"I was on Facebook today, and my friend Tonia Ries asked about Klout’s ability to make profiles, when users haven’t connected their details with the service. I pointed her to the response from Megan Berry, Klout’s marketing manager, where she says if we don’t want to be tracked, then to make our social feeds private."
Even though I feel having to make your social feeds private to stop any service from accessing it is commercial suicide, especially for a business whose primary custom is online, at least there was an option to stop Klout from grabbing your information.
At least, until Tonia pointed out the example of her son.
He isn’t on Twitter, and he’s not super active on Facebook. He hasn’t given Klout permission to access his account, and he has his Facebook privacy settings at private. Just like Megan advises.
And yet here he is on Klout, with a profile and score of 38. However, that’s not the issue. The bigger issue is this. As you can see from the image (which I’ve blurred to protect his identity), you can clearly see that his Facebook icon is a live one (i.e., not shaded out), which means people can visit his Klout profile and be taken to his very private Facebook profile by clicking the Facebook icon.
So, a private Facebook profile with no access allowed to Klout is now on their system and, worse still, allowing any public visitor to Klout to be taken directly to Tonia’s son’s private Facebook account?
http://susanb.visibli.com/share/YTl89V
Favorite Quotes
Monday, October 31, 2011
PA- Mayor fights to access police department files to investigate claims of police abuse.
MACUNGIE, Pa.—The mayor of this small eastern Pennsylvania town says he needs
access to the police department's files so he can investigate citizen complaints
about the force and make changes as necessary.
Macungie's police chief says the mayor, a civilian with no law enforcement experience, has no business looking at sensitive investigative materials or telling officers how to do their jobs.
Their dispute has landed in a state appeals court, and the outcome could have a ripple effect on hundreds of Pennsylvania boroughs.
Law enforcement officials say mayors are welcome to exert administrative control of the police, but should not have the right to make decisions about how officers fight crime. Those who side with the mayors say it's their duty to make sure police are accountable and effective. They point out that civilian control of military and law enforcement agencies is a bedrock principle of American democracy.
"When I started to run, I told people I would look into these accusations," Hoffman said. "As soon as I opened my mouth, (the police department) shut the door."
If I have no right to look at any records, then I have no oversight. Can you imagine trying to run a company without access to the records? You couldn't do it," said Hoffman, 58. "It's checks and balances. Everybody's accountable to somebody, and that's the way it's got to work."
http://www.ldnews.com/state/ci_19223343
Macungie's police chief says the mayor, a civilian with no law enforcement experience, has no business looking at sensitive investigative materials or telling officers how to do their jobs.
Their dispute has landed in a state appeals court, and the outcome could have a ripple effect on hundreds of Pennsylvania boroughs.
Law enforcement officials say mayors are welcome to exert administrative control of the police, but should not have the right to make decisions about how officers fight crime. Those who side with the mayors say it's their duty to make sure police are accountable and effective. They point out that civilian control of military and law enforcement agencies is a bedrock principle of American democracy.
"When I started to run, I told people I would look into these accusations," Hoffman said. "As soon as I opened my mouth, (the police department) shut the door."
If I have no right to look at any records, then I have no oversight. Can you imagine trying to run a company without access to the records? You couldn't do it," said Hoffman, 58. "It's checks and balances. Everybody's accountable to somebody, and that's the way it's got to work."
http://www.ldnews.com/state/ci_19223343
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Accu Weather app. lawsuit claims it can track a users' location "to within a few feet."
Seattle, WA - Unhappy customers say in a federal class action that an
AccuWeather application that comes installed on EVO smartphones tracks users'
location "to within a few feet," and transmits the unencrypted data
over the Internet so it can be used to "display behaviorally targeted
advertising to those users" - and there's no way to disable the app.
Lead plaintiffs Chad Goodman and Jon Olson sued HTC America, which makes the Android-based EVO 3D and 4G smartphones, and AccuWeather.
They say the app, which was installed "ostensibly to make weather information conveniently available," tracks "unnecessarily precise" data for a weather forecast.
"In actuality, defendants have used and continue to use the application to track plaintiffs' exact geographic location for defendants' own purposes unrelated to weather information," according to the complaint.
"The location data defendants cause plaintiffs' smartphones to transmit to AccuWeather is based on GPS coordinates and is accurate to within a few feet of where plaintiffs are holding their smartphones. This location data is unnecessarily precise for displaying local weather information on plaintiffs' smartphones; HTC smartphones are equipped to transmit 'coarse' location data accurate to within a few blocks and which takes less of a toll on plaintiffs' Internet data usage and battery life," according to the complaint.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/28/41016.htm
Court Filing: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/28/AccuWeather.pdf
Lead plaintiffs Chad Goodman and Jon Olson sued HTC America, which makes the Android-based EVO 3D and 4G smartphones, and AccuWeather.
They say the app, which was installed "ostensibly to make weather information conveniently available," tracks "unnecessarily precise" data for a weather forecast.
"In actuality, defendants have used and continue to use the application to track plaintiffs' exact geographic location for defendants' own purposes unrelated to weather information," according to the complaint.
"The location data defendants cause plaintiffs' smartphones to transmit to AccuWeather is based on GPS coordinates and is accurate to within a few feet of where plaintiffs are holding their smartphones. This location data is unnecessarily precise for displaying local weather information on plaintiffs' smartphones; HTC smartphones are equipped to transmit 'coarse' location data accurate to within a few blocks and which takes less of a toll on plaintiffs' Internet data usage and battery life," according to the complaint.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/28/41016.htm
Court Filing: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/28/AccuWeather.pdf
Friday, October 28, 2011
The US Public Interest Research Group has released a new study questioning the wisdom of privatizing law enforcement.
An
estimated sixty million Americans live in a jurisdiction monitored by an
automated ticketing machine. According to a report released today by the
left-leaning US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG), the trend of
privatizing law enforcement raises a number of issues that put the public in
those areas at risk.
Unlike a public entity, a private operator is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the public. It may also seek to prevent public scrutiny by declaring certain information to be a “proprietary business secret.” This should not be allowed.
"Pitfalls can arise when contracts encourage vendors to treat automated traffic enforcement systems as a profit center: by maximizing the number of tickets written, regardless of the impact on public safety; by limiting the ability of governments to set traffic safety policies according to community needs; or by constraining the ability of cities to terminate contracts early in the event that automated enforcement systems are rejected by the electorate or fail to meet safety goals," the study explained.
Under severe budgetary pressures, local jurisdictions often sign contracts with vendors that were presented with a slick marketing campaign. Such deals often contain extremely unfavorable terms. The public is hurt by per-ticket payment systems -- often disguised with "cost neutral" contract language -- that ensure that the system is designed to maximize revenue, not safety. Such provisions provide a monetary incentive to increase the number of tickets issued. That leads to other provisions prohibiting cities from lengthening yellow light duration to improve safety and requiring right on red ticketing and ticket approval quotas.
It is hard to imagine meter readers lobbying for an increase in the number of parking meters in a town, or traffic cops arguing for more stop signs, solely on the basis that doing so would enable them to write more tickets. Yet, that is precisely the dynamic that exists with the privatized traffic enforcement industry.
Unlike a public entity, a private operator is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the public. It may also seek to prevent public scrutiny by declaring certain information to be a “proprietary business secret.” This should not be allowed.
Privatized
traffic law enforcement systems are spreading rapidly across the U. S. As many
as 700 local jurisdictions have entered into deals with for-profit companies to
install camera systems at intersections and along roadways to encourage drivers
to obey traffic signals and follow speed limits.
"Pitfalls can arise when contracts encourage vendors to treat automated traffic enforcement systems as a profit center: by maximizing the number of tickets written, regardless of the impact on public safety; by limiting the ability of governments to set traffic safety policies according to community needs; or by constraining the ability of cities to terminate contracts early in the event that automated enforcement systems are rejected by the electorate or fail to meet safety goals," the study explained.
Contractors who participate in
law-enforcement should not use this position to profit from exposure to
confidential information about individuals and their vehicles. These photos and
other information should not be used for any other purpose than enforcement of
safety rules, and must not be sold or leased to other parties. Vendors must
have a plan to regularly attest compliance with requirements to eliminate this information as it becomes possible, and
they should be held responsible if personal data is stolen, distributed or made
available to other private parties.
Under severe budgetary pressures, local jurisdictions often sign contracts with vendors that were presented with a slick marketing campaign. Such deals often contain extremely unfavorable terms. The public is hurt by per-ticket payment systems -- often disguised with "cost neutral" contract language -- that ensure that the system is designed to maximize revenue, not safety. Such provisions provide a monetary incentive to increase the number of tickets issued. That leads to other provisions prohibiting cities from lengthening yellow light duration to improve safety and requiring right on red ticketing and ticket approval quotas.
It is hard to imagine meter readers lobbying for an increase in the number of parking meters in a town, or traffic cops arguing for more stop signs, solely on the basis that doing so would enable them to write more tickets. Yet, that is precisely the dynamic that exists with the privatized traffic enforcement industry.
The industry’s
business model depends on more governments adopting their technology and
enforcing traffic laws in ways that boost the industry’s bottom line. In other
words, when there is profit to be made from enforcing traffic laws, there
becomes a lobby for creating more violations.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Last year more police departments tried to erase online evidence of alleged police brutality.
Google has been asked by a US law enforcement agency to remove several videos exposing police brutality from the video sharing service YouTube, the company has revealed in its latest update to an online transparency report.
The search and software giant also received 92 requests to remove data from its services, including YouTube. The requests collectively asked for 757 individual pieces of content be removed. Google says it complied fully or partially with 63 percent of the requests. The company noted it received a request from law enforcement to take down a video showing police brutality and another for videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. Google did not comply with either.
The IT giant says the overall number of requests for content removal it receives from governmental agencies has risen, and so has the number of requests to disclose the private data of Google users.
The transparency tool also covers requests from other governments around the world, but due to the size of the U.S. population, Google’s California headquarters and the large number of Americans online, the U.S. leads the world in data requests to the search giant.
http://rt.com/news/google-report-police-brutality-767/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/google-data-requests/
The search and software giant also received 92 requests to remove data from its services, including YouTube. The requests collectively asked for 757 individual pieces of content be removed. Google says it complied fully or partially with 63 percent of the requests. The company noted it received a request from law enforcement to take down a video showing police brutality and another for videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. Google did not comply with either.
