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Here’s What Parents Should Know About New Vaccine Laws in Louisiana, Including COVID-19
Two new Louisiana school immunization laws amplify parents already existing right to opt out of vaccine requirements and prevent any school from requiring children to get the COVID-19 shot as a requirement to enroll.
Both new laws (Acts 674 and 675), authored by Republican Gonzales Rep. Kathy Edmonston and signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, were prompted by pushback from previous COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and mandates.
Edmonston passed similar bills in 2023, but former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed them.
“The intent of this bill is to stop mandates,” Edmonston said during debate about her bills. “It doesn’t have anything to do with yay or nay on the vaccines; we just don’t want mandates.”
Suburban New York County Bans Wearing of Masks to Hide Identity
Lawmakers in a suburban New York county have approved a bill to ban masks in public places with exemptions for people who cover their faces for health reasons or religious or cultural purposes.
Supporters said the bill approved Monday by the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature on Long Island would prevent violent protesters from hiding their identity.
All 12 Republicans in the legislature voted in favor of the measure, while the body’s seven Democrats abstained.
The county lawmakers acted after New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in June that she was considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system. No specific plan has been announced to enact such a ban, which like the Nassau measure was floated in response to the rise in mask-wearing protesters.
The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the Nassau mask ban as an infringement on free speech rights.
COVID Vaccine Mandates Were ‘Wrong’, Former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet Says as He Exits Politics
The former New South Wales Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet has declared COVID-19 vaccine mandates were “wrong” and a “mistake” in the valedictory speech marking the end of his 13-year career in parliament.
Perrottet formally bowed out of NSW politics on Tuesday after announcing last month he would resign as the member for Epping and move with his family to Washington D.C., to work as the U.S. head of corporate and external relations at mining company BHP.
“If the impact of vaccines on transmission was limited at best, as is mostly now accepted, the law should have left more room and respect for freedom,” he told parliament in his final speech.
One of the Biggest Data Breaches Ever Leaks Details on Billions of Users — Here’s What We Know so Far
A class action lawsuit brought against background check company National Public Data (also known as Jerico Pictures) alleges the personal information of 2.9 billion individuals has made its way onto the dark web via a data breach.
National Public Data uses a process called “scraping” to collect and store personally identifying data from non-public sources to carry out background checks on billions of people.
This means that sensitive information like social security numbers, full names, addresses, relative’s information was exposed — and crucially, it also means the information was not given willingly to the company, and many victims may not know it was stored at all.
Big Tech Firms Profit From Disorder. Don’t Let Them Use These Riots to Push for More Surveillance
Far-right riots may not be the calmest moment for a reasoned debate about the regulation of big tech, but the eruption of racist violence in England and Northern Ireland raises urgent questions about the responsibilities of social media companies, and how the police use facial recognition technology.
While social media isn’t the root of these riots, it has allowed inflammatory content to spread like wildfire and helped rioters coordinate. Keir Starmer has pledged to address online impunity and increase the use of live facial recognition technology.
The great elephant in the room is the wealth, power and arrogance of the big tech emperors. Silicon Valley billionaires are richer than many countries. Some believe they can buy current and recently retired politicians, and see themselves as above both democracy and the law.
ADT Data Breach Leaks Customers’ Location and Email Addresses — Here’s What Happened
Some customers of ADT security equipment may have had personal information leaked onto the internet.
The home security giant acknowledged as much this week in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, per BleepingComputer. Hackers apparently got into ADT’s systems and stole limited customer information to post on a hacking forum.
According to ADT, the information that was leaked was limited to email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses. Without giving any hard numbers, ADT claimed that only a small percentage of its customers were affected by this hack.
3 in 4 Workers Say AI Reduced Productivity and Increased Workloads, Survey Finds
A recent survey from freelancing platform UpWork’s Research Institute found that more than three in four workers, or 77%, said artificial intelligence (AI) tools have decreased their productivity and added to their workload.
The survey included 2,500 respondents across the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada, including 1,250 C-suite executives, 625 full-time, salaried employees and 625 freelancers.
Respondents said the introduction of AI had led to more of their time being devoted to reviewing AI-generated content or learning how to use the tools. Almost a quarter of respondents also said they were being asked to do more work as a result of the new technology.
The survey found that while 85% of company leaders are pushing workers to use the technology, many workers are feeling overwhelmed by the added workload and complexity.
