new administrator of Walt Disney World’s governing district, can’t continue to work in his new job and chair the Florida Commission on Ethics at the same time since Florida law prohibits public employees from serving as members on the commission, according to a legal opinion issued Thursday...

“Maintaining the public employment is inconsistent with the requirements” of being a commission member, the opinion said."

Paying the price of truth: Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov won’t be silenced by Putin; The Guardian, August 20, 2023

Tim Adams, The Guardian ; Paying the price of truth: Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov won’t be silenced by Putin

"Smartphone footage of this event from April 2022 is the opening scene of a documentary film about the life of Muratov, which will be shown on Channel 4 at 10pm on Monday night. The film is called The Price of Truth, and if you were ever in doubt about the human cost of publishing factual news in a time of war and repression, then Muratov’s career establishes it in frank detail.

I spoke to Muratov last week, by Zoom in the office of the newspaper he has edited for 30 years, Novaya Gazeta, standard bearer for the glasnost and perestroika of its founding patron, Mikhail Gorbachev. None of those years have been without challenge and trauma. The photographs of six Novaya Gazeta journalists murdered in the course of their work are on the wall above Muratov’s desk. But even so, he suggested to me, this last year has been the worst.

“All non-state media [including his paper] has been closed,” he says. “Hundreds of thousands of web pages have been blocked.” Government propaganda, he suggests, spreads “like radiation” into every home. “There is no one to control power in Russia, and our society hasn’t understood that yet.”"

‘There won’t be libraries left’: how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US; The Guardian, August 19, 2023

Jordan Blumetti , The Guardian; ‘There won’t be libraries left’: how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US

"Clay county has become a flashpoint in the state of Florida on the topic of book challenges. According to recent tallies, more than 175 books have been permanently removed from its public school libraries – a number which ranks among the highest of any county in the US – and hundreds more remain unavailable to students due to a policy unique to the county, requiring that books are pulled from shelves as soon as a challenge form is filed with the school district. Conservative activists from two organizations have seized on that policy, often filing multiple challenge forms at a time, which inundates the systems and committees that process the claims.

“The biggest issue facing Clay county right now is the backlog of challenges and the huge political divide that’s driving it. No other county is dealing with a similar problem,” says Jen Cousins, co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) and a mother of four. “They’re creating fake outrage over what’s available in libraries.”"

Russia shuts down human rights group that preserved the legacy of Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov; AP, August 18, 2023

 JIM HEINTZ, AP; Russia shuts down human rights group that preserved the legacy of Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov

"Separate Russian courts on Friday ordered the liquidation of a human rights organization that preserved the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and the arrest of a prominent election monitor, in the latest moves in a widespread crackdown on dissent. 

Sakharov, who died in 1989, was a key figure in developing the Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb program but later become renowned for his activism in promoting human rights and freedom of conscience. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1975 but was not allowed to travel to Norway to receive it. In 1980 he was sent into internal exile, which lasted six years.

The organization founded in his honor operated the Sakharov Center museum and archives in Moscow. Authorities declared it a “foreign agent” in 2014 and this year ordered the eviction of the center from its premises."

This is how the Smithsonian will reckon with our dark inheritance; The Washington Post, August 20, 2023

Lonnie G. Bunch III, The Washington Post;  This is how the Smithsonian will reckon with our dark inheritance

"As a historian, I have always felt that a full, unvarnished, honest telling of history is the only way for us to move forward as a people, as a nation and as institutions. All of us are profoundly shaped by the past, for good and for ill, and the Smithsonian — like so many other museums and universities — is grappling with a legacy once deemed acceptable but that is so clearly ethically wrong today.

The Post’s recent coverage regarding the human remains still housed in our collections is certainly illustrative of the Smithsonian’s darkest history. This is our inheritance, and we accept the responsibility to address these wrongs to the fullest extent possible."

Minnesota governor calls for an ethics code for presidential family members; NBC News, August 20, 2023

NBC News; Minnesota governor calls for an ethics code for presidential family members

"During an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) discusses Hunter Biden and the need for an ethics code for presidential family members."

Why is AMLO worried about an outsider? She’s funny, profane — and inspiring.; The Washington Post, August 20, 2023

 David Ignatius, The Washington Post; Why is AMLO worried about an outsider? She’s funny, profane — and inspiring.

"“Beware of what is happening in Mexico,” Gálvez warns me at the end of our conversation. “Our president is capable of anything. He has no limits.”

A chilling example of what frightens many Mexicans about López Obrador happened last Wednesday morning at the president’s office, a few miles from where I was talking to Gálvez.

At his regular morning news conference that day, reporters asked López Obrador about five young men from Jalisco who had disappeared a few days before. A horrific video had just surfaced that showed the five, friends since childhood, their bodies battered and bloody, with their mouths taped shut and their hands tied behind their backs. One victim was forced to bludgeon another with a brick and then decapitate him, before he was killed himself. Investigators later recovered their badly burned bodies. The governor of Jalisco said the murders were “clearly linked to organized crime.”

