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Federal Judge Strikes Down Biden Administration’s Head Start Vaccine, Mask Mandate
A federal judge in Louisiana on Wednesday struck down a mandate from the Biden administration that required staffers at Head Start childcare facilities to be vaccinated and to wear masks.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty issued a permanent injunction against federal agencies enforcing Head Start vaccine and masking requirements.
In his ruling, Doughty found that the plaintiffs had satisfied the requirements to warrant a permanent injunction. He ruled that the plaintiffs — a group of Head Start teachers from across the country along with several state governments — faced a “substantial threat of irreparable injury” if the mandate wasn’t taken down.
In November, the Office of Head Start, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Administration for Children and Families issued a rule requiring universal masking for all children and staff at Head Start facilities over the age of 2. Adult staff members were also required to get immunized against COVID-19, with weekly testing required for those who were exempt from vaccinations.
NYC Subways Are Getting a ‘Big Brother’ Addition
New York City subways are getting an upgrade. No, not more trains, more stops, fewer delays or updated stations, but instead a ton more surveillance cameras. Every car in the subway system will soon be equipped with two cameras, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday.
“You think Big Brother’s watching you on the subways? You’re absolutely right. That is our intent,” the Governor said during a news conference in a Queens subway yard. “We are going to be having surveillance of activities on the subway trains, and that is going to give people great peace of mind.”
The addition of cameras on train cars is the expansion of the pilot program which began in June. In the test phase, about 100 cars were equipped with cameras. The security push followed a spate of highly publicized subway attacks, including an April mass shooting on a Manhattan-bound N train. During that attack, a single gunman shot 10 people. Miraculously, nobody was killed, though multiple people were injured.
Hochul preemptively dismissed potential concerns about the increased surveillance, adding “If you’re concerned about this, the best answer is don’t commit any crimes on the subways, then you won’t have any problems.” This is a pro-surveillance argument so classic and critiqued, it has its own Wikipedia page.
Supreme Court to Consider Taking up Challenge to New York’s Vaccine Mandate
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an NYPD detective’s challenge to New York City’s vaccine requirement for municipal workers after all.
Last month, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected a request by Det. Anthony Marciano to take up his legal challenge — the outcome of which could have significant implications for Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. But Marciano resubmitted the exact same request to conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, and the high court’s press office confirmed Tuesday the case will be deliberated at a conference on Oct. 7.
Marciano sued the city last year challenging a policy requiring municipal workers to be inoculated against COVID-19. He did not qualify for religious or medical exemptions, but instead argued he’d acquired immunity through his front-line service and should be free to make his own decision about getting the jab.
His case began in state court and was quickly kicked up to the federal level. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a stay of the vaccine mandate while his case plays out, so he asked the Supreme Court to grant him that injunction or strike down the city’s policy altogether.
Revealed: U.S. Military Bought Mass Monitoring Tool That Includes Internet Browsing, Email Data
Multiple branches of the U.S. military have bought access to a powerful internet monitoring tool that claims to cover over 90% of the world’s internet traffic, and which in some cases provides access to peoples’ email data, browsing history and other information such as their sensitive internet cookies, according to contracting data and other documents reviewed by Motherboard.
Additionally, Senator Ron Wyden says that a whistleblower has contacted his office concerning the alleged warrantless use and purchase of this data by NCIS, a civilian law enforcement agency that is part of the Navy, after filing a complaint through the official reporting process with the Department of Defense, according to a copy of the letter shared by Wyden’s office with Motherboard.
The material reveals the sale and use of a previously little-known monitoring capability that is powered by data purchases from the private sector. The tool, called Augury, is developed by cybersecurity firm Team Cymru and bundles a massive amount of data together and makes it available to government and corporate customers as a paid service.
Motherboard has found that the U.S. Navy, Army, Cyber Command and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency have collectively paid at least $3.5 million to access Augury. This allows the military to track internet usage using an incredible amount of sensitive information.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules School Districts, Not Governor, Should Decide Mask Mandates
The Oklahoman via Yahoo!News reported:
The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the governor’s influence over school mask mandates in an opinion issued Tuesday, ruling in favor of doctors and parents who challenged a state law that at one point effectively blocked masking requirements in public schools.
The court decided a crucial provision in Senate Bill 658 that made school mask mandates contingent on the governor declaring a state of emergency is “impermissible” and denies school districts local control.
The decision means public schools wouldn’t have to wait for a governor’s emergency order to require face coverings, though few schools, if any, still mandate them.
Official: Canada Likely to Drop Vaccine Requirement to Enter
Canada will likely drop the vaccine requirement for people who enter Canada by the end of September, an official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Canada, like the United States, requires foreign nationals to be vaccinated when entering the country. It is not immediately known whether the U.S. will make a similar move by Sept. 30.
Unvaccinated travelers who are allowed to enter Canada are currently subject to mandatory arrival tests and a 14-day quarantine.
