Articles Posted in News from Organizations

From Congressional Budget Office (CBO):

CBO’s Budget Director, Philip Swagel, testified before the House Committee on the Budget, September 11, 2024.

Summary of Testimony:

From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)*.

As reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee on June 18, 2024.

Summary:

An AALL/Bloomberg Partner Webinar.

November 19, 2025 at 1:00PM (CST).

“Participants will hear from research experts at Bloomberg Law as they present the survey findings and discuss how Bloomberg Law is equipping students with the necessary tools and knowledge for successful legal careers. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and learn how to better prepare law school students for the challenges of the legal profession.”

A posting by  American Bar Association President,  William R. Ray.

“Voting is a civic right and responsibility. Everyone eligible to vote should exercise that right. This is our opportunity to have a say in how our government operates. The American Bar Association encourages all to take advantage of this opportunity. ”

For a more generalized statement about elections and voting from federal government perspective, see the White House statement, Elections and Voting.

Following the introduction of Chat GPT3.5 to the public on November 30, 2022, there have been growing concerns about how the emerging AI revolution can be utilized to reimagine and , if necessary, reinvent new technologies capable of preserving our democracy– as we enter another technological, economic, and political crossroads in our society. Sharing these concerns, I have been  searching the literature hoping to discover institutionally backed efforts dedicated to addressing them. Recently, I learned about the publishing by the Stanford Digital Lab of The Digital Papers: Artificial Intelligence in America, Volume 1 of a projected ongoing series. Learning of this publication, I immediately went to Amazon and ordered my own copy. The following is my Overview of this first volume:

In the late 18th century, the Federalist Papers emerged as a groundbreaking series of essays advocating for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay—under the pseudonym “Publius”—articulated a vision for governance that reflected the challenges of their time: an unstable political landscape, shifting economic forces, and burgeoning democratic ideals. Fast forward to the 21st century, the world again finds itself at the intersection of disruptive change where the political, economic, and technological forces at play call for a similar intellectual effort to chart a way forward.

The Digitalist Papers: Artificial Intelligence and Democracy in America takes inspiration from the spirit of the Federalist Papers, yet it aims to address an even more complex landscape. The technological revolution now driven by artificial intelligence (AI) offers immense potential to reshape every aspect of human life—from how we communicate to how we govern ourselves. As Hamilton, Madison, and Jay once grappled with how to mold governance to fit the emerging United States, today’s thought leaders must confront the challenge of integrating AI into existing democratic institutions. This is the goal of the Digitalist Papers series: to explore the possibilities of AI’s impact on democracy and to consider how governance structures must evolve to preserve and enhance democratic values in this era of unprecedented technological change.

Important announcement for seniors:

Older adults, families, and professionals who work with older adults are invited to register for an action-oriented National Town Hall on scams and older adults on Wednesday, October 30, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET. Presented jointly by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), AARP, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), this online event will feature:

  • Real-life examples of elder financial exploitation that illustrate how it can happen to anyone as they grow older
  • Money Smart for Older Adults, an easy-to-use curriculum from the CFPB and FDIC that helps people avoid, prevent, and respond to scams
  • Findings from AARP research report on blame and shame in the context of financial fraud
  • Five things you can do right now to help prevent scams and financial exploitation

The event will feature these national leaders:

  • Julie M. Strandlie, Elder Fraud Prevention Advocate
  • Kathy Stokes, AARP Fraud Watch Network, Director of Fraud Prevention Programs
  • Ron Jauregui, FDIC, Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection, Community Affairs Specialist
  • Lisa Schifferle, CFPB, Office for Older Americans, Senior Policy Analyst
Register → 

“On March 11, 2024, the Administration submitted its annual set of budgetary proposals to the Congress. In this report, the Congressional Budget Office* examines how those proposals, if enacted, would affect budgetary outcomes in relation to CBO’s most recent baseline budget projections. Those projections extend from 2024 to 2034 and reflect the assumption that current laws governing federal spending and revenues will generally remain in place.”

Summary:

“On March 11, 2024, the Administration submitted its annual set of budgetary proposals to the Congress. In this report, the Congressional Budget Office examines how those proposals, if enacted, would affect budgetary outcomes in relation to CBO’s most recent baseline budget projections. Those projections extend from 2024 to 2034 and reflect the assumption that current laws governing federal spending and revenues will generally remain in place. CBO’s baseline budget projections and its analysis of the President’s proposals are based on the agency’s economic forecast published in June, which reflects developments through early May. (In this analysis, any feedback from the macroeconomic effects of the President’s proposed policies is excluded.)

