Big Brother News Watch
Federal Judge Rejects Bid to Block Indiana University Vaccine Mandate + More
Federal Judge Rejects Bid to Block Indiana University Vaccine Mandate
A federal judge on Sunday night denied an attempt to block Indiana University from requiring that students and college employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to be on campus.
Eight students filed a lawsuit last month challenging the vaccination mandate, arguing it violates the 14th Amendment, as well as state law. Their filing comes as vaccination rates stagnate among conservatives and in Republican-leaning areas throughout the country, and as college-age Americans notch the lowest vaccination rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tech Firm’s Spyware Targeted Phones of Journalists, Activists on ‘Massive Scale’
NSO Group, a private Israeli firm that sells surveillance technology to governments worldwide, insists that its Pegasus spyware is used only to “investigate terrorism and crime.” Leaked data, however, reveals that the company’s hacking tool “has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale.”
That’s according to an investigative report published Sunday by the Pegasus Project, a media consortium of more than 80 journalists from 17 news outlets in 10 countries. The collaborative endeavor was coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based media nonprofit, with technical assistance from Amnesty International, which conducted “cutting-edge forensic tests” on smartphones to identify traces of the military-grade spyware.
Alabama Public Schools Cannot Require Proof of COVID Vaccine
School administrators around the Valley are keeping their eyes on the increase in COVID-19 cases as the start of the school year nears. And as of now, many districts plan to make masks optional.
A Madison City Schools mom of four says she is a little uneasy. Her two eldest children are vaccinated, but she’s sending two kids back to the classroom who have not had the chance to get the COVID-19 vaccine yet.
”I was really hoping that they could get the vaccine approved for kids under 12 before they started school. I’m a little disappointed and a little sad about that,” Tracy Abney said. Tracy Abney is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. So are her 15 and 16-year-olds.
The Technology 202: Facebook Isn’t Sharing How Many Americans Viewed Vaccine Misinformation
The Washington Post via MSN reported:
Facebook’s back-and-forth with the Biden administration got ugly over the weekend.
The social network scrambled to respond to the president’s striking accusation that the company is “killing people” for allowing the spread of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Shortly after President Biden’s comments to reporters, Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever said the company wouldn’t respond to accusations that weren’t “supported by the facts.”
White House Turns Up Heat on Big Tech’s COVID ‘Disinformation Dozen’
The White House turned up the pressure on Silicon Valley to get a handle on vaccine misinformation Thursday, specifically singling out 12 people, one group dubbed the “disinformation dozen,” saying they were responsible for a great deal of misinformation about COVID-19.
“There’s about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
That statistic is from the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) which identified in a report published in March about a dozen people it said were super-spreaders of anti-vaccine misinformation. The CCDH had at the time called on Facebook and Twitter to shut down all pages run by those people.
GOP Congressman Says Military Will Lose Members if COVID Vaccine Is Required
The U.S. military is keeping the door open to requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for service members, but Representative Thomas Massie thinks a shift in the military’s policy could prompt people to leave the armed forces.
An estimated 70 percent of America’s active duty service members are vaccinated against COVID-19, the minimum threshold needed for herd immunity. Officials are unlikely to put a mandate in place until the vaccine receives full FDA approval, and they’re still in the mindset of strongly encouraging service members to get vaccinated.
YouTube Removes Video of Suburban School Board Meeting Because It Could Spread COVID Misinformation
YouTube removed a video of a suburban Chicago school board’s meeting because the social media platform determined it could spread misinformation about COVID-19. But the video’s disappearance was short-lived.
After YouTube took down the video of a Tuesday Johnsburg School District 12 Board meeting, the video was restored on Friday.
In restoring the video, YouTube cited an exemption to its policies regarding when videos should be removed.
Federal Appeals Court Ruling Will Allow CDC to Enforce COVID Rules on Cruise Ships
A federal court has temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling and will allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue to implement safety protocols on the cruise industry.
