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Department of Motor Vehicles sells your data to private investigators

Joseph Cox
Vice.com
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 09:09 UTC
Driver's license mockup
© Unknown
You gave them your data in exchange for a driver's license. DMVs are making tens of millions of dollars selling it, documents obtained by Motherboard show.

Departments of Motor Vehicles in states around the country are taking drivers' personal information and selling it to thousands of businesses, including private investigators who spy on people for a profit, Motherboard has learned. DMVs sell the data for an array of approved purposes, such as to insurance or tow companies, but some of them have sold to more nefarious businesses as well. Multiple states have made tens of millions of dollars a year selling data.

Motherboard has obtained hundreds of pages of documents from DMVs through public records requests that lay out the practice. Members of the public may not be aware that when they provide their name, address, and in some cases other personal information to the DMV for the purposes of getting a driver's license or registering a vehicle, the DMV often then turns around and offers that information for sale.
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US judge decrees terror watchlist violates constitutional rights

Matthew Barakat
The Seattle Times
Wed, 04 Sep 2019 04:15 UTC
Gadeir Abbas
© AP/Alex Brandon
Attorney Gadeir Abbas at a CAIR conference in 2017
The government's watchlist of more than 1 million people identified as "known or suspected terrorists" violates the constitutional rights of those placed on it, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga grants summary judgment to nearly two dozen Muslim U.S. citizens who had challenged the watchlist with the help of a Muslim civil-rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR]. But the judge is seeking additional legal briefs before deciding what remedy to impose.

The plaintiffs said they were wrongly placed on the list and that the government's process for adding names is overbroad and riddled with errors.

The watchlist is disseminated to a variety of governmental departments, foreign governments and police agencies.

The FBI declined comment on the ruling Wednesday. In court, the FBI's lawyers argued that the difficulties suffered by the plaintiffs pale in comparison to the government's interests in combatting terrorism.

Comment: See also:

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Candle

'Icon of liberation' v 'dictator': Zimbabwe's ex-leader Robert Mugabe dies at 95


RT
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 17:04 UTC
Robert Mugabe
© Reuters / Siphiwe Sibeko
Zimbabwe's former ruler for 37 years, Robert Mugabe, died on Friday. Praised as "hero", he led the nation to independence and became its first elected leader, but was later forced out amid economic collapse.

Mugabe passed away in a hospital in Singapore. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa quickly hailed him as "an icon of liberation" who fought for the "empowerment of his people." Mugabe's contribution to Africa "will never be forgotten," he said.

The late politician was also called "the fearless pan-African liberation fighter" by officials in neighboring South Africa. The country's leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, said Mugabe's quest to rid Zimbabwe of colonialism "inspired our own struggle against apartheid."

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Mugabe for fostering friendly ties with Moscow, while Beijing said he "defended the sovereignty" of his nation.
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Pistol

Shots fired: San Francisco leaders declares NRA 'domestic terrorists'

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 16:46 UTC
nra ad
© Reuters / Lucas Jackson
The San Francisco, California supervisors declaring the National Rifle Association a "domestic terrorist organization" seems like virtue-signaling, but it may well be a major escalation in the culture war already shaking the US.

The NRA uses its wealth and strength to "incite gun owners to acts of violence," declared the resolution adopted Tuesday by the all-Democrat panel, urging the city not to do business with anyone associated with the organization.


Comment: Dems want to allow any foreigner to live in the US, even those with violent records, and in the same breath want to take away American citizens' rights to protect themselves. The Left's logic is downright befuddling.


It also accused the NRA of spreading "propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence," and promoting "extremist positions, in defiance of the views of a majority of its membership and the public."

Democrats used to accuse President Donald Trump of lying when he said they were out to take away Americans' guns. Now they are falling over themselves to prove him right.
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Arrow Down

At least 10 people killed in South Africa's wave of riots and violence against foreign nationals


RT
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 12:47 UTC
Riots South Africa Sep 2019
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that at least 10 people had been killed in a recent wave of rioting and violence directed at foreign nationals.

In a televised address on Thursday, the president gave an estimated death toll for the violence that has gripped parts of the country since Sunday, in which foreign workers have been targeted and dozens of shops looted or destroyed.

