An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: On the weekend of May 29, thousands of people marched, sang, grieved, and chanted, demanding an end to police brutality and the defunding of police departments in the aftermath of the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. They marched en masse in cities like Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and…
Tag: cellphones
IRS Used Cellphone Location Data To Try To Find Suspects
The Internal Revenue Service attempted to identify and track potential criminal suspects by purchasing access to a commercial database that records the locations of millions of American cellphones. The Wall Street Journal reports: The IRS Criminal Investigation unit, or IRS CI, had a subscription to access the data in 2017 and 2018, and the way it used the data was revealed…
Cox Readies a Re-entry Into Mobile
Mike Dano, reporting for Light Reading: Cox Communications — one of the nation’s largest cable providers — is preparing to launch a mobile service, according to several sources familiar with the company’s plans. However, the details of Cox’s mobile strategy, including when it might launch and which wireless network provider it might partner with, are still unclear. AT&T executives have publicly…
Chinese Agents Helped Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic In US: Officials
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The alarming messages came fast and furious in mid-March, popping up on the cellphone screens and social media feeds of millions of Americans grappling with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country. “They will…
Researchers To Doctors: Stop Putting COVID-19 Patients On Invasive Ventilators
Rei writes: A paper recently published by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene adds further support to recent CDC guidelines for minimizing the use of invasive ventilators. As physicians had been voicing concern that doctors were being too eager to put patients on invasive ventilation and may be doing more harm than good, the investigators looked into outcomes of…
US Officials Use Mobile Ad Location Data to Study How COVID-19 Spreads
An anonymous reader quotes the Wall Street Journal:
Government officials across the U.S. are using location data from millions of cellphones in a bid to better understand the movements of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic and how they may be affecting the spread of the disease… The data comes from the mobile advertising industry rather than cellphone carriers. The aim is to…
In Fast-Moving Pandemic, Sources of Falsehoods Spread by Text, Email, WhatsApp and TikTok Elude Authorities
Misleading text messages claiming that President Trump was going to announce a national quarantine buzzed into cellphones across the country over the weekend, underscoring how rapidly false claims are spreading — and how often it is happening beyond the familiar misinformation vehicles of Facebook and Twitter. From a report: The false texts spread so widely that on Sunday night the White…
More Bosses Give 4-Day Workweek A Try
Companies around the world are embracing what might seem like a radical idea: a four-day workweek. From a report: The concept is gaining ground in places as varied as New Zealand and Russia, and it’s making inroads among some American companies. Employers are seeing surprising benefits, including higher sales and profits. The idea of a four-day workweek might sound crazy, especially…
US Gov’t Buys Location Data For Millions of Cellphones
America’s government “has reportedly acquired access to a commercial database that tracks the movements of millions of cellphones in the U.S.,” reports CNET. “The data is being used for immigration and border enforcement, according to sources and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.” Engadget’s report on the news notes it’s been going on “since at least 2017.”
The publication says the…
Glenn Greenwald Charged With Cybercrimes in Brazil
Federal prosecutors in Brazil on Tuesday charged the American journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes for his role in the spreading of cellphone messages that have embarrassed prosecutors and tarnished the image of an anti-corruption task force. The New York Times: In a criminal complaint made public on Tuesday, prosecutors in the capital, Brasilia, accused Mr. Greenwald of being part of a…