From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Google says it has received 18,304 requests from Britons asking it to remove information about their past under the EU’s ‘right to be forgotten’ legislation.
The submissions came from more than 6,000 people who asked the search engine to erase links to more than 60,000 websites.
Altogether just over 145,000 requests have been made to Google by people across Europe wanting to improve their reputations. Continue reading “Google Bombarded With Requests To Delete Info”
Defenders of Eric Holder’s legacy on financial crimes keep saying that, although we sent no bankers to jail for their tsunami of fraudulent behavior, at least we punished the parent companies in settlements, and forced them to compensate victims. I call it “settlement justice,” and it has become the template for how the perpetrators of white-collar crime get treated in America.
Usually, supporters of “settlement justice” tout the headline numbers ($37 billion!) and leave it at that. But it’s what happens after law enforcement signs the deal that matters. And one New Jersey lawyer’s detailed inquiry into a post-crisis settlement with Wells Fargo shows conclusively how banks wiggle out of their commitments, and why only prison cells can stop a Wall Street crime spree. Continue reading ““We hope they were duped”: How prosecutors gave banks the best “penalty” ever”
The Intercept – by PETER MAASS AND LAURA POITRAS
The National Security Agency has had agents in China, Germany, and South Korea working on programs that use “physical subversion” to infiltrate and compromise networks and devices, according to documents obtained by The Intercept.
The documents, leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, also indicate that the agency has used “under cover” operatives to gain access to sensitive data and systems in the global communications industry, and that these secret agents may have even dealt with American firms. The documents describe a range of clandestine field activities that are among the agency’s “core secrets” when it comes to computer network attacks, details of which are apparently shared with only a small number of officials outside the NSA. Continue reading “Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs in China and Germany”
Released documents show that New York City shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle civil rights lawsuits involving the New York Police Department(NYPD).
The documents – released by the New York City Law Department – show more than 12,000 cases since 2009 where the city paid out $428 million in police-related settlements. The records were released after a Freedom of Information Act request was made by MuckRock, asking the department just how many civil rights lawsuits were filed against the city when the police department was listed as a defendant over a five-year period. Continue reading “New York City paid $428mn in NYPD civil rights settlements”
The Daily Sheeple – by Melissa Melton
Remember back when Democrat Congressman Jim Moran, U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 8th congressional district gave an interview where he said that Congress is underpaid at $174,000 a year and needs a raise because Americans need to understand that Congress is “the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world”?
Well, check out what the “board of directors” has been up to. Continue reading “297 Congress Members Have Earmarked $3.8 Billion for Organizations Tied to Them or Family Members”
The Federal Communications Commission insists that it does not require police departments to sign a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI before acquiring or deploying cell phone trackers. The FCC’s response contradicts wording found in one such FBI nondisclosure agreement released last month by Tacoma police.
The FBI and FCC have both declined to comment on the discrepancy, and the FBI has rejected another FOIA request for a log of agencies that have signed such nondisclosure agreements. Continue reading “FCC and FBI disagree over NDA requirement for police StingRays”
The “Massachusetts Task Force on School Safety and Security” released a report. As you’d expect from a report written with plenty of police input and none from the civil liberties community, it recommends changes that are highly intrusive, probably ineffective, definitely expensive, and likely to benefit police more than they benefit students.
The report recommends introducing “school resources officers” – often retired police officers – into schools to develop relationships with students, and encourages trainings that would teach “young children not to be frightened of police.” This, in a country where the police kill an absolute minimum of one American per day. Continue reading “Massachusetts wants students to become anonymous spies”
FERGUSON, Mo. (CN) – A growing number of media outlets claim that Ferguson, Mo. is charging way too much money – $2,000 or more – to respond to Freedom of Information Acts requests about the Michel Brown shooting.
