Saturday, April 20, 2013

Anti-terrorism strategy? Was this necessary? How much was “to assure the public” and how much was actually needed? They knew roughly where #2 was, why shut down all of Boston? It makes it look like a “free fire” zone – step outside and we'll shoot first and Mirandize your corpse.
It Costs $333 Million to Shut Down Boston for a Day
Much of the Boston area has been shut down to facilitate the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (Although Dunkin’ Donuts (DNKN), a Boston institution, has remained open at police request to serve emergency response personnel.)

(Related) An interesting question.
Boston lockdown: the new normal?
The unprecedented manhunt in Boston that concluded successfully Friday night earned law enforcement authorities the gratitude of the nation.
But as relief replaces fear, the debate about what this episode means for the future is already beginning. And one of the most unsettling questions is whether the violence-related lockdown of a major U.S. city — an extraordinary moment in American history — sets a life-altering precedent.
There are already worries that the effort to protect the people of Boston contained an element of overreaction. Local authorities told the city and nearby suburbs to “shelter in place” throughout the day and into the evening. They closed businesses, shuttered government buildings and suspended all public transportation in the metro area.
That decision concerned some political leaders and policy experts.
… “If there was some serial killer on the loose, no one would suggest that we do a lockdown of a whole city,” said Cohen, now a fellow at the Century Foundation. “To me, it just plays on our outsized fears of terrorism. … Part of it is just cover your ass business by public officials.”
Keeping city residents off the streets and businesses closed made it easier for Boston to send many of its police officers across the river to Watertown, where the Boston cops joined in house-by-house searches and helped keep up a perimeter so the Tsarnayev couldn’t escape.
… Some critics of the Boston lockdown noted that during a hunt for a suspected cop killer in Los Angeles in February, some specific targets like schools were closed and checkpoints were established, but there was no effort to quarantine the entire metro area.
Following the 9/11 attacks, which were of a far larger scope, all civilian airplane traffic in the U.S. and Canada was grounded until Sept. 13, when service slowly resumed. Reagan National Airport in Washington reopened Oct. 4 under tighter security.
Financial activity shuttered in lower Manhattan with the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11. The New York Stock Exchange closed until Sept. 17, the longest suspension since the Great Depression. Other major landmarks also closed that day, including the Space Needle, Walt Disney World, and the Sears Tower. Major League Baseball postponed all games through Sept. 16, while the National Football League bumped the next Sunday schedule, which in turn meant delaying the Super Bowl by a week. The Emmy Awards — scheduled for Sept. 16 — were also delayed by nearly two months.
Cohen noted that despite the enormous tragedy in New York on Sept. 11, life in many parts of the city continued relatively close to normal. “I remember sitting in SoHo where people were sitting outside having lunch. People were not cowering in fear,” he said.


If there is no requirement for background checks at gun shows (that change to the law was defeated) why do we think having more information in a system that will not be used will keep guns from the mentally ill?
Associated Press reports:
Blocked by Congress from expanding gun sale background checks, President Obama is turning to actions within his own power to keep people from buying a gun who are prohibited for mental health reasons.
Federal law bans certain mentally ill people from purchasing firearms, but not all states are providing data to stop the prohibited sales to the FBI’s background check system.
You can read more of their report on Fox News, but what I really want to call attention to is the advance notice of proposed rule-making posted today by HHS on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The intention is to lower the HIPAA barriers to providing information to the system:
In particular, we are considering creating an express permission in the HIPAA rules for reporting the relevant information to the NICS by those HIPAA covered entities responsible for involuntary commitments or the formal adjudications that would subject individuals to the mental health prohibitor, or that are otherwise designated by the States to report to the NICS.
One of the most problematic issues has been whether certain state agencies are actually HIPAA-covered entities that might be prohibited under the Privacy Rule from disclosing information in the absence of a state law requiring disclosure. HIPAA already has a provision that permits covered entities to disclose if required to by state law, and some state agencies may qualify as “hybrid entities,” which would permit disclosure, but not all states have mandatory disclosure laws and/or establish certain agencies as hybrid entities. In response, HHS writes:
To address these concerns, the Department is considering whether to amend the Privacy Rule to expressly permit covered entities holding information about the identities of individuals who are subject to the mental health prohibitor to disclose limited mental health prohibitor information to the NICS. Such an amendment might produce clarity regarding the Privacy Rule and help make it as simple as possible for States to report the identities of such individuals to the NICS.
In crafting the elements of an express permission, we would consider limiting the information to be disclosed to the minimum data necessary for NICS purposes, such as the names of the individuals who are subject to the mental health prohibitor, demographic information such as dates of birth, and codes identifying the reporting entity and the relevant prohibitor. We would not consider permitting the disclosure of an individual’s treatment record or any other clinical or diagnostic information for this purpose. In addition, we would consider permitting disclosures for NICS purposes only by those covered entities that order involuntary commitments, perform relevant mental health adjudications, or are otherwise designated as State repositories for NICS reporting purposes.
You can read the advance notice here.


