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.
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.
