Hours after ProPublica reported on how a federal probe of a drugs-for-votes scheme in Puerto Rico's prisons got quashed after the 2024 elections, some of the territory’s political leaders made public calls for investigations into the allegations.
https://www.propublica.org/article/puerto-rico-trump-drugs-votes-prisons-elections-jenniffer-gonzalez-colon?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #PuertoRico #Election #Government #USPolitics #Law #Legal

Investigators found that leaders of a prison gang in Puerto Rico were selling inmates drugs in exchange for voting for Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón, a longtime Republican.

After Trump’s election, prosecutors were told not to pursue charges.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doj-puerto-rico-election-fraud-prison-drugs-votes?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #PuertoRico #USPolitics #Law #Legal #Fraud #Election #Prison #Vote

For #tiktok watchers

#dataProtection #dpc

https://mastodon.ie/@findinglaw/116521619283911158
findinglaw - TIKTOK TECHNOLOGY LIMITED & ANOR v DATA PROTECTION COMMISSION. Judgement by Murray J. on 30/04/2026 https://www2.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/6105babe-465d-4196-a4c5-32157057dab7/IESC%2027%20of%202026%20Murray%20judgment%20%20TikTok%20v%20DPC%20COPY.pdf/pdf#view=fitH

#irishCourts #judgement #law #court #legal #case
#theWholeToot #nothingButTheToot

Also, introducing @pollyPR #theParrotsPerspective

CalMatters: Websites break California privacy law at ‘industrial scale,’ survey finds. “A new audit has found that websites across the internet may be failing to abide by California privacy law, ignoring a requirement to not track visitors who set a privacy control.”

Weird as it sounds, I think we need an actual law, like some kind of bill of rights, that says you can't notify me on my phone without offering me highly fine-tuned control of each kind of message.

Notifications intrude into my life. Sometimes my phone is on waiting for emergencies or other high-priority issues while I sleep. If a friend wakes me, I can have them dialed up or down in priority.

But Android is designed so Audible won't let me have control of my audiobooks in the lock screen without notifications turned on, yet once I've done that, Audible has no compunction against advertising new book releases in the middle of the night via notifications. I should be able to get cash compensation in court for that.

And my USB-C cable, once I plug it into my Android phone insists on randomly popping up an utterly inscrutible notification saying "you need to log in if you want to see notifications", or some such, and then when I do there is no notification to see. It was just random.

And Android Auto likes to give me two completely pointless notifications, one when I plug my phone into the car and one saying Android Auto is available. The first one I don't need a notification about because I just plugged in my phone. But more importantly, the second one is a lie. Android Auto MIGHT be available and it confirms nothing. The handshake may have been done wrong, so all it tells me is the thing I know already, which is that Android Auto is on the phone. But I might have to pull the plug and replug it to be properly connected. So the notification is worse than pointless and just floods my screen with stuff I don't care about that appears to need immediate attention. And then Android asks, as soon as I disconnect it, how my experience was. I always say "Bad" because part of my experience is getting asked that pesky message that I do not want and would happily say "never do this".

These all seem like technical problems, but they are not. They are reminders that we no longer control our lives, that companies can, at a whim, intrude into our lives with pointless rituals that whittle away our existence. I'm not being metaphorical when I say we need laws on this. I absolutely mean that if we don't write strong law on this, it will only get worse. Or we need to enforce the 4th Amendment on a theory, like Larry Lessig has effectively said in the past, that programmatic code is effectively a kind of government that binds us and our choices in life as surely as legal code does.

But what DO we get laws about? Having to login to use an operating system so they can track us better, know who we are and where we are at every moment. We need laws against such laws.

#marketing #notifications #android #ui #ux #settings #design #QualityOfLife #computers #LockScreen #permissions #law #legal #lawsuits #ClassAction #rights #HumanRights #BillOfRights #identity #intrusion #interruption #4thAmendment #government #code

Missouri Independent: Missouri House forges ahead with bill targeting AI deepfakes and youth social media use. “The legislation would require social media companies to implement age verification measures and prohibit them from targeting youth with ‘manipulative or addictive’ design features. It would also make it a felony to share deepfakes.”

