ProPublica: “…Axon, the nation’s largest provider of police cameras and of cloud storage for the video they capture, has a database of footage that has grown from around 6 terabytes in 2016 to more than 100 petabytes today. That’s enough to hold more than 5,000 years of high definition video, or 25 million copies of… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Civil Liberties
New York State Passes Law That Could Have Counted Trump’s Actions as Rape
Mother Jones: “On Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation broadening the state’s definition of rape, eliminating the penile penetration requirement. The bill, “Rape Is Rape,” expands the law to include nonconsensual anal, oral, and vaginal sexual contact. Starting in September, New York will be like many other states: The penal code will not limit rape to… Continue Reading
Right-Wing Extremist Terrorism in the United States
ADL Report – “Right-wing extremist terror incidents in the U.S. have been increasing since the mid-2000s, but the past six years have seen their sharpest rise yet. There were just seven right-wing terror incidents in the period 2005-2007, but by 2017-2019 there were 27, which increased to 40 in 2020-2022. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center… Continue Reading
The thorny push to put body cameras in hospitals and stores
Fast Company: “Once, body cameras were attached only to cops, part of an effort to produce more evidence, de-escalate tense situations, and reduce force and abuse. The jury is still out on how effective they are, but the technology is spreading fast, and not just within policing. Increasingly, other sectors have adopted the cameras, and… Continue Reading
Every Awful Thing Trump Has Promised to Do in a Second Term
Rolling Stone: “Donald Trump reportedly did not expect to win the presidency in 2016, which isn’t surprising considering how ill-prepared he and his team were to take control of the country. He appointed established conservatives to key positions before learning some had personal principles that extended beyond indulging the president’s ego. Trump wreaked havoc on… Continue Reading
AI in Politics Is So Much Bigger Than Deepfakes
The Atlantic [read free]: “…Up to this point, much of the attention on AI and elections has focused on deepfakes, and not without reason. The threat—that even something seemingly captured on tape could be false—is immediately comprehensible, genuinely scary, and no longer hypothetical. With better execution, and in a closer race, perhaps something like the… Continue Reading
There are 3 types of face recognition technology
Fast Company: “Face recognition technologies help identify and apprehend criminal suspects, enhance airport security, and streamline entrances to workplaces. As such, they’re some of the most useful and promising video surveillance applications available today. The technology will become even more widespread as advancements in cloud computing and AI continue to enhance its accuracy and usability.… Continue Reading
The Chronicle of Higher Education Releases Updated DEI Legislation Tracker
Business Wire: “The Chronicle of Higher Education today announced its updated DEI Legislation Tracker, which is following 49 bills in 23 states to restrict efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion and prohibiting colleges from a range of DEI initiatives. Republican politicians in early 2023 launched an assault on colleges’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to recruit… Continue Reading
A new global gender divide is emerging
Financial Times – read free: Young men and young women’s world views are pulling apart. “The consequences could be far-reaching…In the US, UK and Germany, young women now take far more liberal positions on immigration and racial justice than young men, while older age groups remain evenly matched. The trend in most countries has been… Continue Reading
Wyden Releases Documents Confirming the NSA Buys Americans’ Internet Browsing Records
“U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released documents confirming the National Security Agency buys Americans’ internet records, which can reveal which websites they visit and what apps they use. In response to the revelation, today Wyden called on the administration to ensure intelligence agencies stop buying personal data from Americans that has been obtained illegally by… Continue Reading
Save your Twitter Account
EFF:”…In documenting social movements we must remember social media is not an archive, and platforms will only store (and gate keep) user work insofar as it’s profitable, just as they only make it accessible to the public when it is profitable to do so. But when platforms fail, with them goes the history of everyday voices speaking to… Continue Reading
Elon Musk Is Spreading Election Misinformation
The New York Times – but X’s Fact Checkers Are Long Gone “Civil rights lawyers and Democrats are sounding alarms about Mr. Musk’s claims about voting. The Biden campaign called his posts “profoundly irresponsible.”…This month, Elon Musk, who has since bought Twitter and rebranded it X, echoed several of Mr. Trump’s claims about the American… Continue Reading