On Thursday September 19 2024, at 12:30-17:30 EDT (16:30-21:30 UTC) Columbia Global Freedom of ExpressionThe University of Alabama School of Law, The University of Minnesota Law School, and Columbia Law School present a book launch ‘Disinformation, Misinformation, and Democracy‘ at Columbia University in NYC.

As the US presidential election approaches and half of the world’s population heads to the polls in this “super-election year” of 2024, Cambridge University Press has published ‘Disinformation, Misinformation, and Democracy: Legal Approaches in Comparative Context, in which legal scholars from around the world explore the global threat to democracy posed by false information through a comparative legal analysis. This hybrid event gathers co-editors, contributors, and other special guests at three thematic sessions, examining solutions from the perspectives of government regulation, media self-regulation, and the role of civil society.

(ALL TIMES EDT = UTC-4)

12:30 – 1:45pm Framing the Problem
Ron Krotosynski, Co-editor / John S. Stone Chair, Director of Faculty Research and Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law
Andras Koltay, Co-editor / Research Professor, University of Public Service (Budapest) / Professor of Law, Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Budapest)
Andie Tucher, H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of Journalism and Director of the Communications Ph. D. Program, Columbia Journalism School
Moderator: David Pozen, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School.

2:00 – 3:30pm National and transnational regulatory approaches
Artur Pericles Lima Monteiro, Resident Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School
Bernát Török, Director, Institute of the Information Society, Ludovika University of Public Service (Budapest)
Ahran Park, Associate Professor, School of Media & Communication, Korea University, South Korea
Moderator: Jeremy Kessler, Stanley H. Fuld Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

3:45 – 5:00pm Social groups and institutions, outside government
Charlotte Garden, Co-editor, Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota
Anya Schiffrin, Director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Katie Fallow, Senior Counsel, Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University
Moderator: Costanza Sciubba Caniglia, Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead, Wikimedia Foundation

ATTEND IIN PERSON https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launch-disinformation-misinformation-and-democracy-tickets-1004689632737

Livestream provided by the Internet Society U.S .New York Chapter

LIVESTREAM https://livestream.com/internetsociety/cgfoe-disinfo

PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://bit.ly/3zr58YD

TWITTER #disinformation #misinformation #democracy @ColumbiaGFoE @UofMNLawSchool @UALawSchool @ColumbiaLaw @knightcolumbia @columbiajourn
,
MASTODON  #disinformation

SIMULCASTS
https://twitter.com/ISOC_Live
https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive
https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/

ARCHIVE
https://archive.org/details/cgfoe-disinfo

In August 2023, Mary Smith, President of the American Bar Association (ABA), announced the creation of the ABA  Presidential Taskforce on Law and Artificial Intelligence to “bring together lawyers and judges from across the ABA to address the impact of AI on the legal profession and the practice of law.” From it’s beginning, the Taskforce has been concentrating it’s efforts on a broad array of critical AI issues of concern to ABA, including AI’s impact on the legal profession, the courts, legal education, access to justice, governance, risk management, and challenges with generative AI. During the past year, the Task Force has been active on a number of fronts, addressing these issues from various perspectives, including the preparation of it’s Task Force Report on the Impact of AI on the Practice of Law: Year 1 On the Impact of AI on the Practice of Law, released August 2024.

Quoting from the Report: “This Report addresses the critical AI issues that impact lawyers and judges in the practice of law, and provides insights and resources that will equip the legal community to effectively address and leverage these developments. Given the rapid pace of change in the AI landscape (the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released new guidance documents as this Report was being finalized), and the  need to give the AI developments the attention they deserve, the AI Task Force will continue its work in the new bar year (2024-25).

Highlights of the AI Task Force’s year [as mentioned in the Report] include:

The 2024 NY Metro Joint Cyber Security Conference will be held on September 26 from 8:30AM -5:30PM EDT,  celebrating its 11th year featuring keynotes, panels and sessions aimed at educating everyone on the various aspects of information security and technology.

Workshops featuring in-depth extended classroom-style educational courses to expand your knowledge and foster security discussions will take place virtually post-conference.  It is a collaborative event cooperatively developed, organized and sponsored by a consortium consisting of leading information security industry organizations and chapters (The New York Cyber Security Coalition).

For additional information, including conference location and conference and workshop registrations, click here

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