Monthly Archives: July 2013

UK Information Commissioner Blasts License Plate Readers

"The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on Wednesday ordered a review of Hertfordshire Constabulary's use of the technology in Royston, the first town in England to adopt the technology. All six possible routes into and out of the town are covered by license plate cameras creating what police like to call a 'ring of steel.' The system keeps a log of the movements of all automobiles, something the commissioner found unnecessary. 'It is difficult to see why a small rural town such as Royston, requires cameras monitoring all traffic in and out of the town 24 hours a day,' ICO enforcement chief Stephen Eckersley said in a statement." Continue reading →

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TSA: Give Us Fingerprints, Web History and You Can Keep Your Shoes On

"In order to participate in the ‘PreCheck’ TSA program, you will need to allow them to reach down into the proverbial pants of your personal life as well. Under PreCheck, you are required to not only present your fingerprints to the TSA in person and pay a fee of $85, but the agency is also looking to gather all forms of your data as well — which reports state includes your web history and online data. With the help of a third party organization, the TSA seeks to ‘pre-screen’ (think pre-crime) individuals based on their activity in order to determine if they are worthy of bypassing the most minimal of security checkpoints." Continue reading →

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Plan To Defund NSA Phone Collection Program Defeated

"A controversial proposal to restrict how the National Security Agency collects telephone records failed to advance by a narrow margin Wednesday, a victory for the Obama administration, which has spent weeks defending the program since media leaks sparked international outrage about the agency’s reach. Lawmakers voted 217 to 205 to defeat the proposal. Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who as head of the House rarely votes on legislation, voted against the amendment." Continue reading →

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Bradley Manning Trial: ‘Aiding the Enemy’ Charge is a Travesty of Justice

"The government’s charge that Manning 'aided and abetted the enemy,' which carries a possible life-sentence in prison, is based on the argument that the information Manning leaked was of interest to Osama bin Laden and other terrorist organizations. But as Glenn Greenwald points out in a recent Guardian column, the prosecution’s theory poses a serious threat to the freedom of the press and turns virtually all leaks and whisteblowing into a form of treason. Since bin Laden claimed to have read and recommended Bob Woodward’s journalism, should Woodward also be locked in solitary confinement and stripped of his clothing?" Continue reading →

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U.S. lawmakers blast Guantanamo’s $2.7 million per prisoner cost

"The current cost of operating the facility has jumped to $454 million in the fiscal year ended September 30, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, or about $2.7 million for each of the 166 inmates. Overall, $4.7 billion has been spent running Guantanamo since the facility opened in 2002. By comparison, super-maximum security prisons in the United States spend about $60,000 to $70,000 at most to house their inmates, analysts say. Advocates for closure also argue that holding prisoners for years without charge or trial is a stain on the United States. They say Guantanamo is a threat to national security because it is a powerful recruiting tool for militants." Continue reading →

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What’s Up with Inflation?

"Many argue that these weightings skew the CPI lower, as do hedonic adjustments. The motivation for this skew is transparent: since the government increases Social Security benefits and Federal employees' pay annually to keep up with inflation (the cost of living allowance or COLA), a low rate of inflation keeps these increases modest. Those claiming the weighting is accurate face a blizzard of legitimate questions. For example, if healthcare is 18% of the U.S. GDP, i.e. 18 cents of every dollar goes to healthcare, then how can a mere 7% wedge of the CPI devoted to healthcare be remotely accurate?" Continue reading →

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Japanese companies using ‘banishment rooms’ to push employees to resign

"While business circles are trying to make it smoother and easier for companies to let go of employees (with full benefits of course) they feel lack initiative and drive and are not a good fit, it’s having a reverse effect on employers. Those who want to fire certain workers but cannot bring themselves to do so are using 'banishment rooms' to indirectly force them to resign on their own. Basically, banishment rooms are departments where companies transfer surplus employees and give them menial or useless tasks or even nothing to do until they become depressed or disheartened enough to quit on their own, thus not getting full benefits, unlike if they were actually let go." Continue reading →

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China Orders Ban on New Government Buildings

"Debt-fueled spending by local governments, partly for new buildings but also for roads, sewers, water systems and other projects, has been a growing worry in recent years for Beijing policy makers, as well as for economists and credit-rating agencies around the world. Most tallies of total local government debt in China tend to be in the vicinity of $2 trillion, equal to three months of China’s entire economic output, but some estimates are even higher. A clear loophole in Tuesday’s directive is that it does little to rein in spending by enterprises partly or entirely owned by government entities." Continue reading →

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Basta ‘La Casta’: No End in Sight to Italy’s Economic Decline

"Italy, despite being the third-largest economy in the euro zone after Germany and France, finds itself in dire straits, having been in decline for years. Its GDP has dropped by 7 percent since 2007. But economic growth only tells part of the story. More than half a million industrial jobs have been lost since 2007, and 15 percent of the country's industrial capacity is gone, says Luca Paolazzi, head of research for Confindustria, Italy's leading industry association. Paolazzi, Italy is experiencing an 'unprecedented process of deindustrialization.' According to Confindustria, the Italian economy faces a tax burden that is 20 percent higher than in Germany." Continue reading →

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