The ruling, issued late Saturday, stays a June ruling by US District Judge Steven Merryday from the middle district of Florida. He ruled then that the CDC’s conditional sailing order on the cruise industry “likely constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to CDC,” as CNN reported at the time. Merryday deemed that Florida is likely to succeed in the case.
Facebook Refutes Biden Claim That It Is ‘Killing People’ With Vaccine Misinformation
Facebook on Saturday refuted remarks made by President Joe Biden that social media platforms are “killing people” by allowing coronavirus vaccine misinformation on their services and argued that vaccine acceptance among its users has actually risen in the U.S.
In a blog post, Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of integrity, pointed to data suggesting that vaccine hesitancy among U.S. users has declined by 50%, and 85% of users said they have been or would like to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“These and other facts tell a very different story to the one promoted by the administration in recent days,” Rosen wrote.
I Believe the Real Purpose of Masks Is Social Control — It’s Time to Turn Down the Fear Dial, Writes Graham Brady, Chairman of the Tory 1922 Committee
On August 23, 1973, an attempted bank raid at Stockholm’s Norrmalmstorg Square went badly wrong. Four hostages were taken and the drama ended only five days later when tear gas forced the robbers to surrender.The hold-up would doubtless have been forgotten but for the odd reaction of the hostages, who formed a close bond with their jailers.
And it was the events of those few days that gave their name to something now commonly described as Stockholm Syndrome. This phenomenon has often been identified in the half-century since Norrmalmstorg Square. But it has been remarkable to see it exhibited by whole swathes of the British public over the past year.
WH ‘Flagging’ Posts for Facebook to Censor Over COVID ‘Misinformation’+ More
White House ‘Flagging’ Posts for Facebook to Censor Over COVID ‘Misinformation’
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday the Biden administration is identifying “problematic” posts for Facebook to censor because they contain “misinformation” about COVID-19.
Psaki disclosed the government’s role in policing social media during her daily press briefing after Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on companies to purge more pandemic posts.
U.S. Surgeon General, Rockefeller Foundation Announce Big Initiatives to Address ‘Urgent Threat’ of Vaccine Misinformation
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on Thursday issued an advisory warning the American public about the “urgent threat” of health misinformation and disinformation that have “threatened the U.S. response to COVID-19 and continue to prevent Americans from getting vaccinated, prolonging the pandemic and putting lives at risk.”
The 22-page advisory calls on Big Tech and social media companies to take more responsibility to stop the online spread of health misinformation.
The advisory blamed “misinformation” for causing people to decline COVID vaccines, reject public health measures such as masking and physical distancing and using unproven treatments.
Hundreds Against Vaccine Mandates Tell Hospitals ‘Shame on You’
Boise State Public Radio reported:
A few hundred community members, including some nurses and doctors, rallied at the Idaho Capitol Thursday morning to oppose local hospitals forcing their workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Saint Alphonsus and St. Luke’s health systems said last week all of their Idaho employees needed to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, or they could be fired. Religious and health exemptions would be granted on a case-by-case basis.
Several at the rally held signs in the hot sun Thursday saying, “We are nurses, not lab mice,” and “What if I have natural immunity?”
UC Mandates COVID Vaccinations and Will Bar Most Students Without Them From Campus
The University of California announced Thursday that COVID-19 vaccinations will be required before the fall term begins for all students, faculty and others, becoming the nation’s largest public university system to mandate the vaccines even though they don’t have full federal approval.
As the highly contagious Delta variant spreads amid lower vaccination rates among younger people, unvaccinated students without approved exemptions will be barred from in-person classes, events and campus facilities, including housing — and not all classes will be offered online, a UC memo outlining the mandate said. Physical distancing and mask wearing are expected to continue.
Republican Lawmakers Push to Cast Vaccine Refusal as a Civil Rights Issue
State Republican lawmakers across the United States are pushing forward bills that prohibit vaccine mandates in an attempt to give the refusal to have a COVID-19 vaccine the same sort of legal protections as those often surrounding issues of gender, religion and race.
