Based on some of my posts made in #Taipei last month.

Trees are people to me. https://aarohini.medium.com/tree-data-in-taipei-9012a8cf53b9

#RepublicOfGeorgia: First year of #Georgia’s ‘foreign agent’ law shows how #autocracies are replicating #Russian model − and speeding up the time frame

Published: March 28, 2025 6:25am EDT

"#Autocracy is on the move worldwide and becoming more resilient.

"One of the driving forces behind this phenomenon is something scholars call '#AuthoritarianLearning,' a process by which autocratic leaders study each other and adapt tactics based on what appears to work, and how to proceed when they encounter #resistance.

"Take Georgia. The ruling Georgian Dream party has steered the Caucasus nation from a path toward democracy back to autocracy – and it has done so by learning from Russia. In particular, it adopted a '#ForeignAgent' law in May 2024 – legislation that came straight from #VladimirPutin’s playbook.

"Sold to the public as increasing #transparency, the legislation has been utilized to persecute Georgia’s #opposition and arrest #dissidents with impunity.

"As researchers examining the structure and effects of autocratic regimes, we view Georgia’s first year of its foreign agent law as an example of how politicians are not only learning the tactics of Russian authoritarianism but improving on them in a shorter time frame."

Read more:
https://theconversation.com/first-year-of-georgias-foreign-agent-law-shows-how-autocracies-are-replicating-russian-model-and-speeding-up-the-time-frame-250878

#RightToProtest #AntiProtestLaws
#GeorgianLaws #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #HumanRights #RepublicOfGeorgia #GeorgianDream #ProtestSponsors #ExpandedPolicePowers #PoliceState #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Autocracy

"Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jane Barwick's ruling, expected later this month, could either establish a legal precedent empowering people to probe deeper into public-private partnerships — like that between the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation — or further shield private entities working with local governmental agencies in Georgia from scrutiny." https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2025/04/07/cop-city-investigation-puts-atlanta-police-foundation-secrecy-on-trial/
#politics #GAPol #Atlanta #stopCopCity #transparency

#Trump, the oldest man to be inaugurated as president, will visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a #physical Friday, the first of his new admin.

Don’t expect much. In December 2015, Dr. Harold Bornstein, #Trump's personal physician, wrote a letter saying that he would be the "healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." Bornstein told CNN in 2018 that the doctor's note he penned had been dictated to him by Trump.

#USpol #transparency #unfit
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/us/politics/trump-physical.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=4A64F9B5-650E-475E-86C3-2527691A6DCD

Irish Post: Troubles archive projects will provide ‘transparency’ over Government policies in Northern Ireland. “The first project will see Government records relating to the Troubles digitised and published in collaboration with the National Archives…. The second is an archival research project, which will see official historians appointed to research British Government policy towards […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/11/irish-post-troubles-archive-projects-will-provide-transparency-over-government-policies-in-northern-ireland/

Harvard Libraries: Harvard Library Guide to Public Data Conservation. “Public data collected and maintained by federal, state, and municipal governments is a critical resource for the Harvard community. Harvard Library is committed to helping researchers maintain access to the information they rely on. This guide provides resources and recommended pathways for researchers concerned about […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/10/harvard-libraries-harvard-library-guide-to-public-data-conservation/

At @mailbox_org your privacy comes first: Our platform stores your data exclusively in an anonymized manner – completely without cookies.

Enjoy maximum security and full transparency. Switch now to a provider that adheres to German data protection standards!

Try it now for free: https://register.mailbox.org/en

DOAJ and EZB: Working together for more visibility of information on publishing.

A new collaboration will see DOAJ and EZB contribute to greater transparency in scholarly publishing, empowering authors with the information they need to make informed publishing decisions

#DOAJ #metadata #APCs #transparency #ScholComm #OpenAccess

All details at https://blog.doaj.org/2025/04/10/doaj-and-ezb-working-together-for-more-visibility-of-information-on-publishing/

Reminder: Two RESPOND seminars next week!

Apr 14 – Prof. Ceva on conceptualising corruption
Apr 15 – Dr. Ivanov on corruption & inequality
University of Bologna or online

Full info: https://www.eu-respond.eu/events/

See you there!