The Supreme Court will decide when the police can use your phone to track you

modern technology enables the government to invade everyone’s privacy in ways that would have been unimaginable when the Constitution was framed. The Supreme Court has spent the past several decades trying to make sure that its interpretation of the Fourth Amendment keeps up with technological progress.

#legal #SCOTUS #constitution #fourthamendment #surveillance #privacy #technology #tech

https://www.vox.com/politics/485973/supreme-court-chatrie-cell-phone-geofence-warrant

NEW: Stories about pardons are often told as stories about presidential power — who had access, who persuaded a president to intervene. But what drew reporter Jeremy Kohler to this story was the people on the other side of that act of grace.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-joseph-schwartz-pardon-lawsuit?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Trump #DonaldTrump #WhiteHouse #Law #Legal #Family

https://linuxiac.com/federal-bill-would-bring-os-level-age-verification-to-the-entire-us/

There is a new Federal bill being proposed, that would Force OS level Age verification For the entire US.

Filed as H.R. 8250 on April 13, 2026, the measure is titled “To require operating system providers to verify the age of any user of an operating system, and for other purposes.”

#AgeVerification #Legal #Linux #OpenSource

KQED: What Is the Point of California’s Privacy Laws if Big Tech Ignores Them?. “An independent review of Microsoft, Meta and Google web traffic in California in March found the tech companies may have violated state regulations around internet privacy. The audit, by webXray, also said that nearly 200 online advertising services ignored ‘legally defined, globally standard, opt-out signals’ […]

Ars Technica: First man convicted under Take It Down Act kept making AI nudes after arrest. “An Ohio man became the first person convicted under the Take It Down Act after pleading guilty to creating and sharing both real and AI-generated explicit images of at least 10 victims without their consent. According to a Justice Department press release, 37-year-old James Strahler II used AI tools to […]

Engadget: OkCupid settles FTC case on alleged misuse of its users’ personal data . “According to the lawsuit, the FTC accused OkCupid of inappropriately sharing personal user data that includes photos and location info with a third party company, Clarifai, which offers AI-powered software for uses like facial recognition and content moderation.”

Using AI in a legal context is perfectly defensible. Not following up and not performing due diligence is lazy and derelict. This extends to any serious endeavour.

https://www.whro.org/2026-04-03/penalties-stack-up-as-ai-spreads-through-the-legal-system

#philosophy #law #legal #ai #negligence #lazy #duediligence #performance #article #npr #lawyers #lawschool #attorneys #authoship #responsibility #accountability #references #citations #writing #publishing

Any move to force changes to #state run ​#election systems is likely to face immediate #legal challenges.

#Trump claimed only a judge could block the order & complained that there were many "rogue" & "very bad" judges. "I don't see ​how they can challenge it," he said about the executive order.

#law #judiciary #privacy #InfoSec #ElectionLaw #ElectionInterference #Constitution #states #federalism #WhiteSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism

Gizmodo: Concerns Over Meta’s Smart Glasses Have Reached the U.S. Senate. “Consternation about smart glasses is ramping up, and it looks like those fears are officially hitting the national stage. This week, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore) officially inquired about Meta’s plans to add facial recognition to its Ray-Ban smart glasses, painting the idea as an existential […]

@SrRochardBunson

#Legal #MassSurveillance #AI #Oracle #Privacy

(3/3)

...placed #SecurityCameras.

"There are so many opportunities to exploit AI," he said.

The Oracle CTO also suggested that #Drones could be used to pursue police suspects instead of relying on patrol vehicle chases, and that #satellite imagery..." 1)

//

3)
https://toad.social/@jimstewartson/109468331918047185

#Legal #MassSurveillance #AI #Oracle

(1/n)

Forget the low-tech dystopias of #Bradbury's #Fahrenheit451 + #Orwell's #1984, #PhilipKDick's #MinorityReport is just around the corner, thanks to #AI and billionaires like #PeterThiel (#Palantir 3), #AIP et al 2)) 1) and #LarryEllison:

Via #BrandonVigliarolo / #TheRegister:

"👉#Oracle [CTO #LarryEllison]:
Your mass AI surveillance cloud platform👈

Envisaging the combination of #OracleCloud...

