CDT Guide to VPNs

Trust is a critical component to a thriving digital ecosystems. We trust banks to keep financial information secure; we trust search engines to get us the information we want and map apps to show us the most efficient route. Ironically, virtual private networks, or VPNs, are often a tool for users who lack trust in the practices of other online entities. However, providers of commercial VPN services must still foster trust that they adequately obscure their users’ digital footprints and safeguard their data.

CDT has provided an excellent guide to VPNs.

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

PlusPrivacy

PlusPrivacy provides you with a unified dashboard for protecting yourself from a variety of threats to your privacy. It will enable you to control the privacy settings in your social network accounts, hide your email identity, block ads, trackers and malware and prevent unwanted apps and browser extensions from tracking you and collecting your private data. PlusPrivacy is open source and you can use it anonymously.

In the future PlusPrivacy will also help you to tightly control who has access to your data and ensure that your privacy is protected to the full extent of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

* An interesting app, worth further investigation.

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

Sgt. Ron Helus Fatally Shot in the Heart by a California Highway Patrolman

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — A sheriff's deputy who died in a mass shooting at a California bar was shot five times by a gunman who massacred 11 others, but the officer was killed by friendly fire, authorities said Friday.

Sgt. Ron Helus was fatally shot in the heart by a California Highway Patrolman who had joined him in the chaotic gun battle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said. (KOMO 4 News, December 7, 2018)
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In trying to save others from an active shooter, Sgt. Helus was killed by a fellow officer. This tragic loss underlines the chaos of that gun fight and the risks that police officers take on a daily basis.

R.I.P. Sgt, Helus.

DNA Technology Can Create Unbelievable Suspect Sketches

Here’s why this should scare you.

Unique technology can now take a DNA sample left at a crime scene and turn it into a composite sketch.

Law enforcement agencies say it's helped them make major breakthroughs in cases old and new. But critics claim the technology is based on thin science and could end up ensnaring innocent people.

DNA sketches are the result of something called phenotyping, essentially painting a picture of what people look like based on a DNA sample obtained by police. Genes determine how we look, so sequencing developed from DNA samples can be used to try to predict someone’s eye, hair and skin color in a sketch. Facial features and face shape are also included, but they’re much harder to forecast.

For many law enforcement agencies, the pictures they're using come from a Virginia company called Parabon Nanolabs. Its team is creating sketches using a system called "Snapshot." A video featured on Parabon's website details the process, saying, "As the program sifts through billions of pieces of genetic information, it slowly begins to build a suspect’s appearance. We run it through the Snapshot algorithms and produce predictions about that person."

Records show that since 2011, the Department of Defense has poured more than $1 million into Parabon to develop Snapshot. Now, agencies across the country are paying as much as $4,000 for sketches the company says can generate leads and narrow suspect lists. It's widely used with police departments large and small from across the country requesting and then raving about the DNA sketches obtained for their cases.

The wide use of this technology concerns Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union who first wrote about DNA phenotype sketching back in 2016, before it really took off.

Stanley fears the sketches could detour or harm investigations, reinforce racial bias, or be used to establish probable cause against innocent people, ensnaring them in criminal investigations. And while he says he understands the desire of law enforcement and the families of victims to close cases, he says this type of sketching shouldn't be used for any serious purpose. Stanley called it science fiction.  (Circa, November 29, 2018)
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Using this undeveloped and non-reviewed technology in law enforcement investigations is a serious concern. It is likely to lead to mis-identification and can be used to establish probable cause where none exists. Mistakes happen; we have just see how a Woman Spent Months in Jail Because Cops Thought Cotton Candy Was Meth. How long will a person spend in jail when they are mis-identified because of a DNA sketch?

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

 

Who wants to be a police officer?

Across the country, interest in becoming a police officer is down dramatically. In Nashville, Tennessee, job applications dropped from 4,700 in 2010 to 1,900 last year. In Seattle, Washington, applications have declined by nearly 50 percent, in a department where the starting salary is $79,000. Even the FBI saw a sharp drop, from 21,000 applications per year to 13,000 last year, before a new marketing campaign brought an upswing.