The official said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to give a final sign-off on it but that the government will likely be dropping the requirement as well as ending random COVID-19 testing at airports. Filling out information in the unpopular ArriveCan app will also no longer be required.
City of Toronto Pulls Controversial Vaccination Ad Campaign Within Hours
Saying it “can do better,” the City of Toronto has pulled a $20,000 video ad campaign encouraging families to vaccinate their kids.
They removed the five ad spots just hours after release and following public and media backlash about the city’s use of children in these Public Service Announcements attempting to illustrate there are things in life that they can’t partake in without receiving a COVID-19 injection.
Knowing this approach of using kids to try to encourage parents to vaccinate their children at a time when mandates and masking protocols are no longer in existence, I sent a request to the city for comment.
“People who are vaccinated are still susceptible to contracting COVID-19, so what is this about?” I asked. “Is this trying to guilt families into vaccinating a child or some form of peer pressure? Is it trying to suggest families should keep unvaccinated (children) indoors?”
Morgan Stanley to Pay $35 Million After Hard Drives With 15 Million Customers’ Personal Data Turn up in Auction
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to settle charges against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) for its “astonishing” failure to protect the personal identifying information of some 15 million customers.
MSSB, now known as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, is the wealth and asset management division of banking giant Morgan Stanley, which this week agreed to pay $35 million to settle allegations that it failed to properly dispose of hard drives and servers containing its customers’ personal data over a five-year period as far back as 2015.
Morgan Stanley hired a moving and storage company with “no experience or expertise in data destruction services,” according to the SEC, and failed to properly monitor the moving company’s work. Some of the hard drives were later found on an internet auction site with customers’ personal data still stored within.
“While MSSB recovered some of the devices, which were shown to contain thousands of pieces of unencrypted customer data, the firm has not recovered the vast majority of the devices,” the SEC said in a statement.
That Instagram Selfie You Posted Is an Open Invitation to Surveillance
Next time you pose for an Instagram photo in public, don’t forget to also smile for the numerous surveillance cameras in the area. “The Follower” may be watching.
Belgium-based artist Dries Depoorter‘s latest project, “The Follower,” reveals just how often people are being surveilled in public. And all he needed to track down his social media targets in real life was a photo that they posted on Meta-owned Instagram.
“One day I saw a person taking photos for like 20 minutes and I was trying to find the photo on Instagram a day later without success,” Depoorter told Mashable. “Then I started building the [artificial intelligence] software.”
Thanks to facial recognition software created by Depoorter and footage from open cameras live streaming public spaces from around the world, the artist was able to find a video of Instagrammers preparing to take a photo they later posted on the social media platform. It’s an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes of a curated Instagram picture. More importantly, it shows just how much information can be pulled from a photo posted online.
TikTok Tightens Policies Around Political Issues in Run-up to U.S. Midterms
Politicians on TikTok will no longer be able to use the app tipping tools, nor access advertising features on the social network, as the company tightens its policies around political issues in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections in six weeks’ time.
Political advertising is already banned on the platform, alongside “harmful misinformation,” but as TikTok has grown over the past two years, new features such as gifting, tipping and e-commerce have been embraced by some politicians on the site.
Now, new rules will again limit political players’ ability to use the app for anything other than organic activity, to “help ensure TikTok remains a fun, positive and joyful experience”, the company said.
Would You Sell Your Data for Profit? Nearly 50% of Americans Said They Would
You might take your online privacy very seriously. You always connect to one of the best VPN services when surfing the net. Likewise, you also carefully read terms and conditions before clicking the ‘Agree’ button. You may even customize the settings of your smartphone and apps to make sure they record as less information about you as possible.
However, despite all your efforts, big tech companies are still collecting a huge amount of data about you every day. They unsurprisingly make tons of money out of it, too.
Being that data collection looks like an inevitable practice, why not gain from it yourself, then? Would you feel comfortable selling your sensitive data for a profit if you would have the means to do so?
This is exactly one of the questions that analysis firm Exploding Topics addressed to more than 1,600 Americans. And — surprise, surprise — nearly half of the respondents said they would.
FTC Reviewing Amazon’s $1.7 Billion Deal to Buy iRobot
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon’s $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, the latest deal that’s under scrutiny by the regulators amid growing concerns about the company’s market power.
In a regulatory filing Tuesday, iRobot said both it and Amazon received a request for additional information in connection with an FTC review of the merger. Earlier this month, securities regulators made a similar request to Amazon and One Medical, the primary healthcare company the e-commerce giant is planning to buy for $3.9 billion.
Both Amazon and iRobot said they would cooperate with the FTC’s review, which delays the completion of a deal. Following an investigation, the agency can challenge a merger in court, seek remedies or do nothing, which allows the deal to close. The agency says it retains the right to challenge a deal even after it is closed.
Privacy advocates have also voiced concerns the Seattle company will suck up more information on consumers from Roombas, iRobot’s popular vacuum cleaners that can remember a home’s floor plans. They say that feature makes it more possible for Amazon to target consumers with ads. Amazon has said it won’t do that.