Cc @SrRochardBunson

1)
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/oracle_ai_mass_surveillance_cloud/

@SrRochardBunson

#Legal #MassSurveillance #AI #Oracle

(2/n)

...Infrastructure and advanced AI, #Ellison predicted 👉a world of constant accountability for the #Americans of tomorrow, where computers keep everyone in line👈..." 1)

"...👉Citizens will be on their best behavior because we're constantly recording and reporting," #Ellison added,👈 though it's not clear what he sees as the source of those recordings - police body cams or publicly...

2)
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110386514828183897

Gothamist: NYC Council pushes to ban stores from collecting biometric data. “New York City lawmakers are pushing to ban private businesses from using biometric tools like voice and facial recognition software to track the public.”

Engadget: COPPA 2.0 passes the Senate again, unanimously this time. “Today the US Senate unanimously passed proposed legislation known as COPPA 2.0. This measure, fully named the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, aims to create new protections for younger users online, such as blocking platforms from collecting their personal data without consent.”

#legal #NYC #privacy #biometrics

'New York City lawmakers are pushing to ban private businesses from using biometric tools like voice and facial recognition software to track the public.'

https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-council-pushes-to-ban-stores-from-collecting-biometric-data

The #Pentagon did not explain the #legal reasoning behind its claim [there is none] that it could compel #military contractors to immediately cease work with Anthropic.

…Experts said the #Trump admin’s dramatic intervention Friday is likely to have ramifications for more than just the #US govt’s relationship with #Anthropic, potentially complicating the admin’s work with other #AI developers, especially in relation to #defense work.

#RevengePolitics #law #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons

The Internal Revenue Service improperly shared confidential tax information of thousands of individuals with #immigration enforcement officials, acc/to 3 people familiar with the situation, appearing to breach a #legal #firewall intended to protect taxpayer data.

The erroneous disclosure was only recently discovered, the people said. The #IRS is working with officials from #Treasury, #DOJ & #DHS on the #Trump admin’s response.

#law #privacy #InfoSec #DOGE

Good discussion about the risks of cloud-connected cameras

https://www.between-two-firewalls.com/outsourcing-the-surveillance-state-home-security-camera-edition/

#privacy #legal #cameras #cloud

Ars Technica: “ICE Out of Our Faces Act” would ban ICE and CBP use of facial recognition. “A few Senate Democrats introduced a bill called the ‘ICE Out of Our Faces Act,’ which would ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from using facial recognition technology.”

CNBC: Google settles Google Assistant privacy lawsuit for $68 million. “Google agreed to pay $68 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that ⁠its voice-activated assistant spied inappropriately on smartphone users, violating ‍their privacy.”

Tubefilter: Woman who went viral for texting and driving is suing YouTube and Meta. “The suit asks a judge to issue a court order that will force YouTube, Meta, Reddit, and news outlets to remove video of G.P. from their websites. It also seeks monetary damages from [the car’s owner], and cites violations of the Washington Privacy Act, the federal wiretapping law, misappropriation of her name […]

I understand why, since the committee is run by a bunch of rabid #Republicans, still it’s not a good look.

Facing #Contempt Threat, #Clintons Refuse to Testify in #Epstein Inquiry

The couple denounced the efforts by Rep #JimComer, the chair of the #Oversight Cmte, to force them to appear, setting the stage for a #legal battle.

#law #EpsteinFiles #BillClinton
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/politics/bill-hillary-clinton-testimony-epstein-inquiry-contempt.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

The #Clintons have repeatedly said they have no knowledge relevant to the investigation.

But Tues, they went further, publicly going to war against #JimComer on the matter with moves that appeared to lay the predicate for what could be a messy #legal battle.

