Police Super-Database Prompts Liberty Warning on Privacy

A new super-database being built for the police represents a “grave” risk to privacy, a leading human rights group has said.

Liberty claims the government is glossing over concerns that the database, the largest built for British law enforcement, threatens civil liberties. The group fears it gives massive power to the state at the expense of millions of Britons.

The Home Office has had consultation meetings with groups and experts concerned about privacy ahead of the super-database becoming operational later this year. Liberty said it has quit them in protest, damaging government hopes of neutralizing civil liberties concerns.

Hannah Couchman, of Liberty, said: “Having enormous amounts of our personal information held on this super-database represents a grave threat to our privacy. While the collection of a few pieces of personal data can seem innocuous, combining it with other information can create an intrusive personal profile. (The Guardian, October 1, 2018)
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The above article from the Guardian expresses a concern about a UK system, but these surveillance databases exist everywhere. See the post concerning the Joint Analytic Real-time Virtual Information Sharing System (JARVISS) in the United States. A system being used to collect information about you today.

How would you feel if some government employee in a basement office somewhere was keeping files hidden about you on a government computer network?

Soldier Commits Suicide After Army Ignores Her Sexual Assault

According to KSTP 5 News, October 30, 2018: A Minnesota soldier died by suicide earlier this year after she was sexually assaulted and harassed on a U.S. Army base in South Korea. Pvt. Nicole Burnham's death in January prompted an Army investigation that revealed a series of failures by her commanding officers.

The report also shows Nicole was kept on the base for nearly three months after requesting to be transferred back to the United States. During that time, the 21-year-old from Andover, Minn. was housed in the same barracks as her attacker and was the victim of repeated harassment and cyber-bullying, according to military records. On social media, she was called a "slut, deserving of rape," records show.

Nicole's ranking officers, who were responsible for her safety, are accused of ignoring the harassment. The investigative report also shows they failed to report Nicole's suicidal ideations to commanders on the base.

A former military prosecutor said in an interview that the investigation shows command staff repeatedly violated policies after Nicole reported being sexually assaulted.
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Constant harassment and a hostile workplace can drive anyone to thoughts of suicide. When unit leadership ignores requests for help, or worse structures investigations to cover their own misconduct, suicide may seem to be the only alternative.

We say that there is always someone there to help, but that is not as true as we might hope...

 

For example, if you contacted 'Lifeline Chat' - Suicide Prevention Line on August 19, 2018 you would have found 71 people in line ahead of you.

 

If you needed help on September 11, 2018 and contacted the 'Lifeline Chat' - Suicide Prevention Line, there were 85 people ahead of you. Meaning that you would have to wait hours for help... all the while thinking about ending your life.

 

If someone says that they need help, counseling, or guidance because they are having thoughts of hurting themselves, see that they get that help today. Tomorrow may be too late.

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Sheriff David Clarke Breaks Down The Rise Of Antifa in Portland

Sheriff David Clarke Breaks Down The Rise Of Antifa in Portland (October 15, 2018)

 

A 'must see' YouTube Video.

 

 

 

Antifa Mob Terrorize City, Portland Police Stand Down While Law Abiding Citizens Can Go To Hell. It's another sad day in America when Americans have to patrol against the corrupt officials who swore an oath to serve and protect their people and their cities.

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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.

JBLM to Send Soldiers to Mexico Border

As thousands of people from Central America march toward the U.S., President Trump has ordered military troops to the U.S. - Mexican border. Some of those troops being deployed to the border are from Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). On his visit to JBLM Wednesday, the Secretary of the Army, Dr. Mark Esper said troops will focus on logistical support to border patrol. The JBLM troops will be deployed for 45 days at the border or longer if needed.  (KOMO 4 News, November 2, 2018)

According to USA Today (October, 29, 2018):  President Trump wants to keep criminals out of U.S. In fiscal 2017 alone, the ICE-Homeland Security Investigations unit seized nearly 1 million pounds of drugs, including tons of the deadly opioids that are fueling the worst drug overdose crisis in U.S. history.

Stemming the flow of violent crime, much of it linked to MS-13 and other brutal transnational criminal gangs, is also impossible if we can’t control border crossings. Fully 74 percent of the 143,470 suspected illegal aliens ICE arrested for removal proceedings in 2017 had criminal records, including almost 10,000 sex offenders and more than 1,500 convicted killers.