And retaining officers once they've joined is getting harder too. In a Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) survey of nearly 400 police departments about voluntary resignations, 29 percent of those who left their police job voluntarily had been on the force less than a year, and another 40 percent had been on the job less than five years.

"There's an increased potential for officers to be criminally liable for making a good faith mistake," said Terry Sult, the Hampton, Virginia, police chief. "We're seeing a lot more media coverage of officers being prosecuted, and that weighs heavily on a lot of officers' hearts. ... That's a stressor on whether I want to stay in this position or not."

The videos of police misconduct, or fatal shootings, have damaged the perception of American police officers, but not irrevocably, said Antoinette Archer, director of human relations for the Richmond, Virginia, police. For many people, "they're taken aback by the brutality, not by the profession," Archer said. "If we can be inclusive" of women and people of color, "those individuals who can see a part of their fabric in the department will come forward. ... If the environment is not inclusive, you're going to lose them."

But whatever the reason for officers leaving, the process of replacing them has gotten tougher. Nearly 66 percent of the nearly 400 police departments surveyed said their number of applicants had decreased. Hiring in a healthy economy is one problem, police officials said, because private industry can offer better salaries.

Still, pay isn't the main reason many pass policing by, Deputy Seattle Chief Marc Garth Green said. "Number one is validation," Green said. "The validation that they're putting their life on the line. There's no respect for that," and he blamed the news media for undermining respect for police authority.  (Stars & Stripes, December 4, 2018)
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In July 2018 we saw that Seattle Cops Flee the Force in 'Mass Exodus' Because of Politics. And in August 2018, Lacey, WA Police Department is a ‘Mess,’ Union Says.

When officers can't expect and don't receive support from department leadership you cannot expect them to stay with their departments. And when officers are unsatisfied with their work environments - ranging for internal politics to outright hostile workplaces - this attitude will be reflected in the community, greatly limiting applications to work within those departments.

Most men and women in law enforcement are no-doubt decent people who really care about their communities, but if we are going to keep good men and women in law enforcement we need to ensure that they are supported by their departments and by their communities as a whole.

 

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Dallas Police Officer Indicted for Murder for Shooting Man in His Own Home

A white former Dallas police officer was indicted on murder charges Friday, nearly three months after she fatally shot an unarmed black neighbor whose apartment she said she entered by mistake, believing it to be her own.

Amber Guyger told fellow officers that she opened fire when Botham Jean appeared in the darkness.
After finishing her shift, Guyger told investigators , she returned home in uniform and parked on the fourth floor of her apartment complex's garage, rather than the third floor, where her unit was located, according to an affidavit prepared by the Texas Rangers.

She said she got to what she thought was her apartment — Jean's was directly above hers — and found the door ajar. She opened it to find a figure standing in the darkness. She said she pulled her gun and fired twice after the person ignored her commands. (The Olympian, November 30, 2018)
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It's important to realize that, in Texas, you can't use force on others for a simple act of trespassing. To shoot in Texas, you must fear for your safety when someone is breaking in or attempting to break in to your home, occupied vehicle, or workplace.

 

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

Tacoma Has An Unusually Low Number of Hate-Crime Reports

Statistics say Tacoma has a relatively small number of hate crimes. In 2017, the record shows only eight crimes were motivated by bias against a race or ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, according to newly released FBI figures.

That makes five straight years in single digits. This year Tacoma is on pace to have even fewer incidents, according to Results253, the city’s online database.

While these offenses seem to have plateaued in Tacoma, they zoomed to new heights in Washington’s two other largest cities. Seattle reported 232 incidents in 2017, up from 118 a year earlier. Spokane logged 28 incidents last year, more than triple the 8 it saw in 2016.

Hate crimes are historically underreported, often because victims grow accustomed to abusive treatment, fear a backlash or don’t trust authorities. You can bet Tacoma is no exception.

Nor are its suburban neighbors, though statistically they appear to be hate-free utopias. Over the last three years, a total of zero hate crimes were reported to the FBI by Bonney Lake, Buckley, Eatonville, Edgewood, Fircrest, Gig Harbor, Sumner and University Place. Eight communities, with a combined population topping 100,000.