#law #Epstein

Where many European leaders’ reactions to the #Venezuela raid were muted, caveated or outsourced to #legal abstractions about the #UNCharter, European leaders on Tuesday came out with uncommonly forceful rebukes about the #Trump admin’s greediness on #Greenland.



#MafiaState #imperialism #geopolitics #Denmark #Europe #NATO #NewWorldOrder #law #Congress #WarPowers #NaturalResources #oil #minerals #sovereignty #ShippingLanes #ClimateChange #theft #piracy #InternationalLaw

A #LouisianaPurchase style transaction may be the least likely. Danish #law recognizes Greenlanders as a people with the right to decide their own future, meaning Copenhagen cannot barter the island away even if it wanted to. Any change in #sovereignty would first require #Greenland to choose #independence — a separate #legal, electoral process — before it could negotiate anything with Washington.

#Trump #MafiaState #imperialism #greed #geopolitics #Denmark #Europe #NATO #law #InternationalLaw

Ars Technica: Murder-suicide case shows OpenAI selectively hides data after users die. “OpenAI’s policy says that all chats—except temporary chats—must be manually deleted or else the AI firm saves them forever. That could raise privacy concerns, as ChatGPT users often share deeply personal, sensitive, and sometimes even confidential information that appears to go into limbo if a […]

Cases of defendants representing themselves in federal court criminal cases in northern Ohio spiked in 2025

Defendants who represented themselves quadrupled in 2025, according to a review of court records. All were found guilty. #Ohio #law #legal

https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2025/12/cases-of-defendants-representing-themselves-in-federal-court-in-northern-ohio-spiked-in-2025.html

#Legal #LawFedi #FediLaw

*Fascinating and Frightning: Towards a #CromwellianFuture*

(1/n)

If tried by court-martial, senator accused of ‘seditious behavior’ would be deprived of several constitutional rights

#JoshuaKastenberg, University of New Mexico

https://theconversation.com/if-tried-by-court-martial-senator-accused-of-seditious-behavior-would-be-deprived-of-several-constitutional-rights-271990

The Department of Defense [#DoD] in late November 2025 announced that it would investigate U.S. Sen. #MarkKelly, a retired #Navy captain and #NASA astronaut, for what Secretary of Defense...

CC @TheConversationUS

Chicago Sun Times: ‘Unusual and possibly unprecedented’: Judge calls out Chicago feds as Midway Blitz cases fall apart

Prosecutors have dropped charges against all five people charged in connection with Sept. 27 protests at the immigration holding facility in west suburban Broadview.

“The court cannot help but note just how unusual and possibly unprecedented it is for the U.S. attorney’s office in this district to charge so hastily that it either could not obtain the indictment in the grand jury or was forced to dismiss upon a conclusion that the case is not provable, in repeated cases of a similar nature,” Fuentes wrote....:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/11/20/unusual-and-possibly-unprecedented-judge-calls-out-chicago-feds-as-midway-blitz-cases-fall-apart

#Fascism #ICE #Law #Legal #Chicago

Hedges Report: UN Members Complicit in Genocide
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/17/hedges-report-un-members-complicit-in-genocide/
U.N. Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese discusses why, in her most recent report, she called out more than 60 nations for their collective-crime roles in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. By Chris Hedges The Chris Hedges Report After two years…
#Politics #Egypt #Gaza #Germany #Icc #InternationalCourtOfJustice(icj) #Israel #Legal #Palestine #Sudan #U.n.SecurityCouncil #U.s. #U.s.Congress #UnitedNations #WarCrimes #Airbnb #Amazon #Article51 #Booking.com #Boycott.DivestmentAndSanctions(bds) #ChrisHedges #GazaCeasefire #Gaza.Genocide #GreaterIsrael #InternationalLaw #IsraeliTradeAndInvestment #MassStarvation #TheChrisHedgesReport #U.n.Charter #UnitedNationsSpecialRapporteurOnTheOccupiedPalestinianTerritoriesFrancescaAlbanese