#RESPOND #EUProjects #HorizonEurope #ResearchAndInnovation #PoliticalCorruption #Transparency #SocioEconomicInequality #PublicPolicy #AcademicEvents #InstitutionalTrust #DigitalSociety #RESPONDProject #RespondSeminarSeries #AcademicTalks

@CssC @alice_mattoni

Huawei top executive in Europe charged in Belgian corruption probe – POLITICO https://www.byteseu.com/904367/ #5G #Belgium #BrusselsBubble #CertificationAndStandards #China #Corruption #CriticalInfrastructure #CyberEspionage #cybersecurity #DataProtection #DigitalSingleMarket #Espionage #Europe #Exclusive #hackers #HuaweiCorruptionScandal #Intelligence #InternetOfThings #Lobbying #MoneyLaundering #NetworkSecurity #Portugal #PublicAffairs #Technology #Telecoms #Transparency

#Google #AWU #unions #transparency #antitrust #GiftArticle

"The agreement is another blow to Google’s corporate policies designed to maintain secrecy, which have been scrutinized amid the search case brought by the Justice Department. It also undercut Google’s strategy to keep its business humming during the lawsuit — to have employees ignore the antitrust battle and remain focused on their work."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/technology/google-antitrust-union-settlement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-E4.HYHN.VrptrmQovBJy&smid=url-share

New York Times: Google Says Employees Can Discuss Antitrust Case. This link goes to a gift article. “The agreement is another blow to Google’s corporate policies designed to maintain secrecy, which have been scrutinized amid the search case brought by the Justice Department. It also undercut Google’s strategy to keep its business humming during the lawsuit — to have employees ignore the […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/08/new-york-times-google-says-employees-can-discuss-antitrust-case/

How the White House is Gaslighting the World About Europe’s Digital Laws
https://techpolicy.press/how-the-white-house-is-gaslighting-the-world-about-europes-digital-laws

“EU/DSA has never canceled elections—despite far-right extremists and Musk continuously pushing this lie. The DSA doesn’t regulate content; it ensures #transparency so no platform — being Chinese, Singaporean, American or European — can manipulate algorithms.”, Thierry Breton, former EU commissioner

Capital Trades: Tracking Stock Market Transactions of Politicians

https://www.capitoltrades.com/

VentureBeat: Don’t believe reasoning models’ Chains of Thought, says Anthropic. “In a new paper, Anthropic researchers tested the ‘faithfulness’ of CoT models’ reasoning by slipping them a cheat sheet and waiting to see if they acknowledged the hint. The researchers wanted to see if reasoning models can be reliably trusted to behave as intended. Through comparison testing, where the […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/06/venturebeat-dont-believe-reasoning-models-chains-of-thought-says-anthropic/

Virginia Mercury: FOIA Friday: Richmond unveils FOIA Reading Room to boost transparency. “In a move aimed at restoring public trust and delivering on campaign promises, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula on Wednesday announced the launch of a new FOIA Reading Room, a public-facing online archive that will provide access to government records tied to the city’s January water crisis. The effort comes […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/06/foia-friday-richmond-unveils-foia-reading-room-to-boost-transparency-virginia-mercury/

Calls for transparency after charges stayed in Chinatown senior assault
There are calls for transparency after charges against a man accused of a violent attack on a senior in Vancouver’s Chinatown were stayed with little public explanation.
#assault #transparency #crime #Chinatown #Vancouver #Justice
https://globalnews.ca/news/11117086/charges-stayed-chinatown-senior-assault/

Trust is everything.

Learn more at our LinkedIn page https://zurl.co/JjdRs or visit our website https://zurl.co/zEOxg

SPOTLIGHT ON OUR PARTNER!

GTI is a #Hungary -based think tank dedicated to researching corruption, collusion, and public procurement inefficiencies.

In #RESPOND, GTI contributes its expertise in big data, econometrics and qualitative methods to analyze public spending and help build a new repository for stakeholders.

INFO : https://www.eu-respond.eu/partner/

"Teams that fulfilled requests for government documents lost their jobs on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration's 10,000-person staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Their work, mandated by Congress since the 1960s under the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, gives the public a view of the inner workings of federal health agencies."

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/03/g-s1-57888/hhs-fda-rfk-foia-public-records