The IT giant says the overall number of requests for content removal it receives from governmental agencies has risen, and so has the number of requests to disclose the private data of Google users.
Google is alone in providing this data to the public, which
it says it hopes will give a push to efforts to reform a 25-year-old government privacy law that
lets law enforcement get access to users’ online communications without having
to get a judge’s approval.
The transparency tool also covers requests from other governments around the world, but due to the size of the U.S. population, Google’s California headquarters and the large number of Americans online, the U.S. leads the world in data requests to the search giant.
http://rt.com/news/google-report-police-brutality-767/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/google-data-requests/
Nextdoor is a private social network where people post messages etc.
Nextdoor promises to be another useful tool private investigators can use to locate individuals or search for comments a witness or a client might have made.
The following is taken from their website:
"Nextdoor is a private social network for your neighborhood. It's the easiest way for you and your neighbors—and only you and your neighbors—to talk online and make all of your lives better in the real world. And it's free."
https://nextdoor.com/
The following is taken from their website:
"Nextdoor is a private social network for your neighborhood. It's the easiest way for you and your neighbors—and only you and your neighbors—to talk online and make all of your lives better in the real world. And it's free."
https://nextdoor.com/
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
US government could lie about the existence of records under FOIA rule proposal.
The Justice Department is proposing new Freedom of Information Act rules allowing the government to inform the public that records do not exist even if they do.
The proposal, published in the Federal Registrar for comment, may codify existing practice, as the government has already lied to requesters of public records that relevant documents did not exist. Under normal practice, which seems Orwellian enough, the government may assert that it can neither confirm nor deny that relevant records exist if the matter involves national security.
Under the latest proposal, however, FOIA requesters might not sue to challenge the designation because the government has told them they did not exist, civil rights groups said. Documents may be withheld if they threaten to expose national security and for other privacy reasons, but ultimately the scope of disclosure is subject to a judge’s ruling if the requester sues.
According to Justice Department’s proposal, if the government believes records should be withheld, the government agency to which the request was made “will respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist. ”
http://www.propublica.org/article/government-could-hide-existence-of-records-under-foia-rule-proposal
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/feds-embrace-foia-lying/
The proposal, published in the Federal Registrar for comment, may codify existing practice, as the government has already lied to requesters of public records that relevant documents did not exist. Under normal practice, which seems Orwellian enough, the government may assert that it can neither confirm nor deny that relevant records exist if the matter involves national security.
Under the latest proposal, however, FOIA requesters might not sue to challenge the designation because the government has told them they did not exist, civil rights groups said. Documents may be withheld if they threaten to expose national security and for other privacy reasons, but ultimately the scope of disclosure is subject to a judge’s ruling if the requester sues.
According to Justice Department’s proposal, if the government believes records should be withheld, the government agency to which the request was made “will respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist. ”
http://www.propublica.org/article/government-could-hide-existence-of-records-under-foia-rule-proposal
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/feds-embrace-foia-lying/
RECAP allows people to search and use PACER documents for free.
RECAP is a free extension for Firefox (it's PACER backwards), with the
tagline: "turning PACER around." If
you're a PACER user, you install the Firefox extension, and any
documents you access via your PACER account automatically get uploaded
to a public archive (hosted by the Internet Archive folks). If the
document has already been uploaded, the extension alerts you to that
fact in PACER, so you can access the open archived one.
Most court documents can be found via PACER, the court system's own online service, which charges $0.08 per page. PACER notes that it's charging for the documents to cover its own costs of managing its system.
The documents are public domain, and people can do whatever they want with the documents once they have them. Creating a public archive is one option. The real question is how many PACER users will actually participate in the program in order to make this a truly useful resource. At launch time, the public database has about a million documents, but the question is how quickly will it grow? No matter what, conceptually, this is a fantastic idea that hopefully will help to open up public domain court information that has been locked behind PACER's paywalls for too long.
https://www.recapthelaw.org/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090813/1544075868.shtml
Most court documents can be found via PACER, the court system's own online service, which charges $0.08 per page. PACER notes that it's charging for the documents to cover its own costs of managing its system.
The documents are public domain, and people can do whatever they want with the documents once they have them. Creating a public archive is one option. The real question is how many PACER users will actually participate in the program in order to make this a truly useful resource. At launch time, the public database has about a million documents, but the question is how quickly will it grow? No matter what, conceptually, this is a fantastic idea that hopefully will help to open up public domain court information that has been locked behind PACER's paywalls for too long.
https://www.recapthelaw.org/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090813/1544075868.shtml
US government tracks your prescriptions and shares them with police.
States are trying to outsmart the criminals by tracking prescriptions through
statewide databases and by toughening their laws to make it more difficult for
unscrupulous clinics to dispense large numbers of prescription pain pills. And
in the latest move against drug tourists, states are linking their databases to
try to stop dealers from roaming state to state.
All but two states — Missouri and New
Hampshire— have enacted laws that set up prescription drug monitoring
programs.
The databases track prescriptions so doctors can access
patients' records to determine whether they already have multiple orders for a
narcotic. Pharmacists can flag police if they suspect a doctor or clinic is
dispensing an unusually large amount of painkillers. Police can use the records
to bolster their cases against "pill mills" that dispense massive quantities of
pain pills with little or no examination of patients.
In August, Kentucky and Ohio became the first states to
link their databases to make it tougher for addicts in one of the states to
avoid detection by visiting a doctor in the other. Those states joined with West
Virginia and Tennessee in an interstate alliance to coordinate databases,
laws and investigations to try to keep pill mills shut down in one state from
popping up across the border.
"Kentucky and Ohio have already broken the code," says
Bruce Grant, former executive director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control
Policy in Florida.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-13/pill-mill-drug-trafficking/50896242/1
New street lights have Homeland Security functions and will spy on Americans.
The Intellistreets system comprises of a wireless digital
infrastructure that allows street lights to be controlled remotely by means of
a wi-fi link and a miniature computer housed inside each street
light, allowing for “security, energy management, data harvesting and digital
media,” according to the Illuminating Concepts website.
Each of the
light poles contains a speaker system that can be used to broadcast emergency
alerts, as well as a display that transmits “security levels” (presumably a
similar system to the DHS’ much maligned color-coded terror alert designation),
in addition to showing instructions by way of its LED video screen.
The lights also include proximity sensors that can record
both pedestrian and road traffic. The video display and speaker system will
also be used to transmit Minority Report-style advertising, as well as Amber
Alerts and other “civic announcements”.
With the aid of grant money from the federal government, the
company is about to launch the first concept installation of the system in the
city of Farmington Hills, Michigan.
The transformation of street lights into surveillance tools
for Homeland Security purposes will only serve to heighten concerns that the
United States is fast on the way to becoming a high-tech police state, with TSA
agents being empowered to oversee that control grid, most recently with the
announcement that TSA screeners would be manning highway checkpoints, a further
indication that security measures we currently see in airports are rapidly
spilling out onto the streets.
http://www.intellistreets.com/index.php
The company behind a Department of Homeland Security-funded project to install street lights that double as sophisticated surveillance devices pulled its promo video for ‘Intellistreets’ from You Tube hours after our article drawing attention to the issue was linked on the popular Drudge Report website
Having initially disabled comments on the You Tube clip, Illuminating Concepts yanked the video entirely this afternoon, presumably nervous about the negative publicity that could be generated from concerns about new high-tech street lights being used for “Homeland Security” purposes – their words, not ours.
However, having gone to the trouble of putting together a promotional video for their product, and having already started installing the system in the city of Farmington Hills, Michigan with the aid of federal funding, the fact that the company attempted to prevent people learning about the “Homeland Security” applications for the street lights speaks volumes.
If ‘Intellistreets’ is such a cutting edge concept that presents an array of wonderful benefits, as the promo video claims, then why remove it from You Tube? It’s almost like a kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Now that the company has tried to hide the video, it will only generate more suspicion about the true purpose behind ‘Intellistreets’ and the level of involvement on behalf of Homeland Security.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/10/promo-video-for-dhs-backed-spy-street.html#more
The company behind a Department of Homeland Security-funded project to install street lights that double as sophisticated surveillance devices pulled its promo video for ‘Intellistreets’ from You Tube hours after our article drawing attention to the issue was linked on the popular Drudge Report website
Having initially disabled comments on the You Tube clip, Illuminating Concepts yanked the video entirely this afternoon, presumably nervous about the negative publicity that could be generated from concerns about new high-tech street lights being used for “Homeland Security” purposes – their words, not ours.
However, having gone to the trouble of putting together a promotional video for their product, and having already started installing the system in the city of Farmington Hills, Michigan with the aid of federal funding, the fact that the company attempted to prevent people learning about the “Homeland Security” applications for the street lights speaks volumes.
If ‘Intellistreets’ is such a cutting edge concept that presents an array of wonderful benefits, as the promo video claims, then why remove it from You Tube? It’s almost like a kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Now that the company has tried to hide the video, it will only generate more suspicion about the true purpose behind ‘Intellistreets’ and the level of involvement on behalf of Homeland Security.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/10/promo-video-for-dhs-backed-spy-street.html#more
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Realtime communication applications such as "Skype" have flaws that could enable hackers to steal sensitive user details.
Researchers at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) and colleagues in France and Germany will soon notify Internet scholars of flaws in Skype and other Internet-based phone systems that could potentially disclose the identities, locations and even digital files of the hundreds of millions of users of these systems.
Their paper, “I Know Where You are and What You are Sharing," will be presented during the Internet Measurement Conference 2011 in Berlin on November 2, 2011. The authors are Chao Zhang and Keith Ross of NYU-Poly; Stevens Le Blond of the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS), Germany; and Arnaud Legout and Walid Dabbous of the French research institute I.N.R.I.A Sophia Antipolis.
