Requiring federal agents to have “probable cause” to eavesdrop on the internet activities of American citizens poses a direct threat to national security and would force the FBI to stand by while terrorist plots unfold on U.S. soil, according to a leaked copy of talking points distributed to Senate lawmakers this month. From a report: The talking points, which were distributed…
Tag: citizens
Andrew Yang’s Nonprofit Helps Fund Five-Year, $500-a-Month Basic Income Experiment
Working with the city of Hudson, New York and a local career center, Andrew Yang’s nonprofit, Humanity Forward will be giving 20 people a basic income of $500 a month for five years, in a collaboration called HudsonUP. Business Insider reports:
A spokesperson for HudsonUP said the 20 residents will be selected later in 2020, likely in the fall, and will begin…
Vietnam: How a Country So Close To China Managed To Control COVID-19
New submitter AleRunner writes: Considering Vietnam’s proximity to China, where coronavirus was first reported, it might be expected that the Southeast Asian country would be affected by Covid-19 in a similar manner,” reports inews.co.uk. “China has more than 84,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 4,600 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Painting a strikingly different picture, Vietnam,…
Covid-19 news: 36 million US citizens have filed for unemployment
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-36-million-us-citizens-have-filed-for-unemployment/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Paris Tries AI That Counts How Many People are Wearing Face Masks
“France is integrating new AI tools into security cameras in the Paris metro system to check whether passengers are wearing face masks,” reports the Verge:
The software, which has already been deployed elsewhere in the country, began a three-month trial in the central Chatelet-Les Halles station of Paris this week, reports Bloomberg. [Alternate source] French startup DatakaLab, which created the program, says…
Should Colleges Preserve the Idea of Meritocracy?
“Is Meritocracy an Idea Worth Saving?” asks The Chronicle of Higher Education, reporting on a special forum held recently at the University of North Carolina’s Program for Public Discourse. “This discussion took place before Covid-19 changed everything. But the topics — the definition of meritocracy, the role of universities in a just society, the composition of socioeconomic class, and the real…
Uber and Lyft Face Worker Misclassification Lawsuit From CA Attorney General and City Attorneys
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra along with city attorneys from Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco filed a lawsuit asserting Uber and Lyft gain an unfair and unlawful competitive advantage by misclassifying workers as independent contractors. From a report: The suit argues Uber and Lyft are depriving workers of the right to minimum wage, overtime, access to paid sick leave,…
Apple, Google Ban Use of Location Tracking in Contact Tracing Apps
Apple and Alphabet’s Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. From a report: Apple and Google, whose operating systems power 99% of smart phones, said last month they would work together to create a…
Will Cellphone Tracing Bring a Tolerance of Surveillance?
An anonymous reader quotes the Washington Post:
In a matter of months, tens of millions of people in dozens of countries have been placed under surveillance. Governments, private companies and researchers observe the health, habits and movements of citizens, often without their consent. It is a massive effort, aimed at enforcing quarantine rules or tracing the spread of the coronavirus, that has…
Health Officials Worry About Possible Lack of Cooperation on Coronavirus Vaccines
Global health officials and diplomats are “alarmed” by America’s “apparent lack of interest in cooperation” on international efforts for a vaccine against Covid-19. Slashdot reader Charlotte Web quotes this report from Politico:
The fear is that Trump will be content with allowing the race to develop and distribute the vaccine to devolve into a global contest — and that poorer countries will…