government

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Concerns About Privacy, Accuracy And Fairness Raises As Government Agencies Are Tapping A Facial Recognition Company To Prove You’re You

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is planning to require citizens to create accounts with a private facial recognition company in order to file taxes online. The IRS is joining a growing number of federal and state agencies that have contracted with ID.me to authenticate the identities of people accessing services. The IRS’s move is aimed at cutting down on identity theft, a crime that affects millions of Americans. The IRS, in particular, has reported a number of tax filings from people claiming to be others, and fraud in many of the programs that were administered as part of the American Relief Plan has been a major concern to the government. The IRS decision has prompted a backlash, in part over concerns about requiring citizens to use facial recognition technology and in part over di...

Postcards May Be The Answer To Get People The Help They Need From The Government

20Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS

Postcards May Be The Answer To Get People The Help They Need From The Government

President Joe Biden’s comprehensive social safety net bill faces a tough road to passage. But if Democrats succeed in getting it through the Senate and Biden signs it, there’s another challenge ahead for the legislation: How to get its many programs – providing tax cuts for the middle class, expanding access to affordable housing, higher education, health care coverage and child care – to the people it aims to help. If the people who need these programs do not know about them or do not know how to enroll, the programs won’t do any good. Older, poorer, less educated and foreign-born people often do not sign up for benefits to which they are entitled because they do not know about them or do not know how to access them. Already, government agencies are setting up websites to provide informa...

4 Essential Reads – What Happened During The Last Government Shutdown?

30Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

4 Essential Reads – What Happened During The Last Government Shutdown?

Matt Williams, The Conversation The U.S. is (once again) staring down the barrel of a government shutdown. Barring progress on a spending bill to fund government agencies past Sept. 30, 2021 – and Democrats are busying themselves trying to get such a measure through Congress – federal workers could find themselves being sent home, or asked not to come in. For how long is uncertain. Over the last few decades, the length of government shutdowns has crept up. The most recent one, which started on Dec. 22, 2018, lasted 35 days, marking the longest shutdown to date. During that period, The Conversation ran a series of articles that helped explain what was at stake, who suffers and why. Below are some insights gleaned by experts from previous government shutdowns that may give a clue as to w...

The Actions Of Government And Charitable Organizations Likely Kept Millions Of Americans Out Of Food Insecurity During The Pandemic

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

The Actions Of Government And Charitable Organizations Likely Kept Millions Of Americans Out Of Food Insecurity During The Pandemic

Craig Gundersen, Baylor University Despite the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vulnerable in the United States, the percentage of Americans in food-insecure households held steady in 2020 at 10.5%, figures released on Sept. 8, 2021, show. Although unchanged from 2019, the new numbers are important for two main reasons. First, food insecurity – the state of being unable to adequately provide food for yourself or your family – has become one of the leading, if not the leading, indicator of well-being for vulnerable Americans. And with 38.3 million food-insecure Americans, the number of people affected is still high. Second, the fact that the overall rate did not increase despite a serious economic downturn underscores the importance of government intervention when it come...

Taliban Seize Control – Afghan Government Collapses – 5 Essential Reads

16Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS

Taliban Seize Control – Afghan Government Collapses – 5 Essential Reads

POLITICS Catesby Holmes, The Conversation Panic and turmoil grip Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents captured the capital city of Kabul and the president fled on Aug. 15, 2021. There would be “no transitional government in Afghanistan,” Taliban officials told Reuters news service. The insurgent group “expects a complete handover of power” – though many nations may not recognize a Taliban government that took power through armed struggle rather than by continuing the now-failed internationally mediated peace negotiations. Fearful citizens aiming to escape the rule of radical Islamic fighters were “lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings,” according to the Associated Press, and overrunning the Kabul airport’s tarmac as U.S. military evacuation flights tried to take off...

4 Essential Reads: US Families With Kids Are Getting Monthly Payments From The Government

25Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

4 Essential Reads: US Families With Kids Are Getting Monthly Payments From The Government

Emily Schwartz Greco, The Conversation Most U.S. families with children will get six monthly payments from the government in 2021, starting July 15. Parents and guardians may spend this money – $300 per child under 6 and $250 for every kid or teen who is 6 and up – on groceries, computers, child care, sneakers or however else they see fit. Eighty-eight percent of U.S. families with children under 18 are eligible for this new allowance Congress approved in March as part of a coronavirus relief package, which extends the child tax credit to the lowest-earning Americans. In addition to getting either $250 or $300 a month per kid for six months, families will also get a tax credit equal to six more monthly installments at tax time in 2022. The Internal Revenue Service is responsible for deli...

For Decades The Government Has Fallen Short On Contracts With Woman-Owned Businesses

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

For Decades The Government Has Fallen Short On Contracts With Woman-Owned Businesses

Historic barriers have blocked women-owned small businesses from winning federal contracts, according to a new report. Chabeli Carrazana Originally published by The 19th Nearly three decades ago, the Small Business Administration set a goal of granting 5 percent of federal contracts to women-owned small businesses. It has only met that goal twice, in 2015 and 2019, according to a new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center and Goldman Sachs. Survey data shared exclusively with The 19th by Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Voices program, which helps advocate for small business owners, found a widening gender gap for contracts at the federal level that shows how women-owned small businesses have been shut out from the largest contracts. At the local level, women- and men-owned s...

Smart Cyber Defense Or Government Overreach? The FBI Is Breaking Into Corporate Computers To Remove Malicious Code

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CYBERCRIME, TECHNOLOGY

Smart Cyber Defense Or Government Overreach? The FBI Is Breaking Into Corporate Computers To Remove Malicious Code

The FBI has the authority right now to access privately owned computers without their owners’ knowledge or consent, and to delete software. It’s part of a government effort to contain the continuing attacks on corporate networks running Microsoft Exchange software, and it’s an unprecedented intrusion that’s raising legal questions about just how far the government can go. On April 9, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas approved a search warrant allowing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out the operation. The software the FBI is deleting is malicious code installed by hackers to take control of a victim’s computer. Hackers have used the code to access vast amounts of private email messages and to launch ransomware attacks. The authority the Justice D...

Not Humiliating Poor People – An Advantage Of The Government’s New Payments For Families

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, POLITICS

Not Humiliating Poor People – An Advantage Of The Government’s New Payments For Families

The US$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed in March 2021 will expand the child tax credit for one year. Instead of providing families with up to $2,000 per child under 17, the government will distribute a total of $3,600 for each child under 6 and $3,000 for kids under 18. Some economists predict that these payments, which will go to all but the wealthiest parents in two ways – monthly starting in July 2021 and as a lump sum when parents file their taxes in 2022 – could cut U.S. child poverty by nearly 50%. Today, about 1 in 7 U.S. children live below the official poverty line. I’m a law professor who researches the often-humiliating and punitive hurdles that poor families face when they apply for some government benefits. From my perspective, this new appr...

Here’s How Technology Innovation Gives Government Leverage To Drive Down Emissions Fast

7Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Here’s How Technology Innovation Gives Government Leverage To Drive Down Emissions Fast

To avert the worst effects of climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions should fall at faster rates than they have risen for over a century. Economies must essentially turn on a dime and then move quickly toward a carbon-free future. In the U.S., the Biden-Harris administration has recommitted the country to this goal and recently announced plans for major investments in clean energy infrastructure and research. To succeed, they should use their most powerful tool for amplifying the benefits of each investment: technology innovation. As my research on technology innovation shows, government policies can kick off fast progress. The examples of solar energy, wind energy and lithium-ion batteries show how the process works. All three technologies improved at exponential rates alongsid...