I Know Where You are and What You are Sharing:
Ross, the Leonard J. Shustek Professor of Computer Science at NYU-Poly, explained that the team uncovered several properties of Skype that can track not only users’ locations over time but also their peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing activity. Even when a user blocks callers or connects from behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) - a common type of firewall - it does not prevent the privacy risk, he said. The research also revealed that marketers can easily link to information such as name, age, address, profession and employer from social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn in order to inexpensively build profiles on a single tracked target or a database of hundreds of thousands.
“These findings have real security implications for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who use VoIP or P2P file-sharing services,” said Ross. “A hacker anywhere in the world could easily track the whereabouts and file-sharing habits of a Skype user - from private citizens to celebrities and politicians - and use the information for purposes of stalking, blackmail or fraud.” Ross explained that these privacy weaknesses are fairly easy to exploit, and that a sophisticated high school-age hacker would likely be capable of executing similar attacks.
http://www.poly.edu/press-release/2011/10/18/researchers-uncover-privacy-flaws-can-reveal-users-identities-locations-and
Their paper, “I Know Where You are and What You are Sharing," will be presented during the Internet Measurement Conference 2011 in Berlin on November 2, 2011. The authors are Chao Zhang and Keith Ross of NYU-Poly; Stevens Le Blond of the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS), Germany; and Arnaud Legout and Walid Dabbous of the French research institute I.N.R.I.A Sophia Antipolis.
I Know Where You are and What You are Sharing:
Ross, the Leonard J. Shustek Professor of Computer Science at NYU-Poly, explained that the team uncovered several properties of Skype that can track not only users’ locations over time but also their peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing activity. Even when a user blocks callers or connects from behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) - a common type of firewall - it does not prevent the privacy risk, he said. The research also revealed that marketers can easily link to information such as name, age, address, profession and employer from social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn in order to inexpensively build profiles on a single tracked target or a database of hundreds of thousands.
“These findings have real security implications for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who use VoIP or P2P file-sharing services,” said Ross. “A hacker anywhere in the world could easily track the whereabouts and file-sharing habits of a Skype user - from private citizens to celebrities and politicians - and use the information for purposes of stalking, blackmail or fraud.” Ross explained that these privacy weaknesses are fairly easy to exploit, and that a sophisticated high school-age hacker would likely be capable of executing similar attacks.
http://www.poly.edu/press-release/2011/10/18/researchers-uncover-privacy-flaws-can-reveal-users-identities-locations-and
93 Milwaukee police officers and counting have been disciplined for violating law.
At least 93 Milwaukee police officers - ranking from street cop to captain - have been disciplined for violating the laws and ordinances they were sworn to uphold, a Journal Sentinel investigation found.
Their offenses range from sexual assault and domestic violence to drunken driving and shoplifting, according to internal affairs records. All still work for the Police Department, where they have the authority to make arrests, testify in court and patrol neighborhoods.
Some even spent time behind bars. Yet when their criminal cases were concluded, they went back to their careers with the Milwaukee police. At least one, John P. Corbett, was a police sergeant by day and an inmate by night. Convicted of driving drunk with a child in the car, Corbett did his job at the police station while on work release from jail. His 13-year-old daughter told authorities Corbett took the wheel after she got lost driving back from a tavern.
The Police Department, district attorney's office and Fire and Police Commission share responsibility for keeping officers in line.
All three fall short.
The department tolerates misconduct. Prosecutors give cops career-saving deals. The commission reduces punishments when officers break the rules. As a result, police who have crossed to the other side of the law keep the power that comes with the badge. Meanwhile, citizens have no way of knowing whether the officers responsible for protecting them have tarnished records.
What's more, no department policy prevents officers from enforcing the same laws they've been disciplined for breaking. An intoxicated motorist may be stopped - or allowed to drive on - by one of more than 30 cops who have been arrested for drunken driving. A woman who calls 911 in fear of her husband may be met by one of more than a dozen officers with a history of domestic violence.
Cops who break the law should be fired, said Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, who worked for the Milwaukee Police Department for 24 years. Illegal conduct undermines officers' authority and erodes the public trust, he said.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/at-least-93-milwaukee-police-officers-have-been-disciplined-for-violating-law-132268408.html
Milwaukee police often face minimal punishment for driving drunk.
At least 35 members of Milwaukee's police force have been disciplined by the department after being arrested for driving drunk off-duty since they were hired, a two-year Journal Sentinel investigation found.
Part 2:
Milwaukee cops caught drunk behind the wheel continue to be responsible for stopping drunken drivers and enforcing other laws, even if they've been convicted more than once.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/milwaukee-police-often-face-minimal-punishment-for-driving-drunk-132591453.html
Part 3:
Police Department ignores national standards for officers accused of domestic violence.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/police-department-ignores-national-standards-for-officers-accused-of-domestic-violence-132868198.html
Their offenses range from sexual assault and domestic violence to drunken driving and shoplifting, according to internal affairs records. All still work for the Police Department, where they have the authority to make arrests, testify in court and patrol neighborhoods.
Some even spent time behind bars. Yet when their criminal cases were concluded, they went back to their careers with the Milwaukee police. At least one, John P. Corbett, was a police sergeant by day and an inmate by night. Convicted of driving drunk with a child in the car, Corbett did his job at the police station while on work release from jail. His 13-year-old daughter told authorities Corbett took the wheel after she got lost driving back from a tavern.
The Police Department, district attorney's office and Fire and Police Commission share responsibility for keeping officers in line.
All three fall short.
The department tolerates misconduct. Prosecutors give cops career-saving deals. The commission reduces punishments when officers break the rules. As a result, police who have crossed to the other side of the law keep the power that comes with the badge. Meanwhile, citizens have no way of knowing whether the officers responsible for protecting them have tarnished records.
What's more, no department policy prevents officers from enforcing the same laws they've been disciplined for breaking. An intoxicated motorist may be stopped - or allowed to drive on - by one of more than 30 cops who have been arrested for drunken driving. A woman who calls 911 in fear of her husband may be met by one of more than a dozen officers with a history of domestic violence.
Cops who break the law should be fired, said Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, who worked for the Milwaukee Police Department for 24 years. Illegal conduct undermines officers' authority and erodes the public trust, he said.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/at-least-93-milwaukee-police-officers-have-been-disciplined-for-violating-law-132268408.html
Milwaukee police often face minimal punishment for driving drunk.
At least 35 members of Milwaukee's police force have been disciplined by the department after being arrested for driving drunk off-duty since they were hired, a two-year Journal Sentinel investigation found.
Part 2:
Milwaukee cops caught drunk behind the wheel continue to be responsible for stopping drunken drivers and enforcing other laws, even if they've been convicted more than once.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/milwaukee-police-often-face-minimal-punishment-for-driving-drunk-132591453.html
Part 3:
Police Department ignores national standards for officers accused of domestic violence.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/police-department-ignores-national-standards-for-officers-accused-of-domestic-violence-132868198.html
Monday, October 24, 2011
TX- Grand jury removes prosecutors so jurors could hear from a witness about potentially faulty DWI tests.
Houston, TX - There are new questions about just what a grand jury is investigating after prosecutors were thrown out of the grand jury room.
In an incredibly rare move this week, the foreperson of a Harris County Grand Jury asked a bailiff to remove prosecutors so jurors could hear from a witness on their own about potentially faulty DWI tests.
13 Undercover first raised questions about the accuracy of the Houston Police Department's so-called BAT vans, but now it's the investigation into how those problems were handled that's causing controversy.
For months, some of the people closest to HPD's breath testing vans have told you and us that the vans are unreliable -- meaning the roadside tests they do on alleged drunk drivers may not be accurate.
Now the controversy has spilled over into a grand jury investigation, and it's become so heated that a prosecutor working for Harris Co. District Attorney Pat Lykos was thrown out of the grand jury room earlier this week under the threat of arrest.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=8401416
In an incredibly rare move this week, the foreperson of a Harris County Grand Jury asked a bailiff to remove prosecutors so jurors could hear from a witness on their own about potentially faulty DWI tests.
13 Undercover first raised questions about the accuracy of the Houston Police Department's so-called BAT vans, but now it's the investigation into how those problems were handled that's causing controversy.
For months, some of the people closest to HPD's breath testing vans have told you and us that the vans are unreliable -- meaning the roadside tests they do on alleged drunk drivers may not be accurate.
Now the controversy has spilled over into a grand jury investigation, and it's become so heated that a prosecutor working for Harris Co. District Attorney Pat Lykos was thrown out of the grand jury room earlier this week under the threat of arrest.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=8401416
The FBI has been using Census data to create a national race-based law enforcement program.
New documents obtained by the ACLU show that the FBI has for years been using Census data to “map” ethnic and religious groups suspected of being likely to commit certain types of crimes.
Much is still not known about the apparent large-scale effort in racial profiling, partly because the documents the ACLU obtained through public records requests are heavily redacted.
The FBI maintains that the mapping program is designed to “better understand the communities that are potential victims of the threats,” but the ACLU says it is plainly unconstitutional.
It violates the First, Fourth and 14th amendments. This program is entirely targeting communities of people for investigation based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion, denying them equal protection under the law — and also targeting people because of their First Amendment-protected activities. They are then conducting broad suspicionless investigations called assessments, and collecting information in which there are Fourth Amendment concerns that it is unreasonable to conduct such invasive investigations.
ACLU Document link:
http://www.aclu.org/mapping-fbi-uncovering-abusive-surveillance-and-racial-profiling
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/racial_profiling_on_an_industrial_scale/singleton/
Much is still not known about the apparent large-scale effort in racial profiling, partly because the documents the ACLU obtained through public records requests are heavily redacted.
The FBI maintains that the mapping program is designed to “better understand the communities that are potential victims of the threats,” but the ACLU says it is plainly unconstitutional.
It violates the First, Fourth and 14th amendments. This program is entirely targeting communities of people for investigation based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion, denying them equal protection under the law — and also targeting people because of their First Amendment-protected activities. They are then conducting broad suspicionless investigations called assessments, and collecting information in which there are Fourth Amendment concerns that it is unreasonable to conduct such invasive investigations.
ACLU Document link:
http://www.aclu.org/mapping-fbi-uncovering-abusive-surveillance-and-racial-profiling
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/racial_profiling_on_an_industrial_scale/singleton/
Friday, October 21, 2011
The "Privacy" law allows police to read citizens emails and documents without a warrant.
