"Of the more than 75,000 gunfire alerts the city’s #ShotSpotter system has generated since 2015, the New York City Police Department was only able to confirm that 16.57 percent of them were actual gunfire, as opposed to fireworks, construction, or other loud sounds" https://gizmodo.com/the-nypds-fancy-gunshot-detector-is-almost-completely-useless-2000534171

"The action proposed by the #CFPB is aimed, Chopra says, at stopping #databrokers from “enabling scammers, stalkers and spies undermining our personal safety and America's national security.” https://www.wired.com/story/cfpb-fcra-data-broker-oversight/

The Canadian #border is sprouting the same #surveillance towers as the Southern border with Mexico. https://vtdigger.org/2024/12/02/eye-in-the-sky-the-feds-have-quietly-built-surveillance-towers-along-the-canadian-border-in-vermont-new-york/

Ending money #bail worked. What are waiting for, California? "The state’s crime rate fell 11 percent between the six months before the act went into effect and the six months after". https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cash-bail-reform-illinois/

"The judge wrote that she was “inclined” to impose an outside authority, known as a receiver, which she said would be a “remedy that will make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the #RikersIsland jails ultimately answerable directly to the court.” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/27/nyregion/rikers-contempt-receivership.html

FTC issues order on the sale of #locationdata by Gravy Analytics and Venntel. 'Under the proposed order, Gravy Analytics and #Venntel will be prohibited from selling, licensing, transferring, sharing, disclosing, or using sensitive location data except in limited circumstances". https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/12/ftc-takes-action-against-gravy-analytics-venntel-unlawfully-selling-location-data-tracking-consumers?

Jane Mayer's comprehensive takedown of the Secretary of Defense nominee. "“Much as we might be sympathetic to people with continuing alcohol problems, they shouldn’t be at the top of our national-security structure. It’s dangerous". #Hegseth https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history

"I only got one check from #Trump Models, and that’s when I left them. I got $8,000 at most after having worked there for three years and having made tens of thousands of dollars. This is a system where they actually end up making money on the back of these foreign workers". https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/donald-trump-model-management-illegal-immigration/

Podcaster Earlonne Woods who created #earhustle the first straight from prison podcast on prison life, gets a pardon from CA Gov Newson. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/earlonne-woods-pardon-19947026.php?

We told the state that #AB2655, a bill to order social media sites to take down #deepfakes was well-intended but unconstitutional. Courts seem to be agreeing. The law will not take effect on January 1. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/california-law-deceptive-content-19946857.php?

Seven in 10 Californians are worried about digital surveillance.
Six in 10 Californians think California lawmakers should limit the use & spread of residents’ data by brokers and out-of-state actors – including most Republicans, Democrats and Independents. https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2024/11/dfp_rtech_ca_anti_surveillance_11_24_tabs.pdf

#History is often redundant. https://laist.com/news/the-price-america-paid-for-its-first-big-immigration-crackdown

Less than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in #immigration courts during the past fiscal year — involving about 8,400 people — included deportation orders for alleged crimes other than entering the U.S. illegally, https://www.axios.com/2024/11/29/trump-deport-immigrants-criminals

“This is the first time I’ve seen a #socialmedia platform arguing to a court that no one can transfer ownership during a dispute over who owns an account because they will just switch it off,” https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/29/media/alex-jones-elon-musk-x-infowars-accounts/index.html

The Sacramento police have asked #SMUD to provide it with bulk lists of private customer energy usage #data for years, which the police use to enforce an abusive penalty scheme against owners of properties engaged in residential cultivation of cannabis. #privacy https://www.eff.org/cases/asian-american-liberation-network-v-smud-et-al

Cisco uses Wi-Fi access points and other wireless networking infrastructure to #track the location of #employees. It does so, to "gain insights into how people move throughout their physical spaces" and "understand the behavior and location of people." https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/27/workplace_surveillance/

#Emeryville City Council censuring most progressive member under new Code of Ethics on what many consider bogus charges. https://emeryvilletattler.blogspot.com/2024/11/council-member-priforce-faces-political.html

The IG found that the program “creates substantial risks that #DEA Special Agents will conduct these activities improperly; impose unwarranted burdens on, and violate the legal rights of, innocent #travelers.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/dea-passenger-searches-halted-watchdog-finds-signs-civil-rights-violat-rcna181262

"Senator Cruz’s solution is to demand that #NTIA ignore the will of Congress and the law, and, in so doing, deny digital literacy and adoption programing for ALL the covered populations that the law is designed to help—leaving military Veterans, seniors, rural Americans, people with disabilities, low-income people and others without access, the ability to use the #internet or a voice online". https://www.benton.org/content/ntia-should-stay-course-toward-digital-equity

"Rarely seen documents show a Cold War atomic research facility headquartered at #HuntersPoint conducted studies that exposed at least 1,073 people to potentially harmful #radiation The legacy of that era is a continuing risk to public health". https://www.sfpublicpress.org/exposed-part-1-how-a-san-francisco-navy-lab-became-a-hub-for-human-radiation-experiments/