Taking Public Transportation is Like Inviting 20 Hitchhikers Into Your Car

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So is the fact that they aren’t connected a good thing? BART Police Chief Says Rapes Have Increased, But May Not Be Connected | NBC Bay Area

New numbers from BART indicate that there has recently been a 41 percent increase in violent crimes this year. The troubling trend was highlighted by an April mob attack during which dozens of youth stormed a train at Oakland’s Coliseum Station to rob passengers.

It’s a good thing no one in California carries concealed. Can you imagine what would happen if a bunch of law-abiding-citizens were actually able to defend themselves?

As for the rape statistics…

Rojas said FBI statistics show that there were seven rapes reported on BART property from January through the end of June, compared to four in 2016, three in 2015 and two in 2014.

The title of this post is stolen from an on-going series of posts at Small Dead Animals.

Cooperating with Criminals is a Strategy, Not a Guarantee

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The gun-fearing crowd would have you believe that if you “just give them what they want” you will be safe. Gas station clerk shot after giving money to robber – TheIndyChannel.com Indianapolis, IN

They never seem to want to talk about rape in the context of “just give them what they want,” but that is a discussion for another time.

A spokesperson with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said a man entered the gas station and demanded money. The clerk gave the suspect money when asked, but the suspect still shot him.

“Unexpectedly” a violent criminal remained a violent criminal despite the actions of his victim.

Cooperating with Criminals is a strategy. One I find has numerous flaws, as shown by this example and others. Self-defense in the face of violence is also a strategy and not a guarantee. (“There are no guarantees in this life save for death and next winter’s snow.”) It is up to you decide what you can and will do in general, and in any particular instance.

When Security is an Afterthought: Tesla Cars Up for Grabs

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TeslaBecause having electronic key fobs and Android apps to control your car is cool! Thieves find a new way to hack and steal Teslas

Hackers may be on their way to bringing to life Elon Musk’s worse fear of a fleet hack as thieves have found another way to hack into and steal Teslas undetected.

Disabling GPS tracking, spoofing the key fob functionality, hacking the Android app.

Tesla battery and motor components are valuable and one chopped-up Model S was discovered, by authorities, in the back of a truck attempting to enter Germany from the Netherlands leading some to believe other stolen Teslas may have suffered similar fates.

Dow Jones Hack – the result of poor security configuration

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The joys of outsourcing. I don’t mean outsourcing, (that is so 1990s!) but using the cloud. Cloud Leak: WSJ Parent Company Dow Jones Exposed Customer Data

The UpGuard Cyber Risk Team can now report that a cloud-based file repository owned by financial publishing firm Dow Jones & Company, that had been configured to allow semi-public access exposed the sensitive personal and financial details of millions of the company’s customers. While Dow Jones has confirmed that at least 2.2 million customers were affected, UpGuard calculations put the number closer to 4 million accounts.

2.2 or 4 million names, addresses, account information, email addresses, and last four digits of credit card numbers for people who subscribe to the WSJ or Barron’s. All because the security was not configured correctly.

Thank you Amazon Cloud Services for building in an option to let companies do stupid things with their data!

Finally, the aversion of Dow Jones and Company to notifying affected customers of this data exposure denies consumers the ability to swiftly act to protect their own personal information.

Because why come clean when a good coverup might just work. (For the first time ever!)

This comes via Small Dead Animals. Who has the perfect take.

Centralize your and your customers data with hard to learn API’s and confusing security options! Join now for just half the price of a good IT person!

Good Guys 2, Bad Guys 0

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Several people entered a home – at least one was known to the homeowner. They pulled guns, but that isn’t the guarantee some people think it is. Zachary police: One fatally shot, one arrested after trying to rob home at gunpoint late Tuesday | Crime/Police | theadvocate.com

Damon Hayes, 20, of Baton Rouge, was found dead at the scene of the home invasion in the 4000 block of McHugh Road around 10:30 p.m., McDavid said Wednesday. Police soon learned that his accomplice was still in the area and later arrested Jordale Carter, 20.

In other news stories on this crime, it isn’t clear if there are more bad-guys involved or not.

The investigation is ongoing.

Self-defense is a human-right.

Eight Beat Measure

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Eight Beat Measure is the all-male A Capella group from the Rochester Institute of Technology. They are really quite good.

This is “Honor Him/Now We are Free” from their 2010 album No Safety Nets. The version on the album is a little more polished, but that version is not available on YouTube. (Find it on Pandora, or iTunes, and elsewhere.)

You might remember these songs (by a different artist) as separate songs from the 2000 film Gladiator.

Self-defense and Felony Murder

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The lesson about felony murder may eventually be learned. After their suspected robbery accomplice was killed, 2 are charged with murder in Madison | AL.com

It goes by different names in different jurisdictions, but when a felony leads to murder, it is usually available to prosecutors.

Although police believe the robbery victim was the shooter, Alabama law allows accomplices to be charged with murder in such cases.

Three guys attempt robbery. Their intended victim is armed and defends himself. One ends up dead. The other two are charged with robbery and murder.

Investigation continues…