New Site Extracts and Posts Every Face from Parler’s Capitol Hill Insurrection Videos

“Late last week, a website called Faces of the Riot appeared online, showing nothing but a vast grid of more than 6,000 images of faces, each one tagged only with a string of characters associated with the Parler video in which it appeared,” reports WIRED, saying the site raises clear privacy concerns: The site’s creator tells WIRED that he used simple,…

ACLU Sues DHS Over Purchase of Cellphone Location Data Used To Track Immigrants

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing federal authorities over their alleged use of cellphone location data — particularly in immigration enforcement. From a report: The nonprofit organization today filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to force the agencies to release records about purchasing cellphone location data…

Two Leaders of Videogame Piracy Group Arrested

On Friday America’s Department of Justice announced: Two leaders of one of the world’s most notorious videogame piracy groups, Team Xecuter, have been arrested and are in custody facing charges filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle… The indictment alleges the defendants were leaders of a criminal enterprise that developed and sold illegal devices that hacked popular videogame consoles so they…

ICE Bars New Foreign Students From US If Classes Are Fully Online

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a release on Friday barring new international students from entering the U.S. for their fall terms if their courses are entirely online. “In accordance with March 2020 guidance, nonimmigrant students in new or initial status after March 9 will not be able to enter the U.S. to…

Trump Administration Rescinds Rule on Foreign Students

Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic. From a report: The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought…

Thousands of Contracts Highlight Quiet Ties Between Big Tech and US Military

Over the past two years, thousands of tech company employees have taken a stand: they do not want their labor and technical expertise to be used for projects with the military or law enforcement agencies. Knowledge of such contracts, however, hasn’t been easy for tech workers to come by. From a report: On Wednesday, newly published research from the technology accountability…

MIT and Harvard Sue DHS and ICE Over International Student Rule

Shag writes: Two days after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said international students must leave the US if their fall classes will be taught entirely online, MIT and Harvard are suing ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. “ICE is unable to offer the most basic answers about how its policy will be interpreted or implemented,” said former international student…

Foreign Students Must Leave the US If Their Universities Transition To Online-Only Learning

ugen shares a report from Reuters: Foreign students must leave the United States if their school’s classes this fall will be taught completely online or transfer to another school with in-person instruction, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced on Monday. It was not immediately clear how many student visa holders would be affected by the move, but foreign…

US Government Now Working With Peter Thiel’s Palantir On Covid-19 Tracking Tool

With a little help from Peter Thiel’s controversial company Palintir, America’s Department of Health and Human Services is building a powerful new tool to track the spread of the coronavirus. The Verge reports:
The tool, which is reportedly called HHS Protect Now, is already up and running as of April 10th and it helps officials compile reports on the coronavirus’ spread through…

ACLU Sues To End ICE’s Rigged Algorithms That Keep Immigrants In Jail

A new lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and Bronx Defenders alleges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses a rigged algorithm to detain virtually everyone ICE’s New York Field Office brings in, even when the government itself believes they present a minimal threat to public safety. The Intercept reports: The suit, which asks that ICE’s “Risk Classification…