St. Louis Public Radio has filed a formal complaint against Ferguson with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. Continue reading “Ferguson Charges $2,000 for Press FOIA Requests”
New York Daily News – by Joel Landau
Cold onion rings led to an attack involving a switchblade and Taser at a New Mexico Burger King, alleges a customer.
Robert DeYapp filed a lawsuit against the fast-food franchise last week after he said the manager Francisco Berrera tried to attack him after he asked for his onion rings to be heated up, reports Courthouse News Service.
The incident occurred at the restaurant in Bloomfield, N.M., on June 7, 2013, the lawsuit states. Continue reading “New Mexico Burger King manager attacked customer over cold onion rings: lawsuit”
NBC News – by Alastair Jamieson and Deb Huberman
A family is suing a police department after a traffic stop ended with officers smashing a car window and using a Taser. The episode was caught on cellphone camera by the driver’s 14-year-old son who was on the back seat. Lawyers for Lisa Mahone and her boyfriend Jamal Jones say excessive force was used during the Sep. 25 incident in Hammond, Indiana, which began when Mahone was stopped and ticketed for not wearing a seat belt.
In the video, officers ask Jones, who was in the passenger seat, to show his ID. However, he did not have his license on him. Officers then appear to draw guns and order him out of the car, prompting Mahone to call 911. The video shows police smashing the passenger window and using a Taser on Jones. Lawyers say two children suffered minor cuts from flying glass. The lawsuit alleges excessive force, false arrest and battery. Attorney Dana Kurtz said the lawsuit “seeks to hold police accountable to this type of unnecessary violence can stop.” Continue reading “Cops Smashed Window, Tasered Passenger in Traffic Stop: Lawsuit”
Huffington Post – by Kate Abbey-Lambertz
The dismissal of the manslaughter charge against a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a sleeping child will stand, an appeals court ruled Monday.
Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley has been on trial for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, who was killed during a police raid in 2010. On Friday, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway granted a motion filed by Weekley’s attorney to dismiss the felony charge. The trial was halted while the Michigan Court of Appeals reviewed an emergency appeal of the judge’s ruling. But the court denied the appeal Monday. Continue reading “Manslaughter Charge Dropped For Police Officer Who Fatally Shot Sleeping 7-Year-Old”
The Baltimore Sun – by Mark Puente
The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct a civil rights investigation into allegations of brutality and misconduct by the Baltimore Police Department, Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts announced Friday.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Batts requested the probe after a six-month investigation by The Baltimore Sun found city residents have suffered battered faces and broken bones during arrests.
The city has paid $5.7 million in court judgments and settlements in 102 cases since 2011, and nearly all of the people who received payouts were cleared of criminal charges, according to the investigation published this week. Continue reading “Justice Department to probe allegations of police misconduct in Baltimore”
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A Cartersville man is upset after he said investigators mistook a garden full of okra for marijuana plants.
The man growing the popular Southern food said a helicopter woke him up Wednesday and then he had deputies show up at his door. Continue reading “Okra mistaken for pot in man’s garden”
GRANTS PASS — Water use and other actions by the marijuana industry in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California and Southern Oregon are threatening salmon already in danger of extinction, federal biologists said Tuesday.
Concerns about the impact of pot farming were raised by the NOAA Fisheries Service in its final recovery plan for coho salmon in the region. The full plan was to be posted on the agency’s website. Continue reading “Water use for marijuana-growing threatens salmon in Southern Oregon, biologists say”
PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) – A man driving a van full of stolen doughnuts led police on a chase through southeast Portland before he eventually stopped, put his hands out the window and dropped a pastry from his hands, according to police.
The chase took place after a delivery driver for Donut Land stopped his van on Southwest Fifth Avenue in downtown Portland so he could make a delivery of pastries. Continue reading “Hands up, drop the doughnut: Police chase down stolen Donut Land truck”
Sky News
Salon – by David Dayen
RT
Beacon – by Muckrock
MassPrivateI
Courthouse News Service
WSBTV
Oregon Live
Fox 12