Tag Archive for: Pass

Claiming a ‘computer crime’ shouldn’t give police a free pass to raid newspapers

/in


This month, police officers in Marion, Kan., crashed into the newsroom of the Marion County Record, a weekly newspaper, and the home of its publisher to seize computers, cellphones and documents. After several days of public outcry, the county attorney ordered the material returned.

Newsroom searches are rare today because a 1980 federal law makes them almost always illegal. But the outcry goes back to colonial days, when British-loyalist redcoats raided revolutionary American pamphleteers. Such searches were seen as the ultimate attack on the free press. In the infamous 1971 search of the Stanford Daily, for example, Palo Alto police were seeking photographs to tie Vietnam War protesters to a violent clash on campus. After the Supreme Court refused to offer protection from such raids, Congress passed the 1980 statute, making newsroom searches far less of a threat.

Read more: Editorial: Raid on Kansas newspaper was possibly illegal — and definitely troubling

Instead, the Marion case highlights a separate, systemic threat to press freedom: vague and sweeping computer crime laws, which exist in all 50 states. These laws can be readily used to intimidate reporters and suppress reporting without raiding their offices.

The Marion raid appears to be the first time public officials have searched a newspaper under the claim of enforcing a computer crime law. The search warrant in that case listed violations of statutes covering identity theft and “unlawful acts concerning computers.”

Read more: Opinion: We’ve defended Trump’s 1st Amendment rights. But his latest claims about the Jan. 6 indictment are nonsense

The state computer crime statute applies when someone breaks into a computer network with malware or uses another person’s information to steal money from their bank account. But these laws are so vague that they can be deployed to penalize reporters for using computers to find information online as part of routine journalism.

In Missouri, for instance, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discovered a serious flaw in a state website that put the security of thousands of Social Security numbers at risk. He alerted the state agency so it could fix the issue before he published…

Source…

🌱 Perimeter Mall Buffs Security + Dine Like A Local Mobile Pass Live

/in


Good morning, everybody! I’m back with your new edition of the Sandy Springs Daily. Let’s get this week started off right with a quick review of the most important things going on these days in town.

But first, today’s weather:

Some clouds, then sunshine. High: 54 Low: 31.

🏠 The competition is fierce in Sandy Springs to be the top local real estate agent. With our exclusive newsletter sponsorships, you can stand out from your competitors and attract local clients. Click here to learn more.

Here are the top three stories in Sandy Springs today:

  1. The Perimeter Mall reopened on Saturday morning with increased security measures after a shootout between two men on Friday. A statement from the mall did not go into detail about the new security measures, but the mall did state that more security and police patrols were added to ensure public safety. (11Alive.com WXIA)
  2. Have you tried the Dine Like a Local mobile pass yet? The mobile pass lets you earn points by checking into local restaurants. Points can be redeemed for entries into giveaways where you can win awesome prizes! The pass went live at the beginning of last week and is available for download now. (Visit Sandy Springs via Facebook)
  3. For those looking for a new house for the new year, here is a list of five properties to recently hit the market in the Sandy Springs area. Available properties include a three-bedroom, four-bathroom townhome and a one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo. Visit the link for pictures, pricing, and additional specs. (Sandy Springs Patch)

Today in and around Sandy Springs:

  • Lego Club At Smyrna Public Library (11:00 AM)
  • Sandy Springs Writers’ Group At Sandy Springs Library (6:30 PM)

From my notebook:

  • Have you tested your carbon monoxide detector recently? A new statistic from the National Carbon Monoxide Awareness Association shows that only 14 percent of US families have a properly functioning carbon monoxide alarm. (Sandy Springs Fire Department via Facebook)
  • President Joe Biden will be visiting Atlanta this upcoming weekend to make remarks during the Sunday services at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The remarks will be in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. This will be the president’s first trip to…

Source…

Computer System Security (CSS) Unit 1 Quick Revision | AKTU | Unique AppSites

/in



Dispatches from Thacker Pass – How corporations work to undermine grassroots resistance, and how to stop them

/in


The encampment at Thacker Pass – photo: Max Wilbert

Opinion

For 50 days, the Protect Thacker Pass camp has stood here in the mountains of northern Nevada, on Northern Paiute territory, to defend the land against a strip mine.

Lithium Americas, a Canadian corporation, means to blow up, bulldoze, or pave 5,700 acres of this wild, biodiverse land to extract lithium for “green” electric cars. 

In the process, they will suck up billions of gallons of water, import tons and tons of waste from oil refineries to be turned into sulfuric acid, burn 11,000 gallons of diesel fuel per day, toxify groundwater with arsenic, antimony, and uranium, harm wildlife from Golden eagles and Pronghorn antelope to Greater sage-grouse and the endemic King’s River pyrg, and lay waste to traditional territories still used by people from the Fort McDermitt reservation and the local ranching and farming communities.

The Campaign to Protect Thacker Pass

They claim this is an “environmentally sustainable” project. We disagree, and we mean to stop them from destroying this place.

Thus far, our work has been focused on outreach and spreading the word. For the first two weeks, there were only two of us here. Now word has begun to spread. The campaign is entering a new stage. There are new opportunities opening, but we must be cautious.

How Corporations Disrupt Grassroots Resistance Movements

Corporations, faced with grassroots resistance, follow a certain playbook. We can look at the history of how these companies respond to determine their strategies and the best ways to counteract them.

Corporations like Lithium Americas generally do not have in-house security teams, beyond basic security for facilities and IT/digital security. Therefore, when faced with growing grassroots resistance, their first move will be to hire an outside corporation to conduct surveillance, intelligence gathering, and offensive operations.

Private Military Corporations (PMCs) are essentially mercenaries acting largely outside of government regulation or democratic control. They are hired by private corporations to assist in their interests and act as for-hire businesses with few or no…

Source…