Should phone companies be allowed to check your data for criminal behaviour?

It looks like Apple is going to start scanning their phones for child abuse images.

I'm trying to figure out a balance of privacy and protection of children, but this seems like a really, really bad idea from Apple. Per the article:

Quote:

Apple intends to install software on American iPhones to scan for child abuse imagery... The automated system would proactively alert a team of human reviewers if it believes illegal imagery is detected, who would then contact law enforcement if the material can be verified. The scheme will initially roll out only in the US. ... Apple’s neuralMatch algorithm will continuously scan photos that are stored on a US user’s iPhone and have also been uploaded to its iCloud back-up system. Users’ photos, converted into a string of numbers through a process known as “hashing”, will be compared with those on a database of known images of child sexual abuse.

I didn't have any intentions on getting an iPhone, but this is another reason not too. I just put LineageOS on my phone because I am not fond of the distributed android OS either. This might have a **** ton of problems though. Including hackers getting access, and so on. Terrible, terrible decision.

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Being a flight attendant while black

This guy's a national treasure.

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The Science of Tickling Rats

Canberra scientists are tickling rats in a bid to improve their experience in laboratories

Quote:

Canberra researchers are tickling rats in a bid to boost their emotional wellbeing and improve their interactions with humans. It may read like an out-take from Stuart Little, but according to the ACT government's Centre for Health and Medical Research these so-called tickle sessions have a positive effect on the rodents. A poster presented to a Canberra Health Annual Research meeting last month and then published on the ACT Health website, said rat tickling could lessen the impact of handling, making it easier to carry out research with the animals. The poster also said tickling reduced the rats' fear response and even acted as a type of "social enrichment." Sorry, why are we tickling rats? Because, apparently, it makes them happy.

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Manchester N.H. Police List Qualified Immunity As Benefit In Recruitment Post

Manchester N.H. Police List Qualified Immunity As Benefit In Now-Deleted Facebook Recruitment Post

Quote:

The Manchester chief of police, Allen Aldenberg, apologized for a recruitment post on Facebook that listed qualified immunity as one of the benefits of joining the department. In a statement also posted to Facebook, Aldenberg called the mention of qualified immunity inappropriate and said he took full responsibility for it. The message, posted Tuesday on the official Manchester Police Facebook page, was deleted after receiving hundreds of comments questioning who the department was looking to attract by listing qualified immunity as a benefit. Qualified immunity is a controversial legal doctrine that is often used to shield police officers who engage in misconduct from liability.

Hey come on up to New Hampshire, where you can get a job as a cop and shoot people and beat the crap out of them with no consequences!

Attached Images

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iPhone Privacy Issues

It looks like Apple is going to start scanning their phones for child abuse images.

I'm trying to figure out a balance of privacy and protection of children, but this seems like a really, really bad idea from Apple. Per the article:

Quote:

Apple intends to install software on American iPhones to scan for child abuse imagery... The automated system would proactively alert a team of human reviewers if it believes illegal imagery is detected, who would then contact law enforcement if the material can be verified. The scheme will initially roll out only in the US. ... Apple’s neuralMatch algorithm will continuously scan photos that are stored on a US user’s iPhone and have also been uploaded to its iCloud back-up system. Users’ photos, converted into a string of numbers through a process known as “hashing”, will be compared with those on a database of known images of child sexual abuse.

I didn't have any intentions on getting an iPhone, but this is another reason not too. I just put LineageOS on my phone because I am not fond of the distributed android OS either. This might have a **** ton of problems though. Including hackers getting access, and so on. Terrible, terrible decision.

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Mexico sues US gun manufacturers over arms trafficking

The Mexican government has sued some of the biggest US gun manufacturers, accusing them of fuelling bloodshed through reckless business practices.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies knew they were contributing to illegal arms trafficking, which has been linked to many deaths.

Officials say Mexico is seeking as much as $10bn (£7.2bn) in compensation, though any amount would be decided by the court.

Mexican officials said that some of the guns made by Colt appeared to target the Mexican market in particular, such as a pistol engraved with the face and name of Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata.

The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that 70% of firearms recovered in Mexico between 2014 and 2018 which were submitted for tracing had come from the US.

In 2019 alone, more than 17,000 murders in Mexico were linked to trafficked weapons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-58091071

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Pissing off the police union president while Black

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty planning to take legal action against Portland regarding false hit-and-run allegations

Quote:

PORTLAND, Ore. — Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s legal representation wrote the city of Portland to make them aware that she plans to take legal action against the city for its role in wrongly accusing her of being the suspect in a hit-and-run in March. The notice of claim says former Portland Police Association (PPA) president and Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officer Brian Hunzeker wrongfully leaked the incorrect information about Hardesty having participated in a criminal hit-and-run to other city employees and to the press. The information was leaked to The Oregonian and right-wing media sources, disseminating the information quickly.

Quote:

On March 3, 2021, at 4:48 p.m., a Black woman driving a tan Toyota Corolla was involved in a hit-and-run with a white woman. The hit-and-run victim called the city to report that Ms. Hardesty was the person who had hit her. She “swore on her life” that it was Commissioner Hardesty that had hit her. At around 11:24 p.m., police met with the hit-and-run victim to investigate her complaint. Around 1 a.m., police arrived at Hardesty’s home and, according to Hardesty’s representation, knocked so loudly on Hardesty’s door that it woke her neighbors. The notice says that this was likely done in an attempt to do a “perp walk” with Hardesty. “This show of force was extreme given that the reported damage to the vehicle was a one-centimeter circle on the white woman’s bumper possibly caused by the license plate screw from the offending driver’s license plates,” the claim says. It goes on to point out that Portlanders, especially Black Portlanders, have to wait hours for police to respond to more serious crimes, if a response comes at all. On March 4, 2021, police found video of the incident that did indeed show that the car was a tan Toyota Corolla, which was traced to a woman in Vancouver. Hardesty does not own a tan car, she owns a silver Volvo that is inoperative. The suspect also had short white hair while Hardesty’s hair is longer and black, the notice of claim says. Hardesty’s representation says the report was “based on the false and racist assumption and stereotype that all Black people look the same and that Black people are more likely to engage in criminal activity.”

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