Fiscal Intelligence

Fiscal analysis that enables educators, small business owners, and community organizers to make informed decisions.

Month: November, 2015

District Guide: Financing to Scale Blended Learning

Another common pitfall we see is the treatment of blended learning as a standalone education program instead of integrated into the costs associated with day-to-day instruction. Assessing cost trade offs within the ongoing instructional budget will allow blended learning to be both scalable and sustainable.

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Exposing the Hidden Web

The purpose of this article is to provide a quantitative analysis of privacy-compromising mechanisms on the top 1 million websites as determined by Alexa. It is demonstrated that nearly 9 in 10 websites leak user data to parties of which the user is likely unaware; more than 6 in 10 websites spawn third-party cookies; and more than 8 in 10 websites load Javascript code. Sites that leak user data contact an average of nine external domains. Most importantly, by tracing the flows of personal browsing histories on the Web, it is possible to discover the corporations that profit from tracking users. Although many companies track users online, the overall landscape is highly consolidated, with the top corporation, Google, tracking users on nearly 8 of 10 sites in the Alexa top 1 million. Finally, by consulting internal NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden, it has been determined that roughly one in five websites are potentially vulnerable to known NSA spying techniques at the time of analysis.

Individual Activity Accounts (IAAs)

“To attune its social-welfare system to a changing economy and reduce inequality among individuals, France is currently considering a system of so-called Individual Activity Accounts (IAAs). My colleague Selma Mahfouz chaired a committee that prepared a blueprint for such a system.”
Read more at https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/individual-social-benefits-account-economic-efficiency-by-jean-pisani-ferry-2015-10#kQaAol6VgsRbKzwc.99