Many Republican states are introducing bills that outlaw vaccine mandates within state offices, schools and workplaces, even though vaccine mandates are not commonplace among employers. They also come as the vaccine rollout in the U.S. has slowed markedly, even though the more contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly, especially among unvaccinated people.
Newsom Faces Backlash Over Masks in California Schools
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing sudden backlash over his student mask rules, the latest sign that the recall-threatened leader must tread lightly as schools prepare to open next month.
Students will return to classrooms just as recall ballots land in mailboxes across the state, and Newsom has to strike the right tone with parents and voters after a tumultuous stretch marked by some of the nation’s longest school closures. The governor has built momentum this summer, making his ouster a long shot, but schools remain a sensitive political topic in California.
Unvaccinated Michigan Hospital Workers Expected to Protest Mandates for COVID Vaccine
Over the next two weekends, some Michigan workers in the health care industry are expected to protest mandates by the health systems they work for to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
While public health and medical experts have repeatedly said that COVID-19 vaccines protect against infection and help save lives, some are still saying no to the shots.
Vaccine Passport: The Government Can’t Share Your Data, but Airlines Can
As the United States nears the 50% mark for fully vaccinated individuals and many Americans are eager to travel again, vaccine documentation has emerged as a hot topic in the polarized political forum.
Blue states like California, New York, and Hawaii have launched or are working to launch vaccine passports of their own, while red states like Florida, Utah, and Texas have passed laws banning the requirement of such verification systems.
While these passports continue to garner visceral political reactions, differing from state to state, public companies and nongovernmental organizations have quietly rolled out passports of their own. American Airlines, United, and The Commons Project Foundation, a digital health non-profit, have all created their own passports.
Amid Mounting Frustration, Biden Suggests Decision on EU Travel Coming Within Days
President Joe Biden said Thursday his COVID response team is reviewing U.S. travel restrictions that bar visitors from the European Union and could announce changes in the coming days.
Biden’s remarks come amid mounting frustration in European capitals about the ongoing U.S. travel ban, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Biden on the issue in a private meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“It’s in process now,” Biden said. ” And I’ll be able to answer that question … within the next several days.” He said he is waiting to hear the White House’s COVID advisers “as to when that (lifting the travel ban) should be done.”
Canada Likely to Reopen Border to Vaccinated Americans in August
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday Canada could start allowing Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus into Canada as of mid-August for non-essential travel. He said the country should be in a position to welcome fully vaccinated travelers from all countries by early September.
Trudeau spoke with leaders of Canada’s provinces and his office released a readout of the call. He noted that if Canada’s current positive path of vaccination rate and public health conditions continue the border can open.
“Canada would be in a position to welcome fully vaccinated travelers from all countries by early September,” the readout said. “He noted the ongoing discussions with the United States on reopening plans and indicated that we could expect to start allowing fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents into Canada as of mid-August for non-essential travel.”
As Spain’s Beaches Fill Up, a Seaside Resort Sends in the Drones
With a summer heatwave sending hordes of people to the beach, authorities in the northeastern Spanish seaside town of Sitges are trialling the use of drones to monitor crowds in real-time and counter a rapid rise in COVID-19 contagion.
“It’s a pioneering system,” said Ricardo Monje, a drone operator with the project’s developer Annunzia ES. “We can take photos, pass them through some software and with the software we can count how many people are on the beach.”
Over the past week, dozens of county-level governments in at least eight provinces have published notices warning citizens they have until late July or early August to receive their vaccinations, after which they will face a variety of restrictions on everyday life.
Authoritarianism Advances as World Battles Pandemic + More
Authoritarianism Advances as World Battles the Pandemic
Here’s some of what happened while the world was distracted by the coronavirus: Hungary banned the public depiction of homosexuality. China shut Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy newspaper. Brazil’s government extolled dictatorship. And Belarus hijacked a passenger plane to arrest a journalist.
