Tag Archives: Who Watches The Watchers

CBP Agents Demand ID Before Allowing Domestic Flyers to Disembark

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“Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) began reporting Wednesday that immigration agents were insisting on checking travelers’ papers before allowing them to deplane.  It seemed possible that brand new federal travel policies might now be in place; the US Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP), however, called the unusual inspection procedure ‘routine’ in press reports following a growing public outcry.”

Read more: http://www.flyertalk.com/articles/cbp-agents-demand-id-before-domestic-passengers-allowed-to-disembark-at-jfk.html

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TSA Releases Data on Air Marshal Misconduct — 7 Years After Request

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“Dozens of air marshals had been arrested for crimes ranging from aiding a human trafficking ring to attempted murder. One air marshal used his badge to smuggle drugs past airport security while another used his to lure a young boy to his hotel room, where he sexually abused him.  Air marshals had hired prostitutes in Barcelona and gotten into a fight with security guards after patronizing a brothel in Frankfurt.  Another marshal’s in-air behavior concerned flight attendants so much that they reported it to the agency, saying ‘I can’t believe he is able to carry a gun!’ (That officer was later convicted of bank fraud for trying to cash a $10.9 million check that he said was a settlement after he was a scratched by a friend’s cat.)  As time passed, the problems continued.”

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/tsa-releases-data-on-air-marshal-misconduct-7-years-after-we-asked

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US Marshals Now Performing Retinal Scans At Airport Gates

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“It’s one thing to control who comes into a country. But surveilling and permissioning American citizens as they leave their own country, even as they are about to board, is something else.  Where is the toggle switch that would have told the machine not to let me board, and who controls it? How prone is it to bureaucratic error? What happens to my scan now and who has access to it?  The scene reminded me of movies I’ve seen, like Hunger Games or 1984. It’s chilling and strange, even deeply alarming to anyone who has ever dreamed of what freedom might be like. It doesn’t look like this.”

Read more: https://fee.org/articles/welcome-aboard-but-first-us-marshals-will-scan-your-retina/

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ACLU sues US govt for making entire state of Michigan a ‘border zone’

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“A lawsuit is accusing the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of turning the entire state of Michigan into a ‘border zone’ where anyone can be detained and searched without a warrant, according to ACLU-Michigan.  Federal authorities have said checkpoints elsewhere within the nation’s 100-mile border zone are crucial to catching human and drug smugglers who illegally cross into the US.  The ACLU and its co-plaintiff, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, saw almost one in three, or 31 percent, of people apprehended by Border Patrol were US citizens, and over 63 percent of those apprehended had been stopped by other law enforcement agencies before their CBP encounter.”

Read more: https://www.rt.com/usa/368922-aclu-sues-govt-warrantless-stops/

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Trump’s Department of Justice just reopened business for private prisons

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“On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions made it public that he rescinded a guidance that tasked the Justice Department with ending its use of privately operated prisons.  Last year’s memo by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates came after the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found serious problems and more frequent reports of violence at privately run, for-profit facilities compared with federal public prisons.”

Read more: http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/23/14718580/trump-justice-department-private-prisons

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Border guards force US citizen to unlock his work phone

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“Should this have happened? Bikkannavar is, after all, a natural-born US citizen. He’s also enrolled in the CBP’s Global Entry program, which allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the US.”

Read more: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/02/14/border-guards-force-us-citizen-to-unlock-his-nasa-owned-work-phone/

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Highway Robbery Gets Trump Seal of Approval

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“The nomination of Jeff Sessions to the office of Attorney General has made many criminal justice advocates nervous, as he has a long history of justifying the practice of policing for profit. On Tuesday, Trump confirmed these fears when he threw his support behind the controversial practice, saying that he saw  ‘no reason’ to restrict law enforcement’s use of civil asset forfeiture. Ignoring the substantive concerns over the practices’ disregard for due process, Trump even threatened to ‘destroy the career’ of libertarian-leaning Texas legislator Konni Burton for her outspoken opposition to the practice, a comment met with approving laughter from the law enforcement officials in attendance.”

Read more: https://fee.org/articles/highway-robbery-gets-presidential-seal-of-approval/

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Philippines to disband anti-drug death squads after killing South Korean businessman

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“President Rodrigo Duterte said he was embarrassed that anti-drugs officers had abused their power to engage in kidnapping, leading to the death by strangulation of Jee Ick-joo, on the grounds of the national police headquarters.  More than 7,000 people have been killed since Duterte, nicknamed ‘the punisher’, unleashed his bloody crackdown seven months ago, some 2,250 in police operations and the rest still mostly under investigation. His six-year term ends in 2022.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/philippines-to-disband-anti-drug-police-units-after-rogue-agents-kill-south-korean-businessman-2017-1

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Trump signs order giving police greater authority, citing phantom “rising crime”

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“Donald Trump has signed three executive orders to deal with ‘public safety’, including handing more authority to the police.  He insisted that the US faced the ‘threat of rising crime’ and that ‘things will get better very soon’.  [Jeff] Sessions, a longtime Senator from Alabama who was once deemed too racist to serve as a federal judge, told reporters that the US ‘has a crime problem’.  ‘I wish the rise that we’re seeing in crime in America today were some sort of aberration or a blip,’ he said.”

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-sign-executive-order-police-more-authority-murder-shooting-us-president-jeff-sessions-a7572001.html

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New Attorney General opposes encryption, while GOP uses it to avoid leaks

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Trump’s attorney general Jeff Sessions has said the new administration will seek to ‘overcome encryption’ in remarks that have been interpreted as a veiled reference to backdoors.

At the same time, Trump administration members and other Republicans are using the encrypted, self-destructing messaging app Confide to keep conversations private in the wake of hacks and leaks.

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