Twenty-five years ago Friday, President Ronald Reagan signed
legislation that for the first time provided Americans with sweeping
digital-privacy protections.
The law came at a time when e-mail was used mostly by nerdy
scientists, when phones without wires hardly worked as you stepped out into the
backyard, and when the World Wide Web didn’t exist. Four presidencies later,
the Electronic Communications Privacy Act has aged
dramatically, providing little protection for citizens from the government’s
prying eyes — despite the law’s language remaining little changed.
The silver anniversary of ECPA has prompted the nation’s
biggest tech companies and prominent civil liberties groups to lobby for updates to what was once the nation’s leading
“privacy” legislation protecting Americans’ electronic communications from
warrantless searches and seizures.
Without such a change, the police will continue to be able
to get Americans’ e-mail, or their documents stored online that are more than 6
months old, without having to acquire a judge’s permission, as long as the
authorities promise it is “relevant” to a criminal investigation.
Yet there appears to be little government willpower to alter
course. Apathy and outright opposition are keeping a giant swath of Americans’
electronic communications exposed to warrantless government surveillance.
Legislation that would require police to get warrants to
access any cloud data was proposed five months ago by Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-Vermont), the powerful Judiciary Committee chair.
The Obama administration has blasted Leahy’s proposal. And SB1011 has
yet to obtain a single co-sponsor. Leahy, in marking ECPA’s anniversary,
announced Thursday he would bring the bill to his committee for a vote by year’s end,
despite it being doomed for lack of Republican or administration support.
Privato Spy is an online software program designed to gather information about a cell phone, but is it legal?
Excerpt taken from the Privato Spy FAQ section:
How Does it Work ?
It works as a background process and sends each Event Data by the SMS message centre to our Main Servers which store the Information in the Live Console, Logs that can later on be accessed by you.
SMS Privato Spy software is easy as 1, 2, 3 :
1. You buy a paysafecard ™ Voucher equal to the package price that you choose.
2. You register and pay for the package. We process your payment and provide a unique Username & Password.
Make sure the email address is spelled correctly because that's where you will receive the Login Username & Password.
3. Using the unique Username & Password, you log in to Live Console and Provide the Target Phone Number.
Enjoy spying !
What is the Spoofed SMS Message ?
This is the key factor in the beggining of the spy process.
The Spoofed SMS Message is a plain text message which contains a fake text that hides our software source code.
We use it to encourage the Target to open it, so the connection can be established.
This can be customised into any Text that you may think is more attractive to the Target.
The number on the arriving SMS Message can also be spoofed ( from a friend or relative ), however we suggest the best would be from the GSM Provider. By default we have provided various text templates to choose from.
Is SMS Privato Spy legal ?
It is completely legal as long as you are the owner of the mobile phone or have authorization to install SMS Privato Spy on it. SMS Privato Spy may not be held responsible in legal court for any actions taken by the user, after using the software. The user assumes resposibility for the information he gains access to.
Will other people know that SMS Privato Spy is installed or running on the mobile phones ?
No, there is no icon or symbol that shows the status of SMS Privato Spy on the screen of the mobile phone. The software silently makes a connection and regularly sends data packages. In a few words, it is completely undectable.
http://privatospy.com/us/
How Does it Work ?
It works as a background process and sends each Event Data by the SMS message centre to our Main Servers which store the Information in the Live Console, Logs that can later on be accessed by you.
SMS Privato Spy software is easy as 1, 2, 3 :
1. You buy a paysafecard ™ Voucher equal to the package price that you choose.
2. You register and pay for the package. We process your payment and provide a unique Username & Password.
Make sure the email address is spelled correctly because that's where you will receive the Login Username & Password.
3. Using the unique Username & Password, you log in to Live Console and Provide the Target Phone Number.
Enjoy spying !
What is the Spoofed SMS Message ?
This is the key factor in the beggining of the spy process.
The Spoofed SMS Message is a plain text message which contains a fake text that hides our software source code.
We use it to encourage the Target to open it, so the connection can be established.
This can be customised into any Text that you may think is more attractive to the Target.
The number on the arriving SMS Message can also be spoofed ( from a friend or relative ), however we suggest the best would be from the GSM Provider. By default we have provided various text templates to choose from.
Is SMS Privato Spy legal ?
It is completely legal as long as you are the owner of the mobile phone or have authorization to install SMS Privato Spy on it. SMS Privato Spy may not be held responsible in legal court for any actions taken by the user, after using the software. The user assumes resposibility for the information he gains access to.
Will other people know that SMS Privato Spy is installed or running on the mobile phones ?
No, there is no icon or symbol that shows the status of SMS Privato Spy on the screen of the mobile phone. The software silently makes a connection and regularly sends data packages. In a few words, it is completely undectable.
http://privatospy.com/us/
About one in 10 Americans aged 12 and over takes antidepressant medication.
More than one in 10 Americans over the age of 12 takes an antidepressant, a
class of drugs that has become wildly popular in the past several decades, U.S.
government researchers said Wednesday.
Antidepressants were the third-most common drug used by Americans of all ages between 2005 and 2008 and they were the most common drug among people aged 18 to 44, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
The team analyzed data on more than 12,000 Americans who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 2005 and 2008.
They found that antidepressant use in the United States jumped nearly 400 percent in the 2005-2008 survey period compared with the 1988-1994 period, with 11 percent of those over age 12 taking the drugs.
Eleven percent of Americans aged 12 years and over take antidepressant medication.
Females are more likely to take antidepressants than are males, and non-Hispanic white persons are more likely to take antidepressants than are non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American persons.
About one-third of persons with severe depressive symptoms take antidepressant medication.
More than 60% of Americans taking antidepressant medication have taken it for 2 years or longer, with 14% having taken the medication for 10 years or more.
Less than one-third of Americans taking one antidepressant medication and less than one-half of those taking multiple antidepressants have seen a mental health professional in the past year.
Antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008 and the most frequently used by persons aged 18–44 years. From 1988–1994 through 2005–2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%
National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys Pdf:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.htm
Antidepressants were the third-most common drug used by Americans of all ages between 2005 and 2008 and they were the most common drug among people aged 18 to 44, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
The team analyzed data on more than 12,000 Americans who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 2005 and 2008.
They found that antidepressant use in the United States jumped nearly 400 percent in the 2005-2008 survey period compared with the 1988-1994 period, with 11 percent of those over age 12 taking the drugs.
Antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008 and the most frequently used by persons aged 18–44 years. From 1988–1994 through 2005–2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%
National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys Pdf:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.htm
Growing prison populations affect state budgets.
WASHINGTON — The rising number of prisoners serving costly
life terms across the country is complicating state officials' efforts to make
dramatic cuts to large prison budgets, lawmakers and criminal justice officials
said.
From 1984 to 2008, the number of offenders serving life
terms quadrupled, from 34,000 to roughly 140,000, according to the most recent
count by The Sentencing
Project, which advocates alternatives to incarceration.
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Criminal Justice Policy Pdf:
http://thecrimereport.s3.amazonaws.com/2/b6/0/1215/balanced_justice.pdf
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-20/prison-life-sentence-budget/50846828/1
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Criminal Justice Policy Pdf:
http://thecrimereport.s3.amazonaws.com/2/b6/0/1215/balanced_justice.pdf
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tennessee becomes the first state to spy on Americans using the Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response Vehicles.
Portland, Tenn. – You're probably used to seeing TSA's
signature blue uniforms at the airport, but now agents are hitting the
interstates to fight terrorism with Visible Intermodal Prevention and
Response (VIPR).
"Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons.
Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.
"Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons.
Tuesday's statewide "VIPR" operation isn't in response to any particular threat, according to officials.
Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.
Agents are recruiting truck drivers, like Rudy Gonzales, into the
First Observer Highway Security Program to say something if they see
something.
"Not only truck drivers, but cars, everybody should be aware of what's going on, on the road," said Gonzales.
It's all meant to urge every driver to call authorities if they see something suspicious.
"Somebody sees something somewhere and we want them to be
responsible citizens, report that and let us work it through our
processes to abet the concern that they had when they saw something
suspicious," said Paul Armes, TSA Federal Security Director for
Nashville International Airport.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol checked trucks with drug and bomb sniffing dogs during random inspections.
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/15725035/officials-claim-tennessee-becomes-first-state-to-deploy-vipr-statewide
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/15725035/officials-claim-tennessee-becomes-first-state-to-deploy-vipr-statewide
NYCLU study of stun guns in New York finds possible misuse in nearly 60% of incidents.
In nearly 60 percent of incidents
across the state, police officers misued stun guns, according to a report
released by the New York Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday. And — with the
exception of the NYPD’s Taser guidelines — many departments did not comply with
the recommendations of national law enforcement agencies.
http://www.nyclu.org/news/nyclu-analysis-finds-misuse-of-tasers-police-across-ny-state
The report’s findings also noted
that Taser use was justified in less than half of the incidents reported in
Albany, Glens Falls, Greece, Guilderland, Nassau County, Rochester Saratoga
Springs and Syracuse. And in 35 percent of the cases, the subjects were engaged
in defensive or passive resistance. There were no incident reports for the
NYPD.
The NYCLU’s analysis found that an
absence of sound policies, training and guidelines to direct the lawful use of
Tasers is contributing to the disturbing pattern of misuse and overuse of the
weapons and putting New Yorkers at risk.
“Our analysis shows that police
officers are using Tasers in inappropriate, irresponsible and downright deadly
manner,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “This disturbing pattern
of misuse and abuse endangers lives. Law enforcement agencies that choose to
use Tasers must adopt clear and effective policies governing their use, and
they must do so without delay.”
·
Nearly 60 percent of reported Taser incidents did not meet expert-recommended
criteria that limit the weapon’s use to situations where officers can document
active aggression or a risk of physical injury.
·
Fifteen percent of incident reports indicated clearly inappropriate
Taser use, such as officers shocking people who were already handcuffed or
restrained.
·
Only 15 percent of documented Taser incidents involved people who
were armed or who were thought to be armed, belying the myth that Tasers are
most frequently used as an alternative to deadly force.