COVID-19 has absorbed the world’s energies and isolated countries from one another, which may have accelerated the creep of authoritarianism and extremism across the globe, some researchers and activists believe.
“COVID is a dictator’s dream opportunity,” said Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American human rights lawyer who has been indicted on charges including treason in the ostensibly democratic southeast Asian nation, where Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power for more than three decades.
Parents Sue D.C. Over ‘Reckless,’ ‘Unconstitutional’ Law to Vaccinate Kids Without Parental Consent
A recent District of Columbia law, the D.C. Minor Consent for Vaccinations Amendment Act of 2020, allows kids aged 11 and up to get any vaccine recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), including COVID shots, without parental consent or knowledge. Now, parents are fighting back.
The bill passed the D.C. Council on a 10-3 vote last November, and was signed into law by Mayor Muriel Bowser in December. It went into effect on March 19, 2021. On Monday, the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and the Parental Rights Foundation filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for D.C., seeking a court order to rule the law unconstitutional.
North Carolina County Launches ‘Doses to Doors’ Vaccine Campaign
Health department workers and community outreach groups have kicked off a “doses to doors” COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where just 49% of residents have received at least one jab. The program, which officials say offer a convenient way for residents to get the shot without having to worry about travel, was met with mixed reaction on Twitter.
“They don’t move that fast to help people when they know a hurricane is coming,” one Twitter user wrote.
The program, which has a health professional on standby to administer a vaccine to eligible residents who want one, follows a community canvassing effort launched in May. Volunteers had been providing information about vaccines in previous weeks, focusing primarily on neighborhoods with low vaccine rates.
TikTok Just Hit a Critical Milestone Only Facebook Has Been Able to Achieve
TikTok has been downloaded more than three billion times around the world.
That’s a milestone that only Facebook and its cohort of apps have reached, showing the social media giant isn’t the only app people can’t live without.
According to new Sensor Tower data, TikTok is the fifth non-game app to ever surpass the three billion install mark. The only other apps to have gathered more than three billion downloads since January 2014 are Facebook and its WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.
Opinion: How the GOP Crusade Against Vaccines Could Get Even More Dangerous
Until recently, whenever someone wanted to assert that susceptibility to anti-science conspiracy theories was not solely the province of the right, an example they could cite was the sort-of left-leaning embrace of the anti-vaccine crusade.
With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the most prominent opponent of vaccination, the picture many people had of a vaccine opponent was a liberal parent from Santa Monica fighting with their school district over whether to get their kids immunized.
That was a distortion — liberals were no more likely to be anti-vaxxers than conservatives — and it certainly didn’t rise up the political ladder to the point where Democratic politicians were waging fights against immunizations.
Tennessee Governor Says ‘Parents, Not Kids’ Focus of Vaccine Outreach After Firing of Top Health Official
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is pushing back against claims about his youth vaccination program days after the state’s top vaccination official was fired for allegedly sharing factual information with doctors about the legalities of vaccinating un-emancipated minors without parental consent.
The Tennessee Democratic Party has called for Dr. Michelle Fiscus to be reinstated, and for the governor “to recommit the Tennessee Department of Health to carrying out its mission to protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee,” WMC reported.
Despite what Lee’s office described as “misleading reporting,” the state’s Department of Health “has not halted the Vaccines for Children Program that provides information and vaccine access to Tennessee parents,” a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement to WMC.
Alabama Military Base Is First in U.S. to Require Vaccination Proof Amid Rising COVID rates
An Alabama military base is taking increased actions to combat the ongoing prevalence of coronavirus infections, authorizing leaders to ask for proof of vaccination of service members not wearing a mask while on duty. It is the first military base in the continental United States to allow leaders to check the vaccination status of those in uniform.
