statism

Google stands up for Gmail users, requires cops to get a warrant

"American government agencies (including federal, state, and local authorities) made over 8,400 requests for nearly 15,000 accounts—far exceeding India, the next largest country in terms of information requests. It's unclear how many of the subpoenas or warrants Google complied with—the company has only said it complied in part or in full to 88 percent of total requests from American authorities. While relatively few tech companies publicly disclose how many government requests they get, Google appears to be one of the few e-mail providers that is challenging law enforcement agencies to produce a warrant to access users’ e-mail." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle stands up for Gmail users, requires cops to get a warrant

Google’s Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car — Part 2: The Ripple Effects

"The fact is that a driverless car would slash hundreds of billions of dollars of annual revenue, or even trillions, from all sorts of entities: car makers, parts suppliers, car dealers, auto insurers, auto financiers, body shops, emergency rooms, health insurers, medical practices, personal-injury lawyers, government taxing authorities, road-construction companies, parking-lot operators, oil companies, owners of urban real estate, and on and on and on. At the same time, the driverless car will create enormously lucrative business opportunities to serve new customer needs. I’ll turn first to the revenue that is in peril and then examine the opportunities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle’s Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car — Part 2: The Ripple Effects

Law-enforcer misuse of driver database soars

"Florida's driver-and-vehicle database, the system that can help law enforcement identify victims of fatal crashes and decipher the identity of a suspect, can be a useful tool for cops. But at least 74 law enforcers were suspected of misusing D.A.V.I.D. in 2012, a nearly 400 percent increase from 2011, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Officers who needlessly pull information or photographs from D.A.V.I.D. that would otherwise be private could face criminal charges, sanctions or disciplinary action. And yet the temptation of looking up a relative, a celebrity's address or a romantic interest is too great for some law enforcers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLaw-enforcer misuse of driver database soars

European Space Agency ponders asteroid-smashing mission

"The proposed mission, called AIDA (for 'Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment'), would consist of a pair of spacecraft (sadly, not named Armageddon and Deep Impact) flung at the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos. Didymos is actually a binary object consisting of a large primary mass and much smaller secondary satellite mass. The idea with the AIDA mission, which would take place near the end of 2022, is to accelerate a small kinetic impactor spacecraft to a relative velocity of 6.25 kilometers per second and crash it into the secondary Didymos mass. A second spacecraft would hold off a short distance away and measure the orbital deflection." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropean Space Agency ponders asteroid-smashing mission

China’s Securities Regulator Says Stock Intervention Needed at Times

"China’s securities regulator said intervention in the nation’s stock market is necessary at 'key moments' because it isn’t mature. 'Volatility is high and don’t forget, China is still a developing country,' Xinhua quoted China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Guo Shuqing as saying at a national securities and futures supervision meeting. Net share purchases by China’s social security fund were 42.8 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) last year and totaled 42.7 billion yuan by qualified foreign institutional investors, Xinhua cited Guo as saying. They were the biggest net purchasers, Xinhua reported." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina’s Securities Regulator Says Stock Intervention Needed at Times

SEC Bars Egan-Jones From Rating The US And Other Governments For 18 Months

"It is refreshing to see that the SEC has taken a much needed break from its daily escapades into midgetporn.xxx and is focusing on what is truly important, such as barring outspoken rating agency Egan-Jones from rating the US and other governments. From the SEC: 'EJR and Egan made a settlement offer that the Commission determined to accept. Under the settlement, EJR and Egan agreed to be barred for at least 18 months from rating asset-backed and government securities issuers as an NRSRO. EJR and Egan also agreed to correct the deficiencies found by SEC examiners in 2012." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSEC Bars Egan-Jones From Rating The US And Other Governments For 18 Months

Library of Congress to archive Americans’ tweets

"The Library of Congress, repository of the world’s largest collection of books, has set for itself the enormous task of archiving something less weighty and far more ephemeral — Americans’ billions of tweets. The venerable US institution is assembling all of the 400 million tweets sent by Americans each day, in the belief that each of the mini-messages reflect a small but important part of the national narrative." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLibrary of Congress to archive Americans’ tweets

EU panel seeks power to fine, censor and fire journalists

"A series of recommendations issued Monday (PDF) by the European Union’s 'High Level Group' proposes the establishment of 'media councils' in every member state that would be monitored by the European Commission and given the power to fine, censor and even fire individual journalists if deemed appropriate. Another recommendation pertaining to media councils advises that they be staffed 'with a politically and culturally balanced and socially diverse membership,' with lawmakers — not journalists or publishers — making the nominations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU panel seeks power to fine, censor and fire journalists

Forbes Deletes Popular Story Linking Psychiatric Drugs To Murders

"In 2000, New York legislators recognized the ubiquitous and unambiguous connection between violence, especially gun violence and mass murder, and the widespread prescribed use of psychiatric drugs. Since that time, there have been at least 12 additional high-profile mass murders linked to the use of psychiatric drugs, about one a year. And, in virtually every mass school shooting during the past 15 years, the shooter has been on or in withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. Here is a partial list of 24 such horrific events that occurred since 1998, not including the Virginia Tech shootings and the recent Sandy Hook shootings where the authorities continue to suppress information." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingForbes Deletes Popular Story Linking Psychiatric Drugs To Murders