By Bennett Cyphers Over the past few years, data brokers and federal military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies have formed a vast, secretive partnership to surveil the movements of millions of people. Many of the mobile apps on our cell phones track our movements with great precision and frequency. Data brokers harvest our location data…
Category: Govt
Westfield council orders IT to remove “spyware” from clerk-treasurer’s computers
Anna Skinner reports: After nearly a year of litigation between Westfield Mayor Andy Cook and Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Gossard, the Westfield City Council asked the city’s Director of Informatics, Chris Larsen, to remove the BeyondTrust software from the clerk-treasurer’s office computers during a June 13 council meeting. The meeting included public discussion between council members, Larsen…
Northern Territory woman to face court for alleged disclosure of confidential information after ICAC referral
Jano Gibson reports: The Northern Territory’s anti-corruption commissioner says his staff “must act with the utmost integrity” after police issued a woman with a notice to appear in court for alleged disclosure of confidential information. Earlier today, NT Police said detectives from the Special References Unit had executed a warrant and seized a 23-year-old woman’s…
Oakland Activist Sues to Hold Postal Officers Accountable for Illegal Search and Seizure of his Mail
J. Justin Wilson writes: Today, an Oakland small business owner and activist partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to sue U.S. Postal Service (USPS) officials for illegally stopping, seizing and searching a set of four ordinary boxes containing thousands of Covid-19 face masks bearing political messages in June 2020. The masks belonged to René…