The new guidance at Fort Rucker comes as the new delta variant of the virus continues to drive infection rates and now accounts for a majority of cases in the United States. The base is among facilities, including Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, Fort Sill in Oklahoma and Fort Jackson in South Carolina, where less than half of the surrounding populations have been vaccinated.
The order issued Tuesday by Maj. Gen. David Francis, commanding general of Fort Rucker, states that unmasked uniformed personnel “must be prepared to show proof of vaccination” when on the base.
St. Jude Will Require Employees to Receive COVID Vaccine
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is changing up its COVID requirements for employees.
Starting September 9, all St. Jude and Memphis-area ALSAC employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In a statement to FOX13, St. Jude said: “As our mission states and as our St. Jude core values echo, we must ensure that advancing treatment for children with catastrophic diseases is at the center of everything we do. This means providing our patients and their families with the safest treatment environment possible.
What Is the ‘Freedom Phone’? Candace Owens Backs Apple and Google Alternative
Erik Finman, the self-proclaimed “Bitcoin millionaire,” has launched a new smartphone designed to fight back against Big Tech companies by promoting free speech and security.
The Freedom Phone comes with its own app store, which will feature apps that are blocked or banned by Apple and Google, although the details haven’t yet been given. It has already been endorsed by conservative commentator Candace Owens.
“I just did a live on Instagram taking everyone through the new FREEDOM PHONE which is now trending,” she tweeted on Wednesday night.
Spain’s Top Court Rules Pandemic Lockdown ‘Unconstitutional’
Last year’s stay-at-home lockdown order by the government under a state of emergency was unconstitutional, Spain’s constitutional court has ruled on Wednesday.
The court ruling was in response to a suit filed by the far-right Vox party.
It was a split decision according to a brief statement issued by the court. State broadcaster TVE said six magistrates voted in favour and five against.
According to the Spanish broadcaster, the ruling said that the limitations on movement violated citizens’ basic rights and therefore the state of emergency was insufficient to give them constitutional backing.
Twitter Sees Jump in Govt Demands to Remove Content + More
EXCLUSIVE Twitter Sees Jump in Govt Demands to Remove Content of Journalists, News Outlets
Twitter Inc. saw a surge in demands over the course of last year from governments around the world to take down content posted by journalists and news outlets, data to be released by the social media platform for the first time will show.
In its transparency report to be published on Wednesday and a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Twitter said verified accounts of 199 journalists and news outlets on its platform globally were subject to 361 legal demands from governments to remove content in the second half of 2020, an increase of 26% from the first half of the year.
20 Federal Agencies Use Facial Recognition Technologies That Store Billions of Photos
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security met Tuesday to discuss the unfettered use of facial recognition technology by federal law enforcement.
Both experts and committee members from both parties expressed concerns about the current use of facial recognition technology, including its invasion of individual and community privacy, procurement of images without proper consent, and high misidentification rates of nonwhite individuals.
From its survey of 42 federal agencies that employ law enforcement officers, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 20 federal agencies own systems with facial recognition technology or use systems owned by other entities. GAO Director Gretta Goodwin testified that these systems can contain millions or billions of photos.
White House Prepares to Fight Back in the COVID Vaccine Disinformation War
White House officials are devising ways to fight the spread of dangerous falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines, administration officials told CNN, as Republicans and their media allies ramp up their vocal skepticism about vaccines.
President Joe Biden himself could soon take on some of the corrosive messages emanating from the right, officials said, as the administration’s vaccination efforts hit a wall just as the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus rips across the country. CNN spoke with five people in the administration who described the White House’s efforts to fight back against the misinformation swirling about COVID-19 vaccines.
Michigan Man Misidentified by Facial Recognition Technology Warns Congress of Risks Posed by Police Surveillance
A Michigan man who was wrongly arrested after being misidentified by facial recognition technology joined expert witnesses who warned a congressional subcommittee about the pitfalls of police surveillance software used to find suspects.