And what did the president say when reporters asked him to comment on this appalling crime? “Can’t hear,” said López Obrador, cupping his hand to his ear. He then told a crude joke about a poor Mexican man who pretended he couldn’t hear a question. And then he smiled and walked offstage."

Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business; The New York Times , August 15, 2023

Jeremy W. Peters  , The New York Times; Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business

"Some First Amendment advocates said the playbook was relatively easy to replicate: A public official unhappy with the coverage sues, creating crushing costs for an outlet."

Record Labels File $412 Million Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Internet Archive; Rolling Stone, August 12, 2023

  ALTHEA LEGASPI, Rolling Stone; Record Labels File $412 Million Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Internet Archive

"UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, Sony Music Entertainment, Capitol, and other record labels filed a copyright lawsuit on Friday against Internet Archive, founder Brewster Kahle, and others over the organization’s “Great 78 Project,” accusing them of behaving as an “illegal record store.” The suit lists 2,749 pre-1972 musical works available via Internet Archive by late artists, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby, among others.

The suit, which was filed in federal court and reviewed by Rolling Stone, claims the Internet Archive’s “Great 78 Project” — launched by Internet Archive as a community project for “the preservation, research and discovery of 78rpm records,” according to its blog — has violated copyright laws. By “transferring copies of those files to members of the public, Internet Archive has reproduced and distributed without authorization Plaintiffs’ protected sound recordings,” the suit alleges.

The nonprofit Internet Archive began in 1996, stating its mission is to “provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.” It purports to be a digital library that provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public. Its “Great 78 Project” follows suit; the community project dedicates itself to “the preservation, research and discovery of 78rpm records” per a post about the project. It provides free access to “over 400,000 recordings” as Internet Archive estimates in its post."

The plot thickens: The battle over books comes at a cost; NPR, August 11, 2023

 Tovia Smith, NPR; The plot thickens: The battle over books comes at a cost

"Polls suggest a majority of Americans oppose book restrictions, and want to protect intellectual freedom, as opposed to the smaller, but strident faction of conservatives who say they want protect kids from inappropriate content. They maintain they're not trying to ban books, they just want to move certain ones out of the children's and teen's sections, to ensure parental control over what kids are reading , and to make sure libraries are not "promoting explicit content" to minors."

ALA Announces Steps to Support LGBTQIA+ Library Workers; American Libraries, August 9, 2023

  American Libraries; ALA Announces Steps to Support LGBTQIA+ Library Workers

"Recognizing the urgency to address and combat discriminatory practices targeting library workers within the LGBTQIA+ community, ALA is taking proactive steps to support and protect LGBTQIA+ library workers:

1.  Establishing a task force: ALA has created a task force composed of experts and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing and tracking retaliatory employment cases against LGBTQIA+ library workers.

2.  Developing a supportive communications plan: The task force will work to formulate a communications plan that highlights the resources and support available from ALA, specifically tailored to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ library worker community.

Libraries are essential spaces for all people to safely explore and access information about the world around them. It is crucial to create safe work environments for LGBTQIA+ library workers, where they can continue their invaluable work in facilitating learning, discovery, and understanding for library users."

Local universities prepared to teach ethics of using generative AI; Rochester Business Journal, August 15, 2023

 Caurie Putnam, Rochester Business Journal; Local universities prepared to teach ethics of using generative AI

"How are local schools handling these platforms that have the potential to produce human-like AI-generated content like essays based on the input of the user? You may be surprised."

HOW AMERICA GOT MEAN; The Atlantic, August 14, 2023

David Brooks, The Atlantic; HOW AMERICA GOT MEAN

"My second, related question is: Why have Americans become so mean?"

A New Frontier for Travel Scammers: A.I.-Generated Guidebooks; The New York Times, August 5, 2023

 Seth Kugel and Stephen Hiltner, The New York Times; A New Frontier for Travel Scammers: A.I.-Generated Guidebooks

"Though she didn’t know it at the time, Ms. Kolsky had fallen victim to a new form of travel scam: shoddy guidebooks that appear to be compiled with the help of generative artificial intelligence, self-published and bolstered by sham reviews, that have proliferated in recent months on Amazon.

The books are the result of a swirling mix of modern tools: A.I. apps that can produce text and fake portraits; websites with a seemingly endless array of stock photos and graphics; self-publishing platforms — like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing — with few guardrails against the use of A.I.; and the ability to solicit, purchase and post phony online reviews, which runs counter to Amazon’s policies and may soon face increased regulation from the Federal Trade Commission.

The use of these tools in tandem has allowed the books to rise near the top of Amazon search results and sometimes garner Amazon endorsements such as “#1 Travel Guide on Alaska.”"