·
More than one-third of Taser incidents involved multiple or prolonged
shocks, which experts link to an increased risk of injury and death.
·
More than a quarter of Taser incidents involved shocks directly to
subjects’ chest area, despite explicit warnings by the weapon’s manufacturer
that targeting the chest can cause cardiac arrest.
·
In 75 percent of incidents, no verbal warnings were reported, despite
expert recommendations that verbal warnings precede Taser firings.
·
40 percent of the Taser incidents analyzed involved at-risk subjects,
such as children, the elderly, the visibly infirm and individuals who are
seriously intoxicated or mentally ill.
·
People of color are overwhelmingly represented in Taser incidents. Of
all incidents in which race was recorded, 58 percent involved blacks or
Latinos.
Taking Tasers Seriously: The Need
for Better Regulations of Stung Guns in NY
The FBI will begin rolling out its Next Generation Identification (NGI) facial recognition service in January 2012.
NextGov.com is reporting that the FBI will begin rolling out its Next
Generation Identification (NGI) facial recognition service as early as
this January. Once NGI is fully deployed and once each of its
approximately 100 million records also includes photographs, it will
become trivially easy to find and track Americans.
The FBI expects to activate a nationwide facial recognition service for authorities in select states by January 2012. Officials will be able to upload a picture of an unknown person and receive a list of mug shots ranked in order of similarity to the features of the subject in the photo. The tool will search among the 10 million images stored in the FBI's biometric identification system for suggestions, but will not provide a direct match.
As NGI expands the FBI’s IAFIS criminal and civil fingerprint database to include multimodal biometric identifiers such as iris scans, palm prints, photos, and voice data. The Bureau is planning to introduce each of these capabilities in phases (pdf, p.4) over the next two and a half years, starting with facial recognition in four states—Michigan, Washington, Florida, and North Carolina—this winter.
http://biometrics.org/bc2010/presentations/DOJ/pender-FBI-Next-Generation-Identification-Overview.pdf
Despite the FBI’s claims to the contrary, NGI will result in a massive expansion of government data collection for both criminal and noncriminal purposes. IAFIS is already the largest biometric database in the world—it includes 70 million subjects in the criminal master file and more than 31 million civil fingerprints. Even if there are duplicate entries or some overlap between civil and criminal records, the combined number of records covers close to 1/3 the population of the United States. When NGI allows photographs and other biometric identifiers to be linked to each of those records, all easily searchable through sophisticated search tools, it will have an unprecedented impact on Americans' privacy interests.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/ngi
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/fbi-ramps-its-next-generation-identification-roll-out-winter-will-your-image-end
The FBI expects to activate a nationwide facial recognition service for authorities in select states by January 2012. Officials will be able to upload a picture of an unknown person and receive a list of mug shots ranked in order of similarity to the features of the subject in the photo. The tool will search among the 10 million images stored in the FBI's biometric identification system for suggestions, but will not provide a direct match.
As NGI expands the FBI’s IAFIS criminal and civil fingerprint database to include multimodal biometric identifiers such as iris scans, palm prints, photos, and voice data. The Bureau is planning to introduce each of these capabilities in phases (pdf, p.4) over the next two and a half years, starting with facial recognition in four states—Michigan, Washington, Florida, and North Carolina—this winter.
http://biometrics.org/bc2010/presentations/DOJ/pender-FBI-Next-Generation-Identification-Overview.pdf
Despite the FBI’s claims to the contrary, NGI will result in a massive expansion of government data collection for both criminal and noncriminal purposes. IAFIS is already the largest biometric database in the world—it includes 70 million subjects in the criminal master file and more than 31 million civil fingerprints. Even if there are duplicate entries or some overlap between civil and criminal records, the combined number of records covers close to 1/3 the population of the United States. When NGI allows photographs and other biometric identifiers to be linked to each of those records, all easily searchable through sophisticated search tools, it will have an unprecedented impact on Americans' privacy interests.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/ngi
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/fbi-ramps-its-next-generation-identification-roll-out-winter-will-your-image-end
Concerns arise over alleged "Bite Mark" evidence, as city settles rape case lawsuit for $2.8M.
Detriot- Warren city officials have agreed to pay $2.8 million to a man who, more than two decades ago, was wrongfully convicted for the rape of a woman and spent almost 12 years in prison.
Jeffrey Moldowan was convicted in 1991 on attempted murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct charges involving his former girlfriend, who had been severely and permanently injured and left on a Detroit street in 1990. In 2002, the case was thrown out, and a 2003 retrial resulted in an acquittal. A co-defendant, Michael Cristini, was acquitted the following year. In 2005, Moldowan sued the city, a police detective, a bite mark expert who had testified at his trial, Macomb County and the Prosecutor's Office. A lawsuit filed by Cristini in 2007 is pending, according to the Associated Press.
Moldowan, now 41, filed a lawsuit in 2005, claiming his civil rights were violated by a bungled police investigation and the decision to hold a second trial. He also sued Dr. Alan Warnick, whose bite-mark testimony was crucial in the 1991 trial. Warnick reached an out-of-court settlement in August.
Trial for the remaining defendants in the lawsuit — Macomb County and current Prosecutor Eric Smith — is scheduled before District Judge David Lawson for Nov. 2.
http://detnews.com/article/20111019/METRO03/110190345/Warren-settles-rape-case-lawsuit-for-$2.8M#ixzz1bK4luMjZ
Jeffrey Moldowan was convicted in 1991 on attempted murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct charges involving his former girlfriend, who had been severely and permanently injured and left on a Detroit street in 1990. In 2002, the case was thrown out, and a 2003 retrial resulted in an acquittal. A co-defendant, Michael Cristini, was acquitted the following year. In 2005, Moldowan sued the city, a police detective, a bite mark expert who had testified at his trial, Macomb County and the Prosecutor's Office. A lawsuit filed by Cristini in 2007 is pending, according to the Associated Press.
Moldowan, now 41, filed a lawsuit in 2005, claiming his civil rights were violated by a bungled police investigation and the decision to hold a second trial. He also sued Dr. Alan Warnick, whose bite-mark testimony was crucial in the 1991 trial. Warnick reached an out-of-court settlement in August.
Trial for the remaining defendants in the lawsuit — Macomb County and current Prosecutor Eric Smith — is scheduled before District Judge David Lawson for Nov. 2.
http://detnews.com/article/20111019/METRO03/110190345/Warren-settles-rape-case-lawsuit-for-$2.8M#ixzz1bK4luMjZ
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Criminal court judges are under investigation for possibly padding their incomes for using a judicial expense fund.
New Orleans- State Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has opened a probe into whether Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judges illegally padded their incomes by using a judicial expense fund to buy high-dollar health and life insurance policies, trips and other things of value. According to court documents in an unrelated criminal case, District Attorney Leon Cannizarro referred an investigation into the collection and use of the funds to Caldwell's office on Aug. 4.
The exact focus of the investigation is unclear. But this summer, the Metropolitan Crime Commission asked the state legislative auditor to review expense funds in both criminal and civil courts in Orleans Parish. The money in the fund comes from fees paid by criminal convicts.
Criminal court judges in New Orleans are under investigation for their use of an account funded with fees paid by criminal defendants.
The 12 criminal court judges in Orleans Parish make $130,000 a year.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/10/louisiana_attorney_general_loo.html
The exact focus of the investigation is unclear. But this summer, the Metropolitan Crime Commission asked the state legislative auditor to review expense funds in both criminal and civil courts in Orleans Parish. The money in the fund comes from fees paid by criminal convicts.
Criminal court judges in New Orleans are under investigation for their use of an account funded with fees paid by criminal defendants.
The 12 criminal court judges in Orleans Parish make $130,000 a year.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/10/louisiana_attorney_general_loo.html
Federal Gov't. released tens of thousands of living Americans social security numbers.
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress say they are increasingly concerned by failures of the Social Security Administration to keep confidential information safe and to warn the public when the security of personal data has been breached.
Several have expressed dismay following disclosures by Scripps Howard News Service that federal authorities kept silent when the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of living Americans accidentally were released in a widely available database of dead persons intended to protect U.S. businesses from fraud.
"The failure of the Social Security Administration to protect that critical information and its failure to notify the tens of thousands of Americans that this breach put them at risk is disturbing," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., responding to the Scripps investigation.
http://scrippsnews.com/content/lawmakers-dismayed-social-security-personal-data-lapse
Several have expressed dismay following disclosures by Scripps Howard News Service that federal authorities kept silent when the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of living Americans accidentally were released in a widely available database of dead persons intended to protect U.S. businesses from fraud.
"The failure of the Social Security Administration to protect that critical information and its failure to notify the tens of thousands of Americans that this breach put them at risk is disturbing," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., responding to the Scripps investigation.
http://scrippsnews.com/content/lawmakers-dismayed-social-security-personal-data-lapse
"Smishing" or scam phone calls, spread to cell phones.
Brion Sever received an automated voice mail message on his cellphone last week
that caught him off guard.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-10-18/smishing-bank-scam/50817688/1?loc=interstitialskip
It contained an alert that his Wells
Fargo bank account had been compromised.
Sever knew better. As a Monmouth University criminology
professor, he has studied scams. But the one that surfaced on Oct. 9 left him
both impressed and spooked.
"For the first 5 seconds, you're like, 'Oh no!' You're
caught off guard," he said. "It was an automated computer voice and very well
done, very sophisticated."
Sever experienced a spreading high-tech con known as
"smishing."
Smishing is like phishing, a technique that uses e-mails
that look legitimate to trick victims into handing over vital information, but
with smishing, identity thieves ply their scam through messages to a mobile
phone, not a computer.
With recent attacks in the western U.S., law enforcement
and consumer affairs officials have expressed concern that similar large-scale
attacks could spread nationally.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-10-18/smishing-bank-scam/50817688/1?loc=interstitialskip
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The ACLU is suing the city of Wilmington for info. on police stun-gun use and cell phone tracking.
The ACLU of Delaware on Friday sued the city of Wilmington to gain access to information about how the police department uses stun guns and cellphone-tracking records.
Citing an anti-terrorism exemption in the Freedom of Information Act, the city has denied the local ACLU chapter access to both records. The city of Wilmington had no comment on the ACLU's lawsuit, a spokesman said.