Perhaps we should classify your smartphone as a “mental health professional” and stop worrying about disclosure.
Bob McMillan reports:
All of those questions, messages, and stern commands that people have been whispering to Siri are stored on Apple servers for up to two years, Wired can now report.
Yesterday, we raised concerns about some fuzzy disclosures in Siri’s privacy policy. After our story ran, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller called to explain Apple’s policy, something privacy advocates have asking for. (sic)
Read more on Wired.


Come to think of it, I don't recall any stories of Drones searching for the Boston Bombers...
Jaikumar Vijayan reports:
A Florida bill that would impose restrictions on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, by state law enforcement officials is one signature away from becoming the first law of its kind in the country.
On Wednesday, Florida’s House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve the Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act, a bill that would require local police to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before using a drone for surveillance purposes. Earlier this month, the Senate voted unanimously to pass the measure.
Read more on Computerworld.


Should have broader implications. Drones, vacuum cleaners, alarm systems, etc.
Who's to blame when a driverless car goes astray?
If you rob a bank and get away in a driverless Prius, will the owner be indicted as the driver? Or will Toyota? Or maybe Google?
If your driverless car decides -- as so many machines do in movies -- that it has a mind of its own, will you be responsible when it decides to mount the curb and plow straight into your favorite donut store? And what if someone hacks into your driverless car and you suddenly end up in Alaska, with an instruction to mow down moose?
You'll tell me this will never happen. I will point you to the fine profits regularly earned by the world's insurance companies.
… On June 11 and 12, Detroit will host a Driverless Car Summit.
Over two days, everything from the law to insurance to, yes, the DMV aspects will be discussed.
Naturally, Google also will be there to present "Google's Perspective On Driverless Cars."
The stated aim of the conference is to make driverless cars "a reality by 2022."


I like it! I'll share this with each of my classes so they can learn that not everyone tolerates rude behavior.
Juror Jailed For Texting During Trial
… When prosecutors were playing a video-taped interview with the defendant, Judge Dennis Graves suddenly halted the trial after noticing a light glow around juror Benjamin Kohler’s chest. The judge, who had previously instructed jurors to pay attention and not to use mobile phones, immediately halted the proceeding and ordered everybody to vacate the courtroom except Kohler, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The authorities said Kohler “had no explanation for his actions.”
The judge declared him in contempt, and ordered the juror jailed for two days at Marion County Jail.


Are they relying on “the wisdom of crowds” or just realizing that predicting public taste is really difficult? One possibility, they don't need to limit themselves to the best show(s) for the timeslots available, they can produce any that look likely to produce an audience.
You Be the Judge of Which Amazon TV Pilot Is Worth Watching
You just replaced Hollywood executives.
Amazon released its first wave of TV show pilots and is pushing them all out to viewers and letting them decide which ones get made. This is in stark contrast to traditional networks, which order a pilot, analyze it to death to ensure it fits the precise demographic audience advertisers want and then shoehorn it into the schedule.
… Both Netflix and Amazon are upping the streaming video service ante with exclusive content. Netflix launched House of Cards in February and it’s new horror drama Hemlock Grove by Eli Roth launched today with all 13 episodes available for streaming. Both companies are betting on the exclusive content to draw more customers to their services.


For my Statistics students, but my lawyer friends might find the “loss of any chance for a profitable future after being branded as 'average'” Class Action lawsuit amusing.
"The New York times reports that statistical scoring by the standardized testing company Pearson incorrectly disqualified over 4700 students from a chance to enter gifted / advanced programs in New York City schools. Only students who score in the 90th percentile or above are eligible for these programs. Those in the 97th or above are eligible for 5 of the best programs. 'According to Pearson, three mistakes were made. Students' ages, which are used to calculate their percentile ranking against students of similar age, were recorded in years and months, but should also have counted days to be precise. Incorrect scoring tables were used. And the formula used to combine the two test parts into one percentile ranking contained an error.' No mention of enlisting the help of the gifted children was made in the Times article, but it also contained a now-corrected error. This submission likely also contains an erro"


Useful, because I can never remember when classes end or when grades are due, etc.
Free Printable Calendars is a free to use online service that does exactly what its name suggests – free printable calendars. When you visit the website you can get started with the calendar creation without having to register for any new accounts. You start by selecting the type of calendar you want. Supported types include a simple calendar marker, a photo calendar, an online calendar, a monthly calendar, a yearly calendar, and a desktop calendar.

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