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Last week, Apple announced its new AirTags — $29 location-tracking fobs that can help find your keys or purse anywhere in the world. The devices, which are roughly the diameter of a quarter, have since been tested and lauded by tech journalists, including our own.But technology often comes with unintended consequences, explain representatives from the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a leading nonprofit with the goal of ending violence against women. NNEDV sits on advisory boards for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Uber and has consulted for both Google and Apple in the past (but not on AirTags). The...

California on Monday announced an app to help people track their exposure to the coronavirus, becoming the biggest U.S. state to take advantage of new technology from smartphone software makers Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Beginning on Thursday, people in California can activate the exposure notifications tool from the settings menu on iPhones or by downloading the CA Notify App in the Google Play store on Android devices. The apps enable Bluetooth signals between devices to determine when they are in close proximity, and the apps then anonymously alert users when a recent contact later tests positive. At least...

Imagine if we could put every area of America on an even playing field when it comes to high-speed internet. https://t.co/JqdSWsJDgY— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 2, 2020 Today’s internet is as critical—if not more so—to our nation’s economy and security as roads and highways were in Eisenhower’s time. https://t.co/Md4sjHXowB— Slate (@Slate) October 2, 2020

Six European Union countries and the bloc’s executive Commission have begun testing a virtual “gateway” to ensure national coronavirus tracing apps can work across borders. The trial starting Monday will allow national computer systems that run tracing apps in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Latvia to communicate with each other via a central hub. If the tests succeed, travelers from each of the six countries will be able to use their own apps while abroad in the other five to ensure they’re notified if they have been in close contact to another user who tests positive. Tracing...

Online form allows NJ residents to report violations of coronavi Online form allows NJ residents to report violations of coronavirus restrictions New Jersey is urging residents to speak out if they see people violating coronavirus restrictions. A new online form allows people to report something that violates Gov. Phil Murphy's executive orders. Examples of violations would be not following social distancing requirements or people holding large indoor events. Residents can report violations anonymously, but officials say that may make it harder to investigate.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s health authority, reported 782 new infections on Sunday, bringing the nation’s case count to 232,864. The figure is a notable drop from the more than 2,000 infections reported on Saturday, which RKI said was due to returning travelers. The RKI also reported two new deaths, increasing Germany’s death toll from the virus to 9,269 since the pandemic began. Experts in Germany have claimed that not enough people are using the country’s coronavirus tracking app for it to be effective. More than 17 million people have downloaded the app since it was launched in June,...

President Donald Trump on Friday gave the Chinese company ByteDance 90 days to divest itself of any assets used to support the popular TikTok app in the United States. Trump’s executive order said there is “credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance … might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” Trump last week ordered sweeping but vague bans on dealings with the Chinese owners of TikTok and the messaging app WeChat, saying they are a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy. …

Only a handful of contact tracers working to slow COVID-19 in 125 communities near Chicago speak Spanish, despite significant Hispanic populations. Churches and advocacy groups in the Houston area are trying to convince immigrants to cooperate when health officials call. And in California, immigrants are being trained as contact tracers to ease mistrust. The crucial job of reaching people who test positive for the coronavirus and those they’ve come in contact with is proving especially difficult in immigrant communities because of language barriers, confusion and fear of the government. The failure of health departments across the U.S. to adequately investigate...

WATCH #SHADOWGATE LIVESTREAMING NOW!! DOWNLOAD IT ASAP when it finishes! This documentary is what got Millie Weaver arrested this morning because the Deep State doesn’t want this information out in public!!

China is targeting religious minorities with advanced technological surveillance networks, according to experts speaking at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) webinar hearing led by USCIRF Chair, Gayle Manchin, on July 22. Artificial intelligence, facial recognition technology, DNA collection, and social media regulations track minorities in China–such as the Uyghurs, Falun Gong, and Tibetans–resulting in the ruthless arrests of millions who are forced to labor, concentration camps, sterilization, abortion, rape, and even mental incapacitation. Although China implements nothing short of “genocidal population control measures,” the CCP does not specify which religious behaviors count as “extremist,” which allows...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County’s enforcement of Gov. Mike DeWine’s mask order will largely rely upon complaints filed by the public, rather than proactive policing, County Executive Armond Budish announced Friday. Individuals who see others failing to abide by the mask requirement should call in complaints to the county’s new hotline at 216-698-5050, or file complaints online at cuyahogacounty.us/maskexperience. County workers will then contact the subject of the complaints — either individuals or businesses — to let them know a complaint has been filed, Budish said. Complaints also will be forwarded to the Board of Health, and the relevant city...