American Civil Liberties Union chapters across the country are studying frequent use of phone records by law enforcement to track individuals, said Kathleen MacRae, executive director of the ACLU of Delaware.
Among the records sought by the ACLU include policies and procedures for obtaining phone records; the use of cellphone records to identify calls made in a particular area; and the legal justification for obtaining phone records. The ACLU also wanted to know whether the city uses "digital fences" in which police are notified by telephone companies whenever a call comes from a specific geographic area.
"There's no oversight, there's no warrants, there's no reporting to the courts," MacRae said. "We're trying to come to an understanding of what it is they're doing. Because right now, anything goes."
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111015/NEWS/110150339/ACLU-sues-Wilmington-for-info-on-police-stun-gun-use-phone-tracking?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE
Citing an anti-terrorism exemption in the Freedom of Information Act, the city has denied the local ACLU chapter access to both records. The city of Wilmington had no comment on the ACLU's lawsuit, a spokesman said.
American Civil Liberties Union chapters across the country are studying frequent use of phone records by law enforcement to track individuals, said Kathleen MacRae, executive director of the ACLU of Delaware.
Among the records sought by the ACLU include policies and procedures for obtaining phone records; the use of cellphone records to identify calls made in a particular area; and the legal justification for obtaining phone records. The ACLU also wanted to know whether the city uses "digital fences" in which police are notified by telephone companies whenever a call comes from a specific geographic area.
"There's no oversight, there's no warrants, there's no reporting to the courts," MacRae said. "We're trying to come to an understanding of what it is they're doing. Because right now, anything goes."
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111015/NEWS/110150339/ACLU-sues-Wilmington-for-info-on-police-stun-gun-use-phone-tracking?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE
Monday, October 17, 2011
Police unions fight against policies requiring officers to provide samples of their DNA.
When police in southern Louisiana were investigating the deaths of eight women
in 2009, the sophistication of the crimes set off rumors that the serial killer
was a police officer - speculation that became so pervasive that officials
ordered DNA testing of law enforcement personnel to rule it out.
Experts say policies requiring police officers' to give samples of their DNA have been slower to catch on in the U.S. because police unions have more power here.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_DNA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-16-14-43-09
All local officers agreed to the testing and were eliminated
as suspects, but the killer remains at large, said Jefferson Davis Parish
Sheriff Ricky Edwards.
Having officers' DNA samples on file is important for saving
time in investigations and fending off doubt about evidence at trials because it
allows authorities to identify unknown genetic material found at crime scenes,
Edwards and other police and crime lab officials say.
Police in other parts of the country, however, are not as
willing to hand over their DNA. Rank-and-file police from Connecticut to Chicago
to Los Angeles have opposed what some experts say is a slowly emerging trend in
the U.S. to collect officers' DNA.
Experts say policies requiring police officers' to give samples of their DNA have been slower to catch on in the U.S. because police unions have more power here.
Lisa Hurst, a senior consultant with the lobbying firm of
Gordon Thomas Honeywell, said that as DNA technology advances, it's more
important that officers' DNA is on file to eliminate unknown samples found at
crime scenes.
"Today's tests pick up a high amount of samples," said
Hurst, whose firm lobbies for the DNA industry and advises governments on DNA
legislation. "They need to make sure that this unknown (DNA) profile isn't from
a detective or patrol guy who accidentally sneezed while walking through the
room."
It's especially important, she said, for eliminating
reasonable doubt at criminal trials.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_DNA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-16-14-43-09
Facebook is being sued for violating wiretapping laws.
A Mississippi woman has accused Facebook of violating federal wiretap
statutes by tracking her internet browsing history even when she wasn't logged
onto the social networking site.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in federal court in the northern district of Mississippi, Brooke Rutledge of Lafayette County, Mississippi, also asserted claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, trespassing, and invasion of privacy.
Rutledge of Mississippi has joined a growing number of Facebook users who are suing the social networking giant over allegations that it violates federal wiretap laws. Facebook may not be a phone company, but it has been accused multiple times of using cookies to track users even after they log out of the service. Palo Alto has since twice denied the allegations, and has also twice fixed the issue. In addition to this one, several similar lawsuits have been filed in other states, including Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana.
“Leading up to September 23, 2011, Facebook tracked, collected, and stored its users’ wire or electronic communications, including but not limited to portions of their internet browsing history even when the users were not logged-in to Facebook,” the complaint states. “Plaintiff did not give consent or otherwise authorize Facebook to intercept, track, collect, and store her wire or electronic communications, including but not limited to her internet browsing history when not logged-in to Facebook.”
The complaint claims the behavior violated provisions of Facebook's own privacy policy that state: “If you're logged out or don't have a Facebook account and visit a website with the Like button or another social plugin, your browser sends us a more limited set of information. For example, because you're not logged in to Facebook, we don't receive your User ID.”
Also this week, former Louisiana Attorney General Richard Ieyoub filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Facebook user Janet Seamon. The allegations were almost identical: the social networking giant is accused of collecting and storing users’ Internet browsing history without their permission. Ieyoub is asking a judge to certify the lawsuit as a class action. It seeks unspecified punitive damages and statutory damages of $100 for each day that each class members’ data was “wrongfully obtained” or $10,000 for each alleged violation.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-sued-for-violating-wiretap-laws-with-tracking-cookies/4687
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in federal court in the northern district of Mississippi, Brooke Rutledge of Lafayette County, Mississippi, also asserted claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, trespassing, and invasion of privacy.
Rutledge of Mississippi has joined a growing number of Facebook users who are suing the social networking giant over allegations that it violates federal wiretap laws. Facebook may not be a phone company, but it has been accused multiple times of using cookies to track users even after they log out of the service. Palo Alto has since twice denied the allegations, and has also twice fixed the issue. In addition to this one, several similar lawsuits have been filed in other states, including Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana.
“Leading up to September 23, 2011, Facebook tracked, collected, and stored its users’ wire or electronic communications, including but not limited to portions of their internet browsing history even when the users were not logged-in to Facebook,” the complaint states. “Plaintiff did not give consent or otherwise authorize Facebook to intercept, track, collect, and store her wire or electronic communications, including but not limited to her internet browsing history when not logged-in to Facebook.”
The complaint claims the behavior violated provisions of Facebook's own privacy policy that state: “If you're logged out or don't have a Facebook account and visit a website with the Like button or another social plugin, your browser sends us a more limited set of information. For example, because you're not logged in to Facebook, we don't receive your User ID.”
Also this week, former Louisiana Attorney General Richard Ieyoub filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Facebook user Janet Seamon. The allegations were almost identical: the social networking giant is accused of collecting and storing users’ Internet browsing history without their permission. Ieyoub is asking a judge to certify the lawsuit as a class action. It seeks unspecified punitive damages and statutory damages of $100 for each day that each class members’ data was “wrongfully obtained” or $10,000 for each alleged violation.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-sued-for-violating-wiretap-laws-with-tracking-cookies/4687
Saturday, October 15, 2011
The new iPhone 4S with the iOS 5 mobile-operating system means people will be tracked like never before.
Updated location features in iOS mean that apps like Foursquare and Apple’s own
Reminders can notify you when you enter or leave a geographic region. For
instance, Foursquare’s new feature Radar will pop up a notification when you’re
near a location—or people—that Foursquare thinks might be of interest to you.
How? An updated Core Location feature, Region Monitoring.
Region Monitoring isn’t new to iOS. In fact, it was part of iOS 4. But the latest incarnation has received a few new APIs and been tweaked out so that developers, including Apple, are actually using it. Since Core Location is a system-level service that can be accessed by any app on your device, if an app or service on your device is gathering location information via Wi-Fi, cell-tower triangulation, or GPS, that information can be shared passively with other apps. For example, if the Maps app is open, the GPS information is automatically shared with any apps that are tapping into Core Location. Or the new Find My Friends, which in our testing keeps pretty accurate and well updated tabs on you.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/ios5-tracking-feature/
Region Monitoring isn’t new to iOS. In fact, it was part of iOS 4. But the latest incarnation has received a few new APIs and been tweaked out so that developers, including Apple, are actually using it. Since Core Location is a system-level service that can be accessed by any app on your device, if an app or service on your device is gathering location information via Wi-Fi, cell-tower triangulation, or GPS, that information can be shared passively with other apps. For example, if the Maps app is open, the GPS information is automatically shared with any apps that are tapping into Core Location. Or the new Find My Friends, which in our testing keeps pretty accurate and well updated tabs on you.
The Region Monitoring feature allows apps to register to be
notified when a device crosses the threshold of a geographic region. This
information can be denoted by location, radius, and accuracy. Because Core
Location is constantly running, the app doesn’t have to be running in the
foreground or background to receive this information. When iOS determines that
you’ve entered a registered area, it tells the app and the app throws an alert
or notification. This is what happens when you get to the market and Apple’s
Reminders app tells you that you desperately need to buy toilet paper with a
notification.
According to the developers I spoke with, unless an app is
abusing Core Location and constantly sending notifications based on Region
Monitoring, there shouldn’t be any substantial battery drain. In fact, Apple
seems to always be tinkering with iOS to enhance the accuracy of Core Location
without killing your battery every time you drive through town. (Interestingly,
iOS 5 now hounds you when turn off Wi-Fi, reminding you that it helps deliver
more accurate location results. That’s partly to help their crowd-sourced Wi-Fi
location database, of course.)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/ios5-tracking-feature/
The TSA's latest attempt to intimidate the public, interrogate every passenger before they board a plane.
BOSTON – As Ingrid Esser hands a Transportation
Security Administration officer her identification and boarding pass for a
flight from Logan
International Airport to Washington, D.C., she faces a flurry of questions.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011-10-13/Next-layer-of-air-security-Chat-downs-on-top-of-pat-downs/50757204/1?loc=interstitialskip
Where is she going? Why? How long is she staying?
"It was a new experience," says Esser, 31, who works in
public relations. "It doesn't bother me at all. I understand their job, and it's
keeping America safe."
