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GM says 2012 sales in China hit record highs

“US auto giant General Motors said that its sales in China, the world’s biggest car market, hit a record 2.84 million vehicles last year, despite the country’s slowing economy. GM’s China sales grew 11.3 percent in 2012 from 2011, which recorded the previous record of around 2.55 million vehicles, the company said in a statement. GM’s sales growth outpaced China as a whole. A Chinese industry group said Friday that China’s auto sales rose only 4.3 percent year-on-year to 19.31 million vehicles in 2012.” Continue reading →

German activists start campaign to destroy surveillance cameras

“German activists are attempting to destroy security cameras in anticipation of the European Police Congress in Berlin in February, according to Michael Ebeling, an opponent of public surveillance writing for France 24′s The Observers. The group organizing the actions, CAMOVER, believe such cameras lead police to discriminate and use stereotypes in search of criminals and criminal activity. They are encouraging people to participate in the ‘game’ until Feb. 19, when the congress convenes. The country’s Interior Ministry claims the cameras have been shown to reduce crime by almost 20 percent.” Continue reading →

The Death of Privacy

“If the War on Drugs was an erosion of the Fourth Amendment, the ‘War on Terror’ sounded its death knell. The NSA’s warrantless domestic spying program has turned America into the most surveilled society in history, eclipsing conditions of East Germans under the Stasi. The government is illegally monitoring (in real time) activities not tethered to any suspicious or illegal conduct—for example, phone calls, purchases, email, text messages, Internet searches, social media communications, health information, employment history, travel, and student records—and creating dossiers on everyone (even senators, congressmen, and decorated generals).” Continue reading →

Does Facebook Help the Prosecution, But Not Defense?

“[P]rosecutors generally have an easier time than defense attorneys getting private information out of Facebook and other social networks, as highlighted in an ongoing Portland murder case. In that case, the defense attorney has evidence of a Facebook conversation in which a key witness reportedly tells a friend he was pressured by police into falsely incriminating the defendant. Facebook rebuffed the defense attorney’s subpoena seeking access to the conversation, citing the federal Stored Communications Act, which protects the privacy of electronic communications like e-mail – but which carves out an exemption for law enforcement.” Continue reading →

Activists and family blame suicide of Aaron Swartz on overzealous prosecution

“Two years before the MIT incident, the FBI launched an investigation after Swartz released a trove of US federal court documents online that are usually only accessible at a fee through the government’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER. In 2008, that fee was eight cents per page. In less than three weeks, he managed to download more than 18 million pages with an estimated value of $1.5 million to his home in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Swartz had pleaded not guilty to charges of computer fraud, wire fraud and other crimes carrying a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.” Continue reading →

Medical marijuana proprietor gets 10-year prison sentence

“A man who owned several medical marijuana dispensaries in California that ostensibly operated legally under state law was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison on charges that he violated federal law restricting production and sales of the drug. Aaron Sandusky did not try to fight the charges, admitting to producing and selling medical marijuana in a manner approved by state law. ‘I want to apologize to those with me and their families who have been victimized by the federal government who has not recognized the voters of this state,’ Sandusky said in court. ‘I want to apologize to the families who are suffering and who have to go through this.'” Continue reading →

Medical marijuana proprietor gets 10-year prison sentence

Leukemia sufferer Bob Crouse sues city over destroyed marijuana

“Finally able to return to normalcy after winning his protracted trial with the help of the public defender’s office, and then winning the return of his marijuana, seized as evidence, with the pro-bono help of attorney Clifton Black, Crouse is confronting a final hurdle: repayment. The Independent has learned that on Dec. 27, Black and attorney Charles Houghton filed suit against the city of Colorado Springs for its failure, via the police department, to maintain the marijuana as required in Amendent 20. It has come out previously that the roughly 60 pounds of seized crop — some 55 plants and 6.5 pounds of matter — were worth around $307,000.” Continue reading →