The NYPD will transition its anti-crime units into other assignments including detective work and neighborhood policing, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday. The change will affect roughly 600 plainclothes officers, he said, with officers in every precinct being reassigned as the department switches focus to community-based efforts. Some officers could also be put into school detective roles or other positions. “Thankfully, here in New York City, angry demonstrations have turned peaceful. Thoughtful discussions about reform have emerged,” Shea said at a Monday afternoon news conference. “We welcome reform, but we also believe that meaningful reform starts from within.” The commissioner...

UPDATE (12 p.m. PT) – Gov. Kate Brown said on Friday a new study with 100,000 randomly selected Oregonians could shed light on how far the coronavirus has spread throughout the state and will help guide the state’s decisions to reopen the economy. It was one month ago the governor ordered everyone to stay home to help stop the spread of COVID-19. “But holy smokes, it feels a lot longer than that,” the governor said on Friday. At a press conference, Brown unveiled new details on how the state plans to expand COVID-19 testing and trace people who have been...

The Fund for Public Health in New York City is looking for people to work as contract tracers as experts say the strategy is necessary for cities and states planning to relax social distancing orders. The position requires experience in a health-related field or some sort of "public health training." -The Fund for Public Health in New York City is seeking contract tracers to identify and record people who have been in contact with individuals diagnosed with COVID-19. -Bipartisan health experts recommended Congress spend $12 billion to hire an additional 180,000 contract tracing workers over the next 18 months. -The...

Including the line ‘China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong’ discredits any piece of writing that discusses civil liberties and the rule of law. My former law professor Jack Goldsmith, now at Harvard Law School, and Andrew Keane Woods of the University of Arizona Law School, have a remarkable article in The Atlantic that defends technology companies’ surveillance and speech controls regarding coronavirus information. “Significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet,” they write, “and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers Saturday that they can snap smartphone photos of social distancing violations and text them to authorities and “enforcement will come” as the coronavirus shutdown remains in place across the Big Apple. “Now it is easier than ever,” he said in a video posted to his official Twitter account. “When you see a crowd, when you see a line that’s not distanced, when you see a supermarket that’s too crowded — anything — you can report it right away so we can get help there to fix the problem.” […] How...

Uber plans to record audio during rides in the United States as part of a new security feature, in its latest push to protect riders and drivers amid rising safety concerns. The feature, which is first to be piloted in some Latin American cities next month, allows users to opt in to activate an audio recording on any trip or all trips, according to internal communications viewed by The Washington Post and confirmed by Uber. In markets where it’s available, users would probably be given a blanket warning that trips are subject to recording — and that the feature will...

Two top senators Thursday demanded that the Obama administration explain why the Internal Revenue Service is using technology to secretly track cellphones that is normally the domain of law-enforcement agencies. The move by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont followed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen's admission to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that the agency uses the technology.

The Intercept editor Glenn Greenwald wrote a searing column on Friday documenting Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos’ extensive relationship with intelligence agencies and the deep state. The reminder of Bezos’ corporate partnership with controversial government entities such as the CIA and NSA couldn’t come at a more appropriate time, as the Amazon founder has attracted attention for lashing out at what he calls an attempt by the National Enquirer to invade his privacy. Bezos alleges he’s the victim of attempted blackmail on behalf of the Enquirer, which supposedly threatened to release his personal lewd photos if he didn’t shut down a...

Full tile: Jeff Bezos Protests the Invasion of His Privacy, as Amazon Builds a Sprawling Surveillance State for Everyone Else IF BEZOS WERE the political victim of surveillance state abuses, it would be scandalous and dangerous. It would also be deeply ironic. That’s because Amazon, the company that has made Bezos the planet’s richest human being, is a critical partner for the U.S. Government in building an ever-more invasive, militarized and sprawling surveillance state. Indeed, one of the largest components of Amazon’s business, and thus one of the most important sources of Bezos’ vast wealth and power, is working with...