In that exchange, Esser became part of an experiment that,
if successful, could change how every passenger who seeks to board a commercial
flight in the USA
is screened: Besides going through a metal detector, and possibly a full-body
scanning machine and pat-down, they'd first undergo a "chat-down," or
face-to-face questioning by a TSA officer. The tactic
is similar to what air travelers in Israel face under a program aimed at
averting terrorism in the skies.
Chat-downs, a play on the word "pat-down," describing the
physical screening that has angered some passengers as too intrusive, are part
of the U.S. government's effort to adopt a broader strategy of sifting out
people who might pose a greater security risk among the roughly 1.2 million
people who fly each day.
Chat-downs already are controversial in their trial stage.
Civil-liberties advocates and some critics of the TSA see them as another
government invasion of fliers' privacy, a hassle for mostly law-abiding
passengers or ineffectual.
"They're asking questions that people have a right not to
answer," says Mike German, senior policy counsel at the ACLU. "It's nobody's
business — and certainly not the government's business — where you're traveling
and why."
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011-10-13/Next-layer-of-air-security-Chat-downs-on-top-of-pat-downs/50757204/1?loc=interstitialskip
Friday, October 14, 2011
Prosecutors don't need a warrant to obtain a cell phone's location.
Prosecutors do not need a warrant to compel a cellular phone service
provider to turn over data about call location, a federal judge in
Washington said in a ruling unsealed Wednesday.
The ruling
examines the government’s attempt to get data from the undisclosed
service provider amid a U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation of an armed
robbery of an armored truck.
Ruling: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/lamberth_ruling.pdf
Ruling: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/lamberth_ruling.pdf
Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia redacted the name of the service provider, the target phone
number and the name of its alleged user.
Lamberth ruled in part for prosecutors, reviving the government’s
push to obtain cell phone data. The judge reversed a magistrate judge’s
ruling from August.
But Lamberth did not rubberstamp the government’s request,
submitted under the Stored Communications Act. Instead, he said
prosecutors must present additional evidence to prove the requested data
is material to the armed robbery investigation. The burden is lower
than the one a warrant would require.
The dispute gave the court the opportunity to explore the scope of a
controversial Washington federal appeals court ruling about the
propriety of warrantless GPS surveillance.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/10/judge-no-warrant-needed-for-cell-phone-location-data-.htmlAn ex-prosecutor, who is now a judge, is accused of hiding exculpatory evidence.
AUSTIN, Texas- New DNA testing and the release of case files from an earlier slaying suggest that a prosecutor, who is now a judge, may have withheld evidence that could have implicated the man suspected of killing her mother - before she was killed.
"I was young when my mom died, so it's not as painful," said Baker. "It's just not knowing that really bothers me."
Last week, former grocery store inventory manager Michael Morton was freed after serving nearly 25 years of a life sentence on a wrongful conviction for killing his wife, Christine, in August 1986. Just like Baker, she was found beaten to death in her bed. New DNA testing on evidence collected after both killings linked them to a man with a long arrest record in several states. Authorities are trying to find the suspect, who they haven't publicly identified, and they haven't said whether he's suspected in any other killings.
Authorities discovered the DNA connection in the two cases after Morton's Houston-based attorney, John Raley, teamed up with the New York-based Innocence Project and spent years battling for additional testing of a bloody bandanna found near the Morton home. But they now also allege that Morton may never have been convicted if the former prosecutor who tried the case, Ken Anderson, hadn't concealed key evidence from the defense - potentially leaving the true killer free to strike again.
Among the evidence Morton's lawyers say Anderson concealed from the defense was a statement that Christine Morton's mother gave to the lead investigator, police Sgt. Don Wood. She told Wood that her grandson said he watched his mother get killed and that her attacker was a "monster," not his father, as police suspected. She implored Wood to try to find this monster.
They say Anderson also didn't tell Morton's defense lawyers that Christine Morton's credit card was used in San Antonio two days after her death and that a forged check in her name was cashed several days later. Michael Morton testified during his trial that his wife's purse had been taken from the home.
Anderson, who was appointed to the bench in 2002 by Gov. Rick Perry, did not respond to several requests made through his court administrator to discuss the Morton case and address the allegations. Wood has retired and could not be located for comment.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEXAS_PRISONER_FREED?SITE=WDUN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
How many NYPD police planted drugs on innocent citizens?
A former New York narcotics detective has testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.
Stephen Anderson testified under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors after he was implicated in the corruption scandal that resulted in the arrests of eight police officers and a department shake-up, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.
Anderson was arrested for planting cocaine, a practice known as "flaking," on four men in a Queens bar in 2008 to help out a fellow officer, Henry Tavarez, whose "buy-and-bust" arrests had been low, the newspaper reported.
A corrupt ex-undercover cop says NYPD supervisors paid detectives extra overtime for hard-drug busts, creating a covert reward system for cocaine and heroin arrests.
Undercovers taking down smack or crack suspects routinely got two or three hours of overtime as payback, Anderson testified in a Brooklyn courtroom.
"So giving you overtime for a crack cocaine arrest is a reward for the nature of the crime ... would that be a fair statement?" asked Justice Gustin Reichbach.
"Yes, that's fair to say," Anderson testified last week at the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.
Although Anderson didn't say so directly, the system provided rogue cops with a financial incentive to fabricate cocaine and heroin busts.
The OT had nothing to do with the amount of casework, he said.
Anderson said he first filed phony paperwork on March 15, 2005 - his "training day" as an undercover narcotics detective on the streets of Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Paired with another allegedly corrupt cop, Anderson filled out paperwork taking credit for a drug buy made by his partner.
He also provided multiple accounts of lying to grand juries, falsifying police reports and fabricating the circumstances of drug busts in Brooklyn and Queens.
"I had decided to give him [Tavarez] the drugs to help him out so that he could say he had a buy," Anderson testified in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Anderson's testimony came in the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.
"Did you observe with some frequency this ... practice which is taking someone who was seemingly not guilty of a crime and laying the drugs on them?" Justice Gustin Reichbach asked Anderson.
"Yes, multiple times," Anderson replied. "As a detective, you still have a number to reach while you are in the narcotics division."
Cops made money by fabricating drug charges against innocent people, Stephen Anderson testified.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/10/14/2011-10-14_excop_ot_rewarded_in_drug_raps_added_incentive_to_fabricate_charges.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/10/13/Testimony-reveals-NYPD-false-arrests/UPI-18271318523938/
Stephen Anderson testified under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors after he was implicated in the corruption scandal that resulted in the arrests of eight police officers and a department shake-up, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.
Anderson was arrested for planting cocaine, a practice known as "flaking," on four men in a Queens bar in 2008 to help out a fellow officer, Henry Tavarez, whose "buy-and-bust" arrests had been low, the newspaper reported.
A corrupt ex-undercover cop says NYPD supervisors paid detectives extra overtime for hard-drug busts, creating a covert reward system for cocaine and heroin arrests.
Undercovers taking down smack or crack suspects routinely got two or three hours of overtime as payback, Anderson testified in a Brooklyn courtroom.
"So giving you overtime for a crack cocaine arrest is a reward for the nature of the crime ... would that be a fair statement?" asked Justice Gustin Reichbach.
"Yes, that's fair to say," Anderson testified last week at the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.
Although Anderson didn't say so directly, the system provided rogue cops with a financial incentive to fabricate cocaine and heroin busts.
The OT had nothing to do with the amount of casework, he said.
Anderson said he first filed phony paperwork on March 15, 2005 - his "training day" as an undercover narcotics detective on the streets of Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Paired with another allegedly corrupt cop, Anderson filled out paperwork taking credit for a drug buy made by his partner.
He also provided multiple accounts of lying to grand juries, falsifying police reports and fabricating the circumstances of drug busts in Brooklyn and Queens.
"I had decided to give him [Tavarez] the drugs to help him out so that he could say he had a buy," Anderson testified in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Anderson's testimony came in the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.
"Did you observe with some frequency this ... practice which is taking someone who was seemingly not guilty of a crime and laying the drugs on them?" Justice Gustin Reichbach asked Anderson.
"Yes, multiple times," Anderson replied. "As a detective, you still have a number to reach while you are in the narcotics division."
Cops made money by fabricating drug charges against innocent people, Stephen Anderson testified.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/10/14/2011-10-14_excop_ot_rewarded_in_drug_raps_added_incentive_to_fabricate_charges.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/10/13/Testimony-reveals-NYPD-false-arrests/UPI-18271318523938/
Why did Gizmodo escape indictment in IPhone prototype deal?
The greatiPhone prototype caper of 2010 has finally ended, with the two men accused of shopping the device to gadget blogs sentenced to probation yesterday.
Last year's investigation began with a raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's Fremont, Calif., home, followed by a painstaking examination of Chen's electronic files. Investigators suggested at the time that Chen could face criminal charges, and he soon hired a criminal defense attorney.
But San Mateo County District Attorney Steven Wagstaffe told CNET yesterday that there was not enough evidence to indict Chen or anyone else affiliated with Gizmodo.
What we were looking at was possession of stolen property and whether the evidence supported extortion," Wagstaffe said. "You can say we were looking at whether their actions supported that they participated in the theft of the phone. We didn't think it supported either."
As part of the criminal investigation surrounding the incident last year, agents with the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT), a "partnership of 17 local, state, and federal agencies" focused on computer-related crime in the Bay Area, executed a warrant and raided the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, searching for evidence related to Gizmodo's scoop about the lost phone. As we repeatedly pointed out at the time, regardless of whether Chen or Gizmodo could have been charged with any crime related to obtaining and discussing the phone, state and federal law plainly barred the issuance and execution of the search warrant directed at journalist-held information "obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public." While never discussing the matter directly, the San Mateo D.A.'s office tacitly conceded as much three months later when they petitioned the court to withdraw the warrant.
It turns out that prosecutors concluded that neither Chen nor Gizmodo did anything wrong after all. Legally, that is. Speaking to CNET.com earlier this week, San Mateo County District Attorney Steven Wagstaffe said that there was not sufficient evidence to charge anyone associated with the tech site with "possession of stolen property" or "extortion." Nevertheless, Wagstaffe took it upon himself to deride the quality of the improperly-seized, unpublished correspondence between the Gizmodo editors, describing it as "juvenile."