Trump’s Attempt to Abridge Free Speech
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/13/trumps-attempt-to-abridge-free-speech/
Andrew P. Napolitano responds to a memo by Donald Trump calling antifa — which is an ideology — a domestic terrorism “organization” and directing federal law enforcement to disrupt its gatherings. By Andrew P. Napolitano While the country’s attention was drawn to…
#Politics #Censorship #CivilRights #Commentary #Constitution #FreeSpeech #Legal #TrumpAdministration #U.s. #U.s.SupremeCourrt #UntilThisDayHistoricalPerspectivesOnTheNews #10ThAmendment #BrandenburgV.Ohio #FirstAmendment #NationalSecurityPresidentialMemorandum7(nspm7) #PresidentWoodrowWilson #SeditionActOf1918 #U.s.PresidentDonaldTrump #WorldWarI

Craig Murray: London Opposes Review of Palestine Action Terrorist Proscription
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/14/craig-murray-london-opposes-review-of-palestine-action-terrorist-proscription/
Although the U.K. government continues in its attempt to prevent a challenge to Palestine Action being labeled a terrorist group, there are numerous reasons to believe they should be unsuccessful. The activist group Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist…
#Politics #AntiColonialism #Gaza #Genocide #GreatBritain #International #Israel #Legal #Palestine #Scotland #UnitedKingdon #CraigMurray #Elbit #FreeSpeech #PalestineAction’ #ProscribedTerroristGroups #Protest #U.k.HomeSecretaryYvetteCooper

Caitlin Johnstone: Burying the Real Epstein Story
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/14/caitlin-johnstone-burying-the-real-epstein-story/
Sometimes the biggest news story of the day is the one all mainstream news outlets are completely ignoring. It is interesting how often such instances involve the state of Israel. By Caitlin Johnstone Caitlin’s Newsletter One of the craziest things…
#Politics #Analysis #Commentary #Intelligence #Israel #Legal #Media #Russia #Syria #UnitedStates #CaitlinJohnstone #DonaldTrump #DropSiteNews #JefferyEpstein #RyanGrim

WATCH: Our 30th Birthday Celebration
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/14/watch-our-30th-birthday-celebration/
Consortium News turned 30 years old Saturday. Robert Parry founded the first independent, online news publication in the U.S. on Nov. 15, 1995. We’re celebrating 3 decades of bringing you news others won’t. Watch the replay of our Saturday night…
#Politics #Analysis #Australia #ColdWar #Commentary #FreePress #Gaza #Genocide #History #Intelligence #Israel #Legal #Media #MiddleEast #Palestine #Russia #Ukraine #UnitedNations #Vips #Wmd #CathyVogan #ChrisHedges #ElizabethVos #JoeLauria #JohnKiriakou #JohnPilger #MaryKostakidis #PatrickLawrence #RayMcgovern #TheOttawaCitizen

Arrested for Telling a Cop to Shut UP-James Freeman is Suing to Rename This Texas City

https://youtu.be/zyLnHzg4Xrg

#Corruption #Cops #Police #Thugs #Tyranny #Government #Law #Legal #Courts #Lawsuit #Constitution

The justices chose what is effectively the path of least resistance, anticipating the federal #shutdown will end soon while avoiding any substantive #legal ruling about whether lower court orders to keep full payments flowing during the shutdown are correct.

Beneficiaries in some states have received their full monthly allocations while in others they have received nothing. Some states have issued partial payments.

It’s not clear how quickly full payments would resume.

#law #Trump #SNAP

The Register: UK judge delivers a ‘damp squib’ in Getty AI training case, no clear precedent set . “London’s High Court has dismissed the major portions of Getty Images’ lawsuit against generative AI firm Stability AI for training its image-generation model on copyrighted images, which some legal experts say could weaken intellectual property laws. However, others saw daylight for trademark and […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/05/the-register-uk-judge-delivers-a-damp-squib-in-getty-ai-training-case-no-clear-precedent-set/