Facial recognition technology used by the Detroit Police Department mistakenly matched Farmington Hills resident Robert Williams to a surveillance photo of a suspected shoplifter. Williams, who testified before a House panel Tuesday about his experience, was detained by police for 30 hours and arraigned before his charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
On TikTok, Audio Gives New Virality to Misinformation
In December, a Wisconsin man who goes by the username the_alpha_k9 on TikTok uploaded a testimonial-style video to the platform, telling his thousands of followers that he wouldn’t be taking a COVID-19 vaccine.
“You’re telling me in 40 years of research there is no vaccine for HIV … for cancer, no vaccine … the common cold, no vaccine,” he said. “Yet in one year we’ve developed a vaccine for COVID-19 and you want me to take that … thanks, but no thanks.”
Facebook Seeks U.S. FTC Chair Lina Khan’s Recusal in Antitrust Case
Facebook on Wednesday asked for the recusal of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan from the FTC’s antitrust case against the company, a step that could imperil the agency’s lawsuit against it.
A prominent critic of Big Tech who was sworn in as FTC chair in June, Khan previously worked for the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, which issued a report in October that spelled out what it said was anti-competitive conduct by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet’s Google.
“Chair Khan has consistently made well-documented statements about Facebook and antitrust matters that would lead any reasonable observer to conclude that she has prejudged the Facebook antitrust case brought by the FTC,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
Tougher Tactics for the Unvaccinated Needed to Stop New Rise in COVID, Experts Say
With coronavirus cases rising among the unvaccinated and efforts to get them shots lagging, there is growing belief in some public health circles that more aggressive tactics are needed to get more of the population inoculated.
California has already tried prizes and game show-style events to encourage people to get vaccinated. But 41% of Californians of all ages have yet to be inoculated. And two troubling and related trends are bringing calls for fresh thinking.
California Mother Calls Out Local Officials Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Restrictions on Small Businesses
Californians are taking a stand against the state’s ongoing COVID-19 restrictions like mask requirements. Melissa O’Connor, a San Diego mother of four, confronted local officials on the harm those mandates are doing to small businesses.
In confronting the board of supervisors, she noted that the state is no longer in a state of emergency, but small businesses are still being impacted negatively by state requirements.
“Just months ago, I could walk through Target sipping a Starbucks coffee, but the independent coffee shop owner around the corner who supports four children was told not only to close but threatened with fines.”
Health Freedom Defense Fund Sues Biden Administration Over Mask Mandate
Health Freedom Defense Fund reported:
Today the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) and two Florida residents filed a lawsuit asking the United States District Court in Tampa, Florida to strike down the CDC’s nationwide mask mandate for travel.
“The CDC is not a nationwide police force, and is not empowered to make laws,”
said Leslie Manookian, Founder and President of Health Freedom Defense Fund.
“Nevertheless, with no legal authority to do so, these unelected, unaccountable technocrats have forced every citizen in America to wear a mask when they travel. We believe that Americans have the right to think for themselves and make their own health care choices without the meddling of government. Americans must not be dictated to in this manner by anyone, let alone unelected, unaccountable technocrats at CDC.”
Norwegian Cruise Line Sues Florida Surgeon General Over Vaccine Passport Ban
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is suing Florida’s surgeon general over the state’s law that prohibits companies from requiring customers and employees to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination status.
According to the complaint filed Tuesday, NCLH says the lawsuit is a “last resort” because Florida had indicated it would prevent the company from “safely and soundly resuming passenger cruise operations” next month. It described the state law as an “anomalous, misguided intrusion.”
Protests in France Against COVID ‘Health Pass’ Rules
All health workers in France must get COVID-19 jabs and anyone wanting to get into a cinema or board a train will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test under new rules announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Unveiling sweeping measures to combat a surge in infections, Macron said vaccination would not be compulsory for the general public for now but stressed that restrictions would focus on those who are not vaccinated.
