human rights, civil rights, privacy rights, the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality
Police Use of Facial Recognition Violates Human Rights, UK Court Rules
Use of the tech needs to be narrower to conform to human rights law, court held.
Civil & Human Rights
Belarus Has Shut Down the Internet Amid a Controversial Election
Human rights organizations have blamed the Belarusian government for widespread outages.
Why Did a Tech Executive Install 1,000 Security Cameras Around San Francisco?
Chris Larsen knows that a crypto mogul spending his own money for a city’s camera surveillance system might sound creepy. He’s here to explain why it’s not.
US Senate Amends EARN IT Act — To Transfer the Fight Over Section 230 to the States to Let Them Restrict Encryption
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the amended version on July 2.
IBM’s New Differential Privacy Library Works With Just a Single Line of Code
On Friday, IBM Research updated their open source “IBM Differential Privacy Library,” a suite of new lightweight tools offering “an array of functionality to extract insight and knowledge from data with robust privacy guarantees.”
Facial Recognition Bill Would Ban Use By Federal Law Enforcement (VIDEO)
The bill would also make federal funding for state and local law enforcement contingent on the enactment of similar bans.
Mass-Tracking COVI-PASS Immunity Passports Slated to Roll Out in 15 Countries (VIDEO)
COVI-PASS will determine whether you can go to a restaurant, if you need a medical test, or are due for a talking-to by authorities in a post-COVID world. Consent is voluntary, but enforcement will be compulsory.
In U.S. Counties Where Lynchings Were Prevalent, Police Are More Likely to Shoot Black People
While historical lynchings peaked more than a century ago, these racist acts can be linked to officer-involved shootings today.
Charter Seeks FCC Permission to Impose Data Caps and Charge Fees to Video Services
Charter wants TWC merger conditions to expire in May 2021, two years early.
Exclusive Images From Inside British Court Expose Assange’s Undemocratic Treatment, Physical Deterioration
Photographs surreptitiously taken inside a British courtroom and provided to The Grayzone show to visibly disoriented Julian Assange, confined to a glass cage and unable to communicate with his lawyers.
Just Turning Your Phone On Qualifies As Searching It, Court Rules
Location data requires a warrant since 2018; lock screen may now, too.
Congress Has No Idea How Much Web Browsing Data the FBI Collects
The Patriot Act is about to be reauthorized, but we still don’t know basic facts about how our web browsing habits are being collected.
Stripe Is Silently Recording Your Movements On Its Customers’ Websites
Michael Lynch, blogger and former software engineer at Microsoft and Google, discovered that the payment processing platform Stripe and its official JavaScript library records all browsing activity on its customers’ websites and reports it back to the company.
FCC To Approve 5G Network Despite Military Saying It Will Harm GPS
Pai says power limits and guard band will prevent interference with GPS.
Yes, Section 215 Expired. Now What?
On March 15, 2020, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act—a surveillance law with a rich history of government overreach and abuse—expired. Along with two other PATRIOT Act provisions, Section 215 lapsed after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a broader set of reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).