Florida MAGA candidate caught committing "egregious" plagiarism from Wikipedia: report; Salon, August 10, 2023

TATYANA TANDANPOLIE, Salon ; Florida MAGA candidate caught committing "egregious" plagiarism from Wikipedia: report

"Anthony Sabatini, the chair of the Lake County GOP and a right-wing Florida congressional candidate who proudly declares his undergraduate graduation from the University of Florida with magna cum laude honors, widely plagiarized his 2012 college honors thesis, according to The Daily Beast's review of the treatise. In the paper titled "A Profound Logic of The Blood" centered on the political legacy of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Sabatini swiped large portions of his content verbatim from other uncited sources and frequently pulled passages from Wikipedia without providing any clear attribution, the outlet reported.

In some instances, Sabatini, who double-majored in history and philosophy at the university before attending law school, also swapped slightly different words and phrases into the streams of ideas from other authors. In others where he did reference an outside source, The Daily Beast found the citations themselves are often dubious, incorrect and, according to a plagiarism expert, made up. Even the very first sentence of the thesis was lifted almost exactly from the abstract of an academic text published 20 years earlier titled, "The Nietzsche Legacy in Germany, 1890-1990."

Senator wants Google to answer for accuracy, ethics of generative AI tool; HealthcareITNews, August 9, 2023

 Mike Miliard, HealthcareITNews; Senator wants Google to answer for accuracy, ethics of generative AI tool

"Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, wrote a letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent company Alphabet, on Aug. 8, seeking clarity into the technology developer's Med-PaLM 2, an artificial intelligence chatbot, and how it's being deployed and trained in healthcare settings."

OpenAI funds new journalism ethics initiative; Axios, August 8, 2023

• Sara Fischer
, Axios; OpenAI funds new journalism ethics initiative

"OpenAI, the parent company to ChatGPT, will fund a new journalism ethics initiative at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with a $395,000 grant, executives told Axios."

Photo Agencies Publish Open Letter Demanding AI Copyright Protection; petaPixel, August 10, 2023

  MATT GROWCOOT, PetaPixel; Photo Agencies Publish Open Letter Demanding AI Copyright Protection

"The world’s leading photo agencies and photographer associations have co-signed an open letter calling for legal protections against artificial intelligence (AI).

Getty Images, the Associated Press, Agence France-Press, the European Pressphoto Agency, and the National Press Photographers Association are among the organizations calling for intellectual property (IP) rights to be respected. 

While praising generative AI technology and its potential benefits to society, the signees warn that a flood of synthetic content into the public sphere has the potential to undermine the public’s trust in the media."

Prominent legal, business leaders create ABA group to bolster confidence in elections; Reuters, August 9, 2023

Karen Sloan, Reuters; Prominent legal, business leaders create ABA group to bolster confidence in elections

"The American Bar Association has launched a task force aimed at bolstering public trust in elections, headed by former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and former federal appellate judge J. Michael Luttig.

The 31-member ABA Task Force for American Democracy will look at ways to depoliticize how elections are administered, educate the public on democracy, and try to foster election innovations that address the causes of politicization, the ABA said on Wednesday when it announced the new effort. The task force comes a week after former President Donald Trump was indicted on criminal charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election and as the 2024 presidential race is heating up...

ABA task forces are limited by their nature in how much actual change they can effect. But the group hopes to at least expand the conversation about election integrity by holding listening tours, public conversations, and one-on-one and small group discussions with a cross section of Americans to hear about their concerns and experiences, as well as their ideas for restoring democracy, the ABA said."

French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes; The Guardian, August 8, 2023

 Melissa Davey , The Guardian; French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes

"A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies."

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel; ProPublica, August 10, 2023

 Brett Murphy and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica; Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

"This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount.

While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.

Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica. “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures. “I think it’s unprecedented.”"

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

Film and music industries on edge: AI's growing influence stirs fear of job displacement, copyright issues; KATU2ABC, August 8, 2023

 KONNER MCINTIRE and JANAE BOWENS , KATU2ABC; Film and music industries on edge: AI's growing influence stirs fear of job displacement, copyright issues

"Currently, the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act provides some protection to musicians. It was made law in 2018 and helps to ensure musicians are fairly compensated by publishers.

The law directly addresses piracy which has cost artists billions of dollars.

Five years later, Congressional leaders, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.,who serves as the Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, are concerned the law will not protect musicians against AI.

“For Congress, we’re now looking at old challenges with new dangers, including the ever-present threat of piracy as well as artificial intelligence, which pose still unknown questions for intellectual property protection efforts even as they open doors to a new world of technological capability that is, at present, limitless,” the congressman recently wrote in an op-ed.“If we don’t get AI right, it could very well render not only the Music Modernization Act obsolete – but also the policy choices we make next.”"