Photo Rhythms has added a photo to the pool:
The Conversation published this warning from privacy/tech law/electronic surveillance attorney Anne Toomey McKenna (also an affiliated faculty member at Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences). The U.S. government "is able to purchase Americans' sensitive data because the information it buys is not subject to the same restrictions as information it collects directly. The federal government is also ramping up its abilities to directly collect data through partnerships with private tech companies. These surveillance tech partnerships are becoming entrenched, domestically and abroad, as advances in AI take surveillance to unprecedented levels... "
Congressional funding is supercharging huge government investments in surveillance tech and data analytics driven by AI, which automates analysis of very large amounts of data. The massive 2025 tax-and-spending law netted the Department of Homeland Security an unprecedented US$165 billion in yearly funding. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of DHS, got about $86 billion. Disclosure of documents allegedly hacked from Homeland Security reveal a massive surveillance web that has all Americans in its scope. DHS is expanding its AI surveillance capabilities with a surge in contracts to private companies. It is reportedly funding companies that provide more AI-automated surveillance in airports; adapters to convert agents' phones into biometric scanners; and an AI platform that acquires all 911 call center data to build geospatial heat maps to predict incident trends. Predicting incident trends can be a form of predictive policing, which uses data to anticipate where, when and how crime may occur...
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's national policy framework for artificial intelligence, released on March 20, 2026, urges Congress to use grants and tax incentives to fund "wider deployment of AI tools across American industry" and to allow industry and academia to use federal datasets to train AI. Using federal datasets this way raises privacy law concerns because they contain a lifetime of sensitive details about you, including biographical, employment and tax information....
The author argues that it's now critical for Americans to know "why the laws you might think are protecting your data do not apply or are ignored."
On March 18, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed to Congress that the FBI is buying Americans' data from data brokers, including location histories, to track American citizens.... But in buying your data in bulk on the commercial market, the government is circumventing the Constitution, Supreme Court decisions and federal laws designed to protect your privacy from unwarranted government overreach... Supreme Court cases require police to get a warrant to search a phone or use cellular or GPS location information to track someone. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act's Wiretap Act prohibits unauthorized interception of wire, oral and electronic communications.
Despite some efforts, Congress has failed to enact legislation to protect data privacy, the use of sensitive data by AI systems or to restore the intent of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Courts have allowed the broad electronic privacy protections in the federal Wiretap Act to be eviscerated by companies claiming consent. In my opinion, the way to begin to address these problems is to restore the Wiretap Act and related laws to their intended purposes of protecting Americans' privacy in communications, and for Congress to follow through on its promises and efforts by passing legislation that secures Americans' data privacy and protects them from AI harms.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the article.
Congressional funding is supercharging huge government investments in surveillance tech and data analytics driven by AI, which automates analysis of very large amounts of data. The massive 2025 tax-and-spending law netted the Department of Homeland Security an unprecedented US$165 billion in yearly funding. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of DHS, got about $86 billion. Disclosure of documents allegedly hacked from Homeland Security reveal a massive surveillance web that has all Americans in its scope. DHS is expanding its AI surveillance capabilities with a surge in contracts to private companies. It is reportedly funding companies that provide more AI-automated surveillance in airports; adapters to convert agents' phones into biometric scanners; and an AI platform that acquires all 911 call center data to build geospatial heat maps to predict incident trends. Predicting incident trends can be a form of predictive policing, which uses data to anticipate where, when and how crime may occur...
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's national policy framework for artificial intelligence, released on March 20, 2026, urges Congress to use grants and tax incentives to fund "wider deployment of AI tools across American industry" and to allow industry and academia to use federal datasets to train AI. Using federal datasets this way raises privacy law concerns because they contain a lifetime of sensitive details about you, including biographical, employment and tax information....
The author argues that it's now critical for Americans to know "why the laws you might think are protecting your data do not apply or are ignored."
On March 18, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed to Congress that the FBI is buying Americans' data from data brokers, including location histories, to track American citizens.... But in buying your data in bulk on the commercial market, the government is circumventing the Constitution, Supreme Court decisions and federal laws designed to protect your privacy from unwarranted government overreach... Supreme Court cases require police to get a warrant to search a phone or use cellular or GPS location information to track someone. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act's Wiretap Act prohibits unauthorized interception of wire, oral and electronic communications.