Another reason why prosecutors may not have wanted to pursue criminal charges against Gizmodo: allegations that the raid, conducted with a search warrant, on Chen's home was illegal. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and other groups have argued that the raid violated federal and state law.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20118994-37/how-gizmodo-escaped-indictment-in-iphone-prototype-deal/
Last year's investigation began with a raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's Fremont, Calif., home, followed by a painstaking examination of Chen's electronic files. Investigators suggested at the time that Chen could face criminal charges, and he soon hired a criminal defense attorney.
But San Mateo County District Attorney Steven Wagstaffe told CNET yesterday that there was not enough evidence to indict Chen or anyone else affiliated with Gizmodo.
What we were looking at was possession of stolen property and whether the evidence supported extortion," Wagstaffe said. "You can say we were looking at whether their actions supported that they participated in the theft of the phone. We didn't think it supported either."
As part of the criminal investigation surrounding the incident last year, agents with the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT), a "partnership of 17 local, state, and federal agencies" focused on computer-related crime in the Bay Area, executed a warrant and raided the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, searching for evidence related to Gizmodo's scoop about the lost phone. As we repeatedly pointed out at the time, regardless of whether Chen or Gizmodo could have been charged with any crime related to obtaining and discussing the phone, state and federal law plainly barred the issuance and execution of the search warrant directed at journalist-held information "obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public." While never discussing the matter directly, the San Mateo D.A.'s office tacitly conceded as much three months later when they petitioned the court to withdraw the warrant.
It turns out that prosecutors concluded that neither Chen nor Gizmodo did anything wrong after all. Legally, that is. Speaking to CNET.com earlier this week, San Mateo County District Attorney Steven Wagstaffe said that there was not sufficient evidence to charge anyone associated with the tech site with "possession of stolen property" or "extortion." Nevertheless, Wagstaffe took it upon himself to deride the quality of the improperly-seized, unpublished correspondence between the Gizmodo editors, describing it as "juvenile."
Another reason why prosecutors may not have wanted to pursue criminal charges against Gizmodo: allegations that the raid, conducted with a search warrant, on Chen's home was illegal. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and other groups have argued that the raid violated federal and state law.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20118994-37/how-gizmodo-escaped-indictment-in-iphone-prototype-deal/
Thursday, October 13, 2011
MA- Is there reasonable doubt in the Christa Worthington murder case?
The Journalist Joins The Defense
Three years after Worthington’s murder, police arrested Christopher McCowen.
McCowen was a trash collector in Truro. He is black, and reportedly has an I.Q. of 76. In 2006, McCowen was tried and found guilty of the rape and murder of Christa Worthington.
Three years after Worthington’s murder, police arrested Christopher McCowen.
McCowen was a trash collector in Truro. He is black, and reportedly has an I.Q. of 76. In 2006, McCowen was tried and found guilty of the rape and murder of Christa Worthington.
It’s at this point where Manso’s relationship to the case, and the charges he levels in his book, cross over from complication to controversy.
“I don’t believe he did it,” Manso said.
But, Manso isn’t a disinterested journalistic observer of this case. He was actively assisting the defense team during McCowen’s trial, providing them with research he was gathering for the book.
Manso does not deny collaborating with the defense. But he brushes off any problem such a partnership might pose to his objectivity.
“Had the defendant in this trial not been black but been white, I believe that there would not have been guilty verdict,” Manso said. “There would have been at the very least a hung jury, if not an acquittal.”
Manso is not a man to pull his punches. His book is a unflinching indictment of what he believes is a deep-seeded culture of racism on Cape Cod. The Boston Globe once quoted him as saying the “Cape is a suburb of redneck Mississippi.”
“There’s no way of understanding this trial and the outcome of this trial without dealing with the issue of race,” Manso said. “There was no mention of rape in the three years of investigation. The medical examiner said there was not evidence of rape. So why rape? Well, because this guy was black. And also because the prosecutors needed a motive for the killing.”
Critics point to such bombastic pronouncements as evidence of Manso’s personal bias in this case, and that his enmity seems especially acidic in his attack on Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe.
O’Keefe indicted Manso on a dozen firearms charges, unrelated to the Worthington case, in 2008.
Still, Manso asserts that there were holes in the prosecution’s case against McCowen. Chief among them, there was no physical evidence tying him to the act of the murder. No fingerprints. No witnesses. No weapon.
However, as Manso admits, there was DNA evidence at the scene.
The book "Reasonable Doubt" by Peter Manso is a must read for private investigators.
http://www.amazon.com/Reasonable-Doubt-Fashion-Writer-McCowen/dp/0743296664
http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/08/09/peter-manso-worthington
Three years after Worthington’s murder, police arrested Christopher McCowen.
McCowen was a trash collector in Truro. He is black, and reportedly has an I.Q. of 76. In 2006, McCowen was tried and found guilty of the rape and murder of Christa Worthington.
Three years after Worthington’s murder, police arrested Christopher McCowen.
McCowen was a trash collector in Truro. He is black, and reportedly has an I.Q. of 76. In 2006, McCowen was tried and found guilty of the rape and murder of Christa Worthington.
It’s at this point where Manso’s relationship to the case, and the charges he levels in his book, cross over from complication to controversy.
“I don’t believe he did it,” Manso said.
But, Manso isn’t a disinterested journalistic observer of this case. He was actively assisting the defense team during McCowen’s trial, providing them with research he was gathering for the book.
Manso does not deny collaborating with the defense. But he brushes off any problem such a partnership might pose to his objectivity.
“Had the defendant in this trial not been black but been white, I believe that there would not have been guilty verdict,” Manso said. “There would have been at the very least a hung jury, if not an acquittal.”
Manso is not a man to pull his punches. His book is a unflinching indictment of what he believes is a deep-seeded culture of racism on Cape Cod. The Boston Globe once quoted him as saying the “Cape is a suburb of redneck Mississippi.”
“There’s no way of understanding this trial and the outcome of this trial without dealing with the issue of race,” Manso said. “There was no mention of rape in the three years of investigation. The medical examiner said there was not evidence of rape. So why rape? Well, because this guy was black. And also because the prosecutors needed a motive for the killing.”
Critics point to such bombastic pronouncements as evidence of Manso’s personal bias in this case, and that his enmity seems especially acidic in his attack on Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe.
O’Keefe indicted Manso on a dozen firearms charges, unrelated to the Worthington case, in 2008.
Still, Manso asserts that there were holes in the prosecution’s case against McCowen. Chief among them, there was no physical evidence tying him to the act of the murder. No fingerprints. No witnesses. No weapon.
However, as Manso admits, there was DNA evidence at the scene.
The book "Reasonable Doubt" by Peter Manso is a must read for private investigators.
http://www.amazon.com/Reasonable-Doubt-Fashion-Writer-McCowen/dp/0743296664
http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/08/09/peter-manso-worthington
Websites sharing our personal information with advertisers is a growing concern.
Popular websites are disclosing personal information to advertisers and
others more often than previously believed, according to new research, and the
finding is renewing calls to let Internet users block companies from tracking
their online surfing.
Information that could easily identify you — your name, user name or email address, for instance — typically is embedded in the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, that websites share with online advertisers and other third parties, said Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford graduate student who studied the issue and released his findings Tuesday.
The practice is pervasive, though not necessarily intentional, on some of the
more popular websites, including home improvement center Home
Depot's online store and photo-sharing site Photobucket, Mayer
said.Information that could easily identify you — your name, user name or email address, for instance — typically is embedded in the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, that websites share with online advertisers and other third parties, said Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford graduate student who studied the issue and released his findings Tuesday.
Online privacy advocates said the findings show the need for a do-not-track mechanism, similar to the popular do-not-call list to block telemarketing calls. Such a mechanism would enable consumers to opt out of online tracking, which is used to deliver advertising targeted to a person's online behavior.
Privacy advocates said widespread data leakage means that Web browsing is not as anonymous as the industry has claimed.
"That information is not anonymous and is often shared with sites," said John Simpson, privacy project director for Consumer Watchdog.
The Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank that advocates for responsible data practices, said websites should be careful to avoid "mistaken exposure of personal information."
Future of Privacy Pdf.
http://futureofprivacy.org/final_report.pdf
http://www.futureofprivacy.org/leading-practices/online-privacy/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fi-web-privacy-20111012,0,7304321.story
AK- Eugene Wilson's death, sparks a civil rights lawsuit.
Little Rock, AK- Mike Laux, a Chicago lawyer, says he'll file a promised civil rights lawsuit over the fatal shooting Dec. 9 of Eugene Ellison by off-duty Little Rock police working as security guards at his apartment complex. He called the incident avoidable and a reflection of a "nationwide epidemic of police misconduct." He'll hold a news conference Monday at the Capital Hotel.
Ellison, 67, was shot while struggling with officers Donna Lesher and Tabitha McCrillis. Prosecutor Larry Jegley said the officers were justified in the shooting because other efforts to subdue him had been unsuccessful. The officers said they had gone into the apartment because the door was open and the apartment appeared in disarray. They said Ellison then attacked them. He'd had mental and police problems in years past, but had lived uneventfully in the Big Country Chateau Apartments on Col. Glenn for more than a dozen years.
The Ellison family, which included a current and former Little Rock officer, has raised questions about the impartiality of the police investigation. Jegley's decision was based on the police's work. The family already has complained to the FBI that officers shouldn't have entered the apartment.
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2011/10/11/lawsuit-planned-in-little-rock-police-shooting
Ellison, 67, was shot while struggling with officers Donna Lesher and Tabitha McCrillis. Prosecutor Larry Jegley said the officers were justified in the shooting because other efforts to subdue him had been unsuccessful. The officers said they had gone into the apartment because the door was open and the apartment appeared in disarray. They said Ellison then attacked them. He'd had mental and police problems in years past, but had lived uneventfully in the Big Country Chateau Apartments on Col. Glenn for more than a dozen years.
The Ellison family, which included a current and former Little Rock officer, has raised questions about the impartiality of the police investigation. Jegley's decision was based on the police's work. The family already has complained to the FBI that officers shouldn't have entered the apartment.
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2011/10/11/lawsuit-planned-in-little-rock-police-shooting
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)