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Archive for the ‘law’ category

Sep 5, 2024

The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, internet, law

The Internet Archive has lost a major legal battle—in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of internet history. Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running digital archive, upholding an earlier ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive that found that one of the Internet Archive’s book digitization projects violated copyright law.

Notably, the appeals court’s ruling rejects the Internet Archive’s argument that its lending practices were shielded by the fair use doctrine, which permits for copyright infringement in certain circumstances, calling it “unpersuasive.”

In March 2020, the Internet Archive, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, launched a program called the National Emergency Library, or NEL. Library closures caused by the pandemic had left students, researchers, and readers unable to access millions of books, and the Internet Archive has said it was responding to calls from regular people and other librarians to help those at home get access to the books they needed.

Sep 5, 2024

AI-Assisted Police Reports and the Challenge of Generative Suspicion

Posted by in categories: law, robotics/AI

This article delves into a transformative shift in the criminal justice system brought on by the use of AI-assisted police reports.


Police reports play a central role in the criminal justice system. Many times, police reports exist as the only official memorialization of what happened during an incident, shaping probable cause determinations, pretrial detention decisions, motions to suppress, plea bargains, and trial strategy. For over a century, human police officers wrote the factual narratives that shaped the trajectory of individual cases and organized the entire legal system.

All that is about to change with the creation of AI-assisted police reports. Today, with the click of a button, generative AI Large Language Models (LLMS) using predictive text capabilities can turn the audio feed of a police-worn body camera into a pre-written draft police report. Police officers then fill-in-the blanks of inserts and details like a “Mad Libs” of suspicion and submit the edited version as the official narrative of an incident.

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Sep 4, 2024

New Quantum Effect in Textbook Chemistry Law

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, encryption, law, quantum physics

The observation of quantum modifications to a well-known chemical law could lead to performance improvements for quantum information storage.

The Arrhenius law says that the rate of a chemical reaction should decrease steadily as you increase the energy barrier between initial and final states. Now researchers have found a system that obeys a quantum version of the Arrhenius law, where the rate does not drop smoothly but instead decreases in a staircase pattern [1]. The system is a type of quantum bit (qubit) that is particularly robust against environmental disturbances. The researchers demonstrated that they can take advantage of this quantum effect to improve the qubit’s performance.

Technologies such as quantum computers and quantum cryptography use qubits to store information, and one of the continuing challenges is that uncontrolled environmental effects can change the state of a qubit. The most common solutions require large amounts of hardware, but an alternative method is to use qubits that are more error resistant, such as so-called cat qubits. The information in these qubits is stored in robust combinations of quantum states that resemble the states in Schrödinger’s famous feline thought experiment (see Synopsis: Quantum-ness Put on the Scale).

Aug 31, 2024

The Reason Brazil Is Blocking Elon Musk’s X/Twitter

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, internet, law

ICYMI: Elon Musk’s social media platform X was instructed by a Brazilian court to name a local representative, but failed to do so.

The justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using…


SAO PAULO — Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through its mobile app after the company refused to comply with a judge’s order.

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Aug 23, 2024

Legal challenges in human brain organoid research and its applications

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, law, neuroscience

A study appearing in Journal of Bioethical Inquiry explored the legal and ethical challenges expected to arise in human brain organoid research.

Human brain organoids are three-dimensional neural tissues derived from that can mimic some aspects of the human brain. Their use holds incredible promise for medical advancements, but this also raises complex ethical and legal questions that need careful consideration.

Seeking to examine the various legal challenges that might arise in the context of human brain research and its applications, the team of researchers, which included a legal scholar, identified and outlined potential legal issues.

Aug 22, 2024

Cauchy stress tensor

Posted by in categories: law, materials

“the Cauchy stress tensor completely defines the state of stress at a point inside a material in the deformed state”

The Cauchy Stress Tensor.

Imagine you’re holding a rubber band in your hands and stretching it.

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Aug 16, 2024

WHO declares mpox outbreak a global health emergency

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, law

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency.

WHO convened its emergency committee amid concerns that a deadlier strain of the virus, clade Ib, had reached four previously unaffected countries in Africa. This strain had previously been contained to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The independent experts met virtually Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the severity of the outbreak. After that consultation, he announced that he had declared a public health emergency of international concern — the highest level of alarm under international health law.

Aug 9, 2024

The Six Singularities (There’s Not Just One)

Posted by in categories: law, robotics/AI, singularity

More than one singularity.


The singularity could soon be upon us. The PESTLE framework, developed by this episode’s guest Daniel Hulme, expresses not one but six types of singularity that could occur: political, environmental, social, technological, legal and economic. ‪@JonKrohnLearns‬ and Daniel Hulme discuss how each of these singularities could bring good to the world, aligning with human interests and pushing forward progress. They also talk about neuromorphic computing, machine consciousness, and applying AI at work.

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Aug 7, 2024

Dr. Ashwin Vasan — Commissioner — NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene — Strengthening Public Health

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, government, health, law, neuroscience, policy

Strengthening Public Health Systems For Healthier And Longer Lives — Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Commissioner, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.


Dr. Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/about/ab…).

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Jul 30, 2024

Most cyber ransoms are paid in secret but a new law could change that

Posted by in categories: business, cybercrime/malcode, government, law, mapping

Australian businesses are paying untold amounts of ransom to hackers, but the government is hoping to claw back some visibility with a landmark cybersecurity law.

While major ransomware attacks on companies such as MediSecure, Optus and Latitude have grabbed headlines for breaching the privacy of millions, the practice of quietly paying off cybercriminals has flourished in the dark.

The situation has deteriorated to the point that the government’s original ambition for an outright ban on ransom payments has been nixed, for now, and the focus has shifted to mapping the scale of the problem.

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