Despite some efforts, Congress has failed to enact legislation to protect data privacy, the use of sensitive data by AI systems or to restore the intent of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Courts have allowed the broad electronic privacy protections in the federal Wiretap Act to be eviscerated by companies claiming consent. In my opinion, the way to begin to address these problems is to restore the Wiretap Act and related laws to their intended purposes of protecting Americans' privacy in communications, and for Congress to follow through on its promises and efforts by passing legislation that secures Americans' data privacy and protects them from AI harms.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
JERUZALEM (ANP/RTR/DPA) - De Israëlische premier Benjamin Netanyahu lijkt nog geen uitzicht te hebben op gratieverlening door de president in de corruptiezaak waarin hij is verwikkeld. Het staatshoofd, president Isaac Herzog, maakte zondag duidelijk dat eerst moet worden gekeken naar een mogelijke schikking. Pas daarna wil hij gratie overwegen.
"De president is van mening dat voordat het gratieverzoek wordt behandeld, eerst alle mogelijkheden moeten worden uitgeput om tot een akkoord tussen de partijen te komen buiten de rechtszaal", meldt zijn kantoor. Dat publiceerde de verklaring nadat de krant The New York Times had geschreven dat de president vindt dat er meer opties zijn dan gratie toekennen of weigeren. De vervolging van Netanyahu verdeelt Israël en volgens bronnen van de krant ziet Herzog het als zijn rol om voor eenheid te zorgen.
Netanyahu zegt onschuldig te zijn en vroeg de president vorig jaar om gratie. Hij wordt daarin gesteund door de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump.
MADRID (ANP) - Tallon Griekspoor is er bij het masterstoernooi van Madrid niet in geslaagd de achtste finales te bereiken. De 29-jarige Nederlander moest in twee sets zijn meerdere erkennen in de als zesde geplaatste Italiaan Lorenzo Musetti. Het werd 6-4 7-5.
Griekspoor, die in de vorige ronde de Bosniër Damir Dzumhur versloeg, werd direct gebroken door Musetti. De huidige nummer 33 van de wereld herstelde die achterstand en kwam bij 4-4 langszij. Een volgende break wist Griekspoor in de eerste set niet meer te herstellen.
Ook in de tweede set leverde Griekspoor zijn servicebeurt snel in. De Haarlemmer reageerde zijn frustraties af op zijn racket en kreeg daarvoor een waarschuwing van de scheidsrechter. Ook nu richtte Griekspoor zich op en kwam hij terug tot 3-3. Musetti slaagde er net als in de eerste set in de service van Griekspoor nog een keer te breken, bij 5-5. De Italiaan maakte het daarna af.
Musetti speelt voor een plek in de kwartfinale tegen de Tsjech Jiri Lehecka.
Trade union criticises airline’s plan to halve passenger numbers to the city as ‘purely profit-oriented’
Ryanair is to shut its Berlin operating base and cut its winter schedule to the German capital in half, blaming soaring aviation taxes in the country.
The Irish budget carrier said its relocation of seven aircraft to other centres would reduce its Berlin passenger numbers from 4.5 million to 2.2 million a year, with flights in and out of the city served from October by planes based at other airports.
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“I’ve been a Leeds fan since I was a nipper,” writes Jeremy Boyce, “and I’m old enough to remember the Trolleybuses on Briggate. As you say, Sir Don was manager last time we made it to an FA Cup final, but lest we forget, it ended, as did so many trophy campaigns under Revie, in disappointment, thanks to Sunderland’s Ian Porterfield’s goal and Jim Montgomery’s amazing double save.
“Since those halcyon Revie days we’ve had ups and downs (mostly downs) with occasional false dawns (Armfield, Wilkinson, O’Leary, El Loco), and I think I speak for Nasties fans everywhere when I say we were filled with dread for what this season back in the Promised Land might bring, more so in November when results were poor.
It’s been a difficult week. It’s never nice when a manager loses his job, but you have to be adapt and be ready for a big challenge like Leeds United in a semi-final.
We’ve tried to give the players what they need to be ready for this game – technically, tactically, psychologically. It’s about getting them in the right headspace, having a clear gameplan and hopefully executing it well.
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Pre-match reading.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, McCabe; Russo, Little, Caldentay; Smith, Blackstenius, Foord
Continue reading...Defending champion faces Shaun Murphy after 13-9 win
Mark Selby and Yu Wize level at 4-4 after first session
Zhao Xintong moved closer to cracking the so-called “Crucible Curse” as he booked his quarter-final place at the World Snooker Championship, wrapping up a hard-fought 13-9 win over compatriot Ding Junhui.
The defending champion shrugged off some evident nerves to build on a 9-7 overnight advantage despite losing an error-strewn, 46-minute opener that saw Ding temporarily reduce the arrears to a single frame.
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