FBI statistics don’t tell the whole story. Hate crimes are not devouring Seattle, and they’re not detouring around Tacoma. But in 2018, this much should be clear: None of us lives in Pleasantville. (Tacoma News Tribune, November 27, 2018)
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So, is Tacoma reporting only single digit hate crimes for five straight years because of fear of backlash, or lack of trust in local authorities? That doesn't seem to be a good answer, since Seattle and Spokane are seeing significant increases in hate crime reporting.

Sure, there may be some hate crimes in Tacoma that go unreported, but when a statistic is consistent over five years it is likely that the statistic is accurate (or Tacoma has a completely different way of defining hate crimes than does Seattle and Spokane). But then we have to account for the complete lack of hate crimes reported in cities around Tacoma (i.e. Bonney Lake, Buckley, Eatonville, Edgewood, Fircrest, Gig Harbor, Sumner and University Place).

Might it be that the anomaly in data is not Tacoma and the surrounding area with its low hate crime reporting, but Seattle with its exceptionally high number of hate crimes?

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

Seattle Mayor and City Attorney Want to Vacate 208 Misdemeanor Arrest Warrants

Mayor Jenny Durkan, during a news conference Tuesday, said the move would address racial and social inequities as well as let law enforcement place a heavier focus on more serious offenses.

The city is asking Seattle Municipal Court judges to quash many warrants involving prostitution, driving with a suspended license in the third-degree, minor in possession of alcohol, graffiti and other low-level crimes.

“Think about where you were five, and 20 years ago? Some of these warrants, people literally don’t know they were issued,” Durkan said.

Durkan said more than 40 percent of the 208 defendants are people of color. While 101 of the defendants are white, 73 are African-American, according to the city.

Many of the cases, Durkan said, were for driving with a suspended license.

“They were issued for, literally, crimes of poverty,” Durkan said.

The warrants were filed between February 1996 and July 2013.

“The warrants will go away,” Holmes said during the news conference. “They will no longer, if someone is pulled over, pop up as an outstanding warrant; that then subjects someone to an arrest.”

This is the second time Mayor Durkan has sought to have cases vacated from Seattle Municipal Court. Earlier this year the city asked the court to toss out all convictions and dismiss charges for all misdemeanor marijuana possession cases filed before 2010 – the court agreed to.  (KOMO 4 News, November 28, 2018)
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Getting rid of old warrants for old, minor offenses is a good idea. Not only does this benefit the individual who missed a court date years ago, but it relieves the police from having to deal with old warrants which have sat in the system for years - allowing the police to focus on current and actual crimes (not administrative and procedural errors, such as missing a court date).

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

Portland Mayor Pushes Forward Plan To Use Unarmed Police Officers

The mayor of Portland has plans to start a pilot program where non-sworn officers will not carry weapons and be used on non-emergency calls. The non-sworn officers are called Public Safety Support Specialists and will be utilized on property crimes and break-ins, according to Wheeler.

Proponents of hiring the Public Safety Support Specialists said they could build more trust with citizens. "When you bring your gun and a badge into a situation, it can make some people uneasy," says Sam Sachs, a former Portland park ranger, according to the Williamette Week. "If you're not wearing a gun, it kind of changes things."

The mayor cut the city’s mounted police from the budget so he could fund the Public Safety Support Specialists, which could be hired in January, according to the Williamette Week (November 29, 2018).
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Unarmed police is not an idea unique to Portland. The United Kingdom, Norway, Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, and twelve of 16 Pacific island nations do not allow most police officers to carry firearms.

Would this concept work in the United States? Will having unarmed police officers build more trust with the community, or just put these officers at increased risk?
 

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.



Portland - FBI Meet To Discuss Withdrawal From Terrorism Task Force

Portland could be the next major city to withdraw its police from a key partnership with federal law enforcement agencies that investigate terrorism and domestic extremism.

Mayor Ted Wheeler held talks with the FBI in November 2018 to discuss how to handle the city’s withdrawal from the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), public records released by the mayor’s office show.