"We know that at least 10 people have been killed in the violence. Two of whom were foreign nationals," Ramaphosa said. "Over the past few days our country has been deeply traumatized and troubled by acts of violence and criminality directed against foreign nationals and our own citizens."

He assured that "the violence has largely subsided" while praising police and security agencies for their swift response. In Johannesburg and other nearby cities, police presence has been ramped up to deal with the unrest.

Comment: See also:

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Jet3

Air Force jet accidentally fires rocket into Arizona desert

Alex Johnson
NBC News
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 16:36 UTC
us air force
© U.S. Air Force/Madelyn Brown
The Air Force is investigating after a jet accidentally fired a rocket into the desert about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday.

The Air Force said the jet, an A-10C Thunderbolt II, popularly known as the Warthog, "unintentionally released a single M-156 rocket" at about 10:40 a.m. while on a training mission.

No injuries or damage were immediately reported.
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Star of David

Amnesty International: Palestinian members of Israel's Knesset face systemic discrimination

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 16:19 UTC
Haneen Zoabi Knesset

Haneen Zoabi addresses the Knesset
Amnesty International is calling out the discriminatory regulations taken out on Palestinian members of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, for undermining "their ability to represent and defend the rights of the Israeli Arabic minority population in Israel."

In a new report published on Wednesday, the human rights organization details how Palestinian MKs, unlike their Jewish counterparts, face systemic discrimination in the form of Knesset regulations, legislative changes, and bill proposals aimed at silencing them.

The report comes just two weeks before Israel heads into its general election, during which the Joint List of Arab parties in Israel are poised to win 10-12 seats — making them the third largest party in Israel.

Comment: Put plainly, Israel tolerates the election of representatives for the Palestinian people (which allows them to maintain the fiction of being a "democracy") but then hamstrings them from accomplishing anything substantive for their constituents.

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Bizarro Earth

Colorado College drops SAT requirement to 'increase diversity'

Tom Ciccotta
Breitbart
Tue, 03 Sep 2019 16:23 UTC
university students
© JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/Getty
Colorado College announced last week that they will be dropping the SAT and ACT tests from its list of requirements for admission, to "increase the diversity of its student body."

According to a press release, Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will be dropping their standardized testing requirement. Prior to the change, all students were required to submit an SAT or ACT score in order to qualify for admission. Now, students will be permitted to apply with just their high school transcript.

Colorado College claims that the decision to make SAT and ACT scores optional will "increase the diversity of its student body."
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Eye 1

Facebook's latest leak includes data on millions of users

Kris Holt
Endgadget
Wed, 04 Sep 2019 16:22 UTC
facebook
© Reuters / Dado Ruvic
A security researcher has discovered databases containing more than 419 million records tied to Facebook accounts. It appears the data -- which includes phone numbers and Facebook IDs and in some cases users' names, genders and countries -- was scraped from the platform. However, it's not clear who pulled that information from Facebook or why.

The dataset included 133 million records on Facebook users in the US, 18 million on people in the UK and 50 million on users in Vietnam. The researcher, Sanyam Jain, found the databases on an exposed server that wasn't protected with a password. He told TechCrunch he found phone numbers linked to several celebrities.

"This dataset is old and appears to have information obtained before we made changes last year to remove people's ability to find others using their phone numbers," a Facebook spokesperson told Engadget. "The dataset has been taken down and we have seen no evidence that Facebook accounts were compromised. The underlying issue was addressed as part of a Newsroom post on April 4th 2018 by Facebook's Chief Technology Officer."
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Philly man pleads guilty for trying to access Trump's tax returns


ABC News
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 07:32 UTC
Income tax form
A Philadelphia man has pleaded guilty to trying to hack the IRS to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns.

Andrew Harris pleaded guilty Thursday to two computer fraud counts in federal court. The 23-year-old faces up to two years in prison and $200,000 fine.

Harris and 22-year-old Justin Hiemstra were both students at Haverford College outside Philadelphia in 2016 when they used a school computer lab to open a fraudulent federal financial aid application for an unnamed Trump family member.

The students managed to reset a password and, using Trump's Social Security number and date of birth, repeatedly tried to import Trump's federal tax information into the application, according to court documents.
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