Archive for the 'Police State' Category
Cops Say They Can Access Encrypted Emails on So-Called PGP BlackBerrys
January 13th, 2016Via: Vice: Dutch investigators have confirmed to Motherboard that they are able to read encrypted messages sent on PGP BlackBerry phones—custom, security-focused BlackBerry devices that come complete with an encrypted email feature, and which reportedly may be used by organized criminal groups. “We are capable of obtaining encrypted data from BlackBerry PGP devices,” Tuscha Essed, […]
Your Threat Score
January 10th, 2016Via: Washington Post: As a national debate has played out over mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, a new generation of technology such as the Beware software being used in Fresno has given local law enforcement officers unprecedented power to peer into the lives of citizens. Police officials say such tools can provide critical […]
Federal Judge: Drinking Tea, Shopping at a Gardening Store Is Probable Cause for a SWAT Raid on Your Home
December 28th, 2015Via: The Washington Post: In April 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte, their 7-year-old daughter and their 13-year-old son. The couple, both former CIA analysts, awoke to pounding at the door. When Robert Harte answered, SWAT agents flooded the home. He was told to lie on the floor. […]
Australian Police Raid Sydney Home of Reported Bitcoin Creator
December 9th, 2015Via: Reuters: Australian police raided the Sydney home and office on Wednesday of a man named by Wired magazine as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency, Reuters witnesses said. More than a dozen federal police officers entered a house registered on the electoral roll […]
Alabama: Dothan Police Planted Drugs on Young Black Men For Years, DA Complicit
December 2nd, 2015Via: Henry County Report: The Alabama Justice Project has obtained documents that reveal a Dothan Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation was covered up by the district attorney. A group of up to a dozen police officers on a specialized narcotics team were found to have planted drugs and weapons on young black men for years. […]
Police Civil Asset Forfeitures Exceed All Burglaries in 2014
November 18th, 2015Via: Armstrong Economics: Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion in asset forfeiture cases. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually. In 2010 alone, the value of assets seized grew by +52.8% from 2009 and was six times greater than the total for 1989. Then by 2014, that number […]
Alabama: For Offenders Who Can’t Pay, It’s a Pint of Blood or Jail Time
October 21st, 2015Harvest time. Via: New York Times: Judge Marvin Wiggins’s courtroom was packed on a September morning. The docket listed hundreds of offenders who owed fines or fees for a wide variety of crimes — hunting after dark, assault, drug possession and passing bad checks among them. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” began Judge Wiggins, a […]
New York City’s X-Ray Vans
October 20th, 2015Via: The Atlantic: Dystopian truth is stranger than dystopian fiction. In New York City, the police now maintain an unknown number of military-grade vans outfitted with X-ray radiation, enabling cops to look through the walls of buildings or the sides of trucks. The technology was used in Afghanistan before being loosed on U.S. streets. Each […]
Low Profile Solar Panels for People Living in Vans
September 21st, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Cops are the biggest problem for people who live in vehicles. Normal solar panels on a van would be a dead giveaway that someone doesn’t have a mortgage or a landlord. Check out this couple’s almost invisible installation of three Renogy 100 watt flexible solar […]
Maryland Man Fined $50 for Picking Berries in Park
August 30th, 2015Via: Reason: To me, nothing screams summer like picking and eating fresh berries. I know I’m not alone. Greg Visscher, head of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Young Republicans Club, has been picking berries with his family for years. So it was with some degree of surprise that Visscher found himself confronted last month by a […]
