• Google Fights Dragnet Warrant for Users’ Search Histories Overseas, but It Is Continuing to Give Data to Police in the U.S.

    Google is fighting back against a Brazilian court order to turn over data on all users who searched for specific terms, including the name of a well-known elected official and a busy downtown thoroughfare. Google should be applauded for challenging this digital dragnet search in Brazil, but the company must also stand up for the rights of its users against similar searches in the U.S. and elsewhere.

  • A Headache for Germany: Russian Nickel, Palladium, Chromium Exports

    Russian gas and oil are by far the most significant exports Moscow sells to Germany. Yet other important raw materials are also under the spotlight because of the war in Ukraine.

  • Identifying Methods to Predict Future Cyberattacks

    “Malware” is a big threat for modern society. In 201, 2.8 billion consumer data records were breached, costing more than $654 billion to U.S. organizations, posing a massive industry threat. The numbers have only increased since then. Researchers are investigating ways to accurately predict these attacks.

  • Ukraine War’s Impact on Critical Materials Supply, Green Energy

    The elephant in the room is Europe’s dependence on the vast quantities of hydrocarbons that flow from Russia into Europe, but Putin’s war on Ukraine has the potential to affect many key supply chains for materials that will contribute to the clean energy transition.

  • German Auto Industry Alarmed Over Lack of Raw Materials

    Critical raw materials from Russia and Ukraine could become increasingly scarce as a result of the conflict. Car industry experts called on the EU to seek new markets and boost the domestic extraction of key metals.

  • Russia’s Energy Clout Doesn’t Just Come from Oil and Gas – It’s Also a Key Nuclear Supplier

    As Western nations look for ways to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and gas, another aspect of the Ukraine crisis has received less attention: Most of the 32 countries that use nuclear power rely on Russia for some part of their nuclear fuel supply chain. Economic fallout from the war in Ukraine could disrupt access to fuel for the nuclear power industry.

  • DHS Sued Over Vetting Program to Collect and Data Mine

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) the other day filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for records about a multi-million dollar, secretive program that surveils immigrants and other foreign visitors’ speech on social media.

  • Cyber and Physical Security Should Collaborate: What Does It Take to Achieve This

    To understand and mitigate threats that cross the boundary between what is cyber and what is physical, some organizations have integrated their security resources to encourage them to work more closely together.

  • What Does It Mean to Be Energy Independent?

    “‘Energy independence’ is a political slogan, not an economic or technical concept with a clear definition,” Berkeley’s Andrew Campbell says. “I understand that politicians use the term ‘energy independence’ to imply that a country is insulated from global energy markets. However, this is rarely the case.”

  • Can Germany Wean Itself Off Russian Gas?

    Experts are divided on how quickly Germany could cut imports of Russian energy and stop funding President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. How vulnerable would such a move leave Europe’s largest economy?

  • The Ukrainian Economy: Where Now for the Future?

    An expert has warned that the impact of the war will be disastrous for the Ukrainian economy, regardless of the outcome. “War will always have a catastrophic impact. As you’d expect, production is collapsing, and the economy has given up percentages of GDP growth,” says a Cambridge University professor who is an economic adviser to Ukrainian President Zelensky.

  • The War in Ukraine Is Creating a Massive Grain Shortage

    Together, Russia and Ukraine account for 30 percent of the world’s exported wheat, and the Agricultural Market Information System—an international group focusing on global food-policy initiatives—estimates that 25 countries source at least half of their supplies from the two countries. Grain exports from the war-torn region have largely stalled, as shipping ports have closed, farmland has been ruined, and farmers have been conscripted into service.

  • Green Rare-Earth Recycling Goes Commercial

    Rare earths are essential ingredients in the magnets that power many technologies people rely on today, such as cell phones, computers, electric vehicles, and wind turbines. Researchers have  developed a novel way to extract rare earth elements (rare earths) from the high-powered magnets in electronic waste (e-waste).

  • Food Crisis Due to Ukraine War Calls for Demand-Side Action

    The global food system is impacted by the war in Ukraine, adding to the direct humanitarian and security crisis caused by the Russian aggression. Ukraine and Russia are major producers of grains and fertilizers. Experts say that focusing on short-term supply-side solutions is not the way to go. Rather, changes to the demand side of the global food system can lead to both a more resilient and more sustainable global food system.

  • Domestic Extremists and Cryptocurrency

    Domestic extremists have been receiving a steady stream of cryptocurrency donations since 2016, and after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the extremists’ use of cryptocurrency has spiked, leading many financial services providers to “deplatform” certain extremist groups.