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CCTVs do not help U.K. cut crime
The United Kingdom has around four million CCTVs installed (one camera for every fourteen people); it takes 1,000 CCTV cameras to solve a single crime, London’s Metropolitan Police has admitted
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Earmarks work their way into the stimulus package budget
Whitetail, Montana, an unincorporated town with a population of 71, sits on the U.S.-Canada border; the Whitetail border checkpoint sees about three travelers a day; still, the sleepy checkpoint received $15 million under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan; critics wants to know why
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U.K. to share fingerprints with Canada, Australia
U.K., Canada, and Australia have begun to implement the fingerprint data sharing among g them, aiming to catch criminals and better evaluate the cases of asylum seekers; U.S., New Zealand will soon join
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U.K. considers Taser's latest device
Taser’s new “eXtended Range Electronic Projectile” is, according to the company, “the most technologically advanced projectile ever deployed from a 12-gauge shotgun”; the Home Office considers equipping policemen with the device
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Judge prohibits VIP from selling customers' personal data
VIP shut down its Clear airport fast pass service on 22 June; the 260,000 customers who gave their full names, Social Security numbers, and biometric identifiers such as finger prints and iris scans to the company do not want the defunct company to sell their information a third party; a judge agrees, but the order could be withdrawn
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Security experts float plan for GA airport security ratings
There are 15,000 private planes flying in the United States with no security rules; these planes use a network of 4,700 small airports which themselves are only lightly monitored for security; security experts say it is time for general aviation to be monitored more carefully for security
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Israeli military train for next round with Hezbollah
During the summer 2006 war with Hezbollah, the Israeli military had difficulties locating rocket launchers — and Hezbollah fighters — hiding in bunkers and tunnels in heavily forested areas and under civilian buildings; two new Israeli training centers, made entirely of rubber, will provide a mock Lebanese village connecting to a forest
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Peru, Bolivia in (so far) war of words over Miss Universe costume
The two Latin American countries claim that the La Diablada costume — part of an Andean ritual — which Miss Peru intends to wear during Sunday’s contest, belong to their country and only their contestant has the right to wear it in the pageant
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In Photo ID case, security concerns win out over religious beliefs
An employee of Sunoco refused, on religious grounds, to allow his picture for an ID; a judge rules that owing to security considerations, the company does not have to accommodate the employee
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Perimeter security: much is yet to be done
Multiple jurisdictions, a large number of stake holders, and lack of extensive and specific mandates from TSA make airport perimeter security a daunting task — a task which many airports are yet to address effectively
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Sweden builds a new Baltic Sea surveillance system
After the mysterious disappearing of a Maltese-flagged cargo ship with a Russian crew in Swedish waters, Sweden decides to deploy a maritime surveillance system which will become operational in October
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Cost versus safety debated at Albany, N.Y. chemical plant location
Greenpeace backs federal proposal for tougher chemical plant safety rules, but an Albany firm — and the chemical industry more generally — fear expense
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The technology: Israeli scientists find way to combat forged DNA
Forensic DNA profiling is today one of the most powerful tools applied on crime scenes, and is often used to convict or acquit suspects in rape and murder cases
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The company: Nucleix fighting biological identity theft
Its assay technology is in advanced stages of development. Several patents have already been granted; CEO Elon Ganor made his name mainly at VocalTec, a company that pioneered telephony over Internet
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Über-hacker Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez's plea scuttled by indictment
Gonzalez’s attorney was close to taking responsibility for his crimes and agreeing to a sentence of about twenty years when hew was indicted on new counts on Monday
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The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”