Democrats and open borders advocates, though, want to abolish ICE, leave our weakened asylum system unreformed, and ignore the fact that foreign governments are enabling the mass invasion of American borders. They oppose Trump’s immigration agenda at every turn because they’re convinced that continued mass illegal immigration and, eventually, mass amnesty, will bring them an endless supply of liberal votes.

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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.

Portland Police Release Videos of Officers' Fatal Shooting of Patrick Kimmons

Oregon Live (October 31, 2018) reported that "Portland police Wednesday released video of the police shooting of Patrick Kimmons in downtown last month after a Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by the two officers involved.

The grand jury met over two days and found the shooting by Sgt. Garry Britt and Officer Jeffrey Livingston was justified.

The officers said Kimmons, 27, was running toward them with a gun when they fired 12 shots. Kimmons was hit nine times and pronounced dead a short time later at OHSU Hospital, police said.

Prosecutors from the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office met with Kimmons' mother and other relatives Wednesday morning to show them video of the shooting. Police also met with community leaders they invited to North Precinct to play the videos and offer a private update on the shooting investigation.

"The verdict is not justifiable,'' said Kimmons' mother, Letha Winston, protesting outside the courthouse after the jury's findings were announced. "I'm gonna fight for my baby. How could you shoot a man after he already laid down flat."
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On October 7, 2018 I posted about protest in Portland over the death of Mr. Kimmons. The grand jury decision that Portland police were justified in shooting Mr. Kimmons will likely lead to further demonstrations and anti-police sentiment in Portland and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Now, as I look at the surveillance video released in the Oregon Live report on October 31, 2018 I see the two police officers upon hearing shots in the parking lot (Mr. Kimmons had just shot two people) run toward the sounds of the gun fire. They contact Mr. Kimmons who is running towards them with a gun in his had. The two officers shot Mr. Kimmons who was - according to witnesses - pointing a gun back toward them as he ran.

While the crowd was running away, the officers ran forward, putting their own lives at risk to protect their community, and stopped a man (Mr. Kimmons) who had just shot two people in a Portland parking lot.

Sgt. Garry Britt and Officer Jeffrey Livingston risked their own lives to protect the community.

Google Discloses Privacy-Security Flaw That It Kept Quiet Since March

According to Bloomberg (October 8, 2018) Google said it found a “software glitch” in its Google+ social network in March that could have exposed the personal data of as many as half a million users, but decided not to tell the public until Monday.

Google chose not to disclose the flaw out of concern it would trigger regulatory backlash, especially in the wake of criticism against Facebook Inc.

“This has been going on for too long,” said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Companies like Google experience these breaches. They don’t report them. They don’t suffer consequences.”

Google+ never caught on as a social network. Even so, many users still technically have a profile that has personal information on it. Google will shut it down over the next 10 months for consumers, but keep a version built for businesses open and operating.
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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.

ACP Lets DV Survivors Vote Without Their Address Becoming Public

For survivors of domestic violence, staying safe becomes their top priority. Their lives are often impacted in ways most don’t have to consider, like registering to vote when you want your whereabouts to be kept private.

When someone registers to vote in Washington state, the address they provide becomes public record and anyone can find it. For a domestic violence survivor, even providing general information during registration can potentially put their lives in danger.

With midterm elections quickly approaching, some survivors say voting can be dangerous but Washington state has a program that could help them. The state’s Address Confidentiality Program allows survivors to keep their public records closed, as long as they’re enrolled in a domestic violence survivor program.

What it does is route all mail to a post office box in Olympia, so that even the city where the survivor resides remains secret. There are some hassles involved. You can’t get packages, you can’t get magazines but it is a way to still correspond with the outside world and to vote. (Q13 News, October 26, 2018)
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Many states have address confidentiality programs to help protect victims of domestic violence and certain other crimes. These are good programs that should be supported, but they need to be expanded to include not just DV survivors, but anyone who wants to protect their personal privacy and keep their address from being entered into public records.

You shouldn't have to become a victim of a violent crime before being able to protect yourself from becoming a victim of a violent crime.

Whether you are the victim of domestic violence, attempting to avoid a stalker, or concerned that some out of control government employee is keeping secret files about you; you should be able to keep your address and other personal information from appearing in public records.

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