Records show that Renn Cannon, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland division, arranged to meet with the mayor and his staff Nov. 8, to discuss the fate of the JTTF.

In addition to federal law enforcement agencies, the local terrorism task force includes representatives from the Oregon State Police, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and the Port of Portland Police Department.

Opposition to the JTTF runs deep in Portland. Mayor Tom Potter, a former Portland police chief, voted to remove the city’s officers from the task force in 2005 out of concern that it lacked adequate civilian oversight. The city rejoined under Mayor Sam Adams in 2010 on an “as-needed basis” after the FBI announced it had arrested a teenager for plotting to bomb Pioneer Courthouse Square. The council then voted to fully rejoin in 2015. (Oregon Public Broadcasting, November 28, 2018)
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The JTTF works to combat domestic terrorism and violent extremism, and I believe overall does good work while respecting the civil rights and liberties of American citizens. However, past patterns false arrests and detentions, attacks on homes and friendships, and attempting to impede members of political organizations from peacefully assembling and demonstrating anywhere, at any time, cause many to question the overall value of anti-terrorism officers within law enforcement agencies.


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Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

 

Marriott Data Breach

The data stolen from the Marriott hotel empire in a massive breach is so rich and specific it could be used for espionage, identity theft, reputational attacks and even home burglaries, security experts say.

Hackers stole data on as many as 500 million guests of former Starwood chain properties over four years including credit card and passport numbers, birthdates, phone numbers and hotel arrival and departure dates.

It is one of the biggest data breaches on record. By comparison, last year's Equifax hack affected more than 145 million people. A Target breach in 2013 affected more than 41 million payment card accounts and exposed contact information for more than 60 million customers. (KOMO 4 News)
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The stolen information included:

• name
• address
• phone number
• email address
• passport number
• account information
• date of birth
• gender
• arrival and departure information

Some records also included encrypted payment card information, but Marriott could not rule out the possibility that the encryption keys had also been stolen.





If you travel overseas, you should read this book:

Federal Air Marshals Accused of More Than 200 Gun Mishaps

When a passenger found a federal air marshal's loaded service weapon in the bathroom during a trans-Atlantic flight last year, the blunder became headline news. It sparked public outrage, prompted an investigation and led to calls for reform.

But the misplaced gun debacle was hardly an isolated incident, according to documents recently obtained by CNN.

The Transportation Security Administration's Office of Inspection has documented more than 200 cases of air marshals allegedly misusing firearms or misbehaving with guns between roughly 2005 and 2017, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In 19 of the cases, air marshals allegedly fired their weapons accidentally. For example, the documents state that in 2017 an agent based in Charlotte, North Carolina, "unintentionally discharged a personally owned firearm resulting in a gunshot wound to his right foot."

A 2013 case described an air marshal mistakenly firing his weapon inside a hotel room and damaging a television in an adjoining room.

More than 70 of the incidents relate to lost, misplaced or stolen weapons. At least three of those cases involved air marshals forgetting their firearms in airplane bathrooms. Two others involved weapons misplaced in airports.

At least 13 of the cases involved alcohol, including a 2012 case in which an armed air marshal allegedly flew on a plane while drunk and another in 2014 in which an agent was accused of being intoxicated during a firearms training session.

John Mueller, a political science professor at Ohio State University who has assessed the efficiencies of various forms of aviation security, argues that the costs of air marshals outweigh their benefits. He recommends training and arming more pilots to resist hijackers and adding secondary cockpit barriers.

Referring to air marshals, Mueller said, "They deliver about 5 cents or maybe 10 cents of benefit for every dollar that's spent on them. There are much less expensive security measures, which could replace them and save lots of money." (CNN, November 19, 2018)
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OK, in any group of people there are going to be mistakes and errors over time. When that group of people (i.e. Federal Air Marshals) all carry guns some of those mistakes and errors will involve guns.

Between 2005 and 2017 there were 200+ "gun mishaps" reported involving Federal Air Marshals - or around 17 incidents per year. If you work for an agency where people carry guns, how many reported "gun mishaps" does your agency have per year? Are 17 errors with firearms per year just the cost of doing business?

What do you think?

 

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.