Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Vivo Z1x: Here's Everything We Know About the Vivo Z-Series Phone
Twitter Turns Off Tweeting via SMS After CEO Hack
Federal judge rules that the “terrorist watchlist” database violates U.S. citizens’ rights
A Federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush has ruled that the “terrorist watchlist” database compiled by Federal agencies and used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security violates the rights of American citizens who are on it.
The ruling, first reported by The New York Times, raises questions about the constitutionality of the practice, which was initiated in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Terrorist Screening Database is used both domestically and internationally by law enforcement and other federal agencies and inclusion on the database can have negative consequences — including limiting the ability of citizens whose names are on the list to travel.
The U.S. government has identified more than 1 million people as “known or suspected terrorists” and included them on the watchlist, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga is the culmination of several years of hearings on the complaint, brought to court by roughly two dozen Muslim U.S. citizens with the support of Muslim civil-rights group, the Council on American Islamic Relations.
The methodology the government used to add names to the watch list was shrouded in secrecy and citizens placed on the list often had no way of knowing how or why they were on it. Indeed, much of the plaintiffs lawsuit hinged on the over-broad and error-prone ways in which the list was updated and maintained.
“The vagueness of the standard for inclusion in the TSDB, coupled with the lack of any meaningful restraint on what constitutes grounds for placement on the Watchlist, constitutes, in essence, the absence of any ascertainable standard for inclusion and exclusion, which is precisely what offends the Due Process Clause,” wrote Judge Trenga.
In court, lawyers for the FBI contended that any difficulties the 21 Muslim plaintiffs suffered were outweighed by the government’s need to combat terrorist threats.
Judge Trenga disagreed. Especially concerning for the judge were the potential risks to an individual’s reputation as a result of their inclusion on the watchlist. That’s because the list isn’t just distributed to federal law enforcement agencies, but also finds its way into the hands of over 18,000 state, local, county, city, university and college, and tribal and federal law enforcement agencies and another 533 private entities. The judge was concerned that mistaken inclusion on the watchlist could have negative implications in interactions with local law enforcement and potential employers or local government services.
“Every step of this case revealed new layers of government secrets, including that the government shares the watchlist with private companies and more than sixty foreign countries,” said CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas. “CAIR will continue its fight until the full scope of the government’s shadowy watchlist activities is disclosed to the American public.”
Federal agencies have consistently expanded the number of names on the watchlist over the years. As of June 2017, 1.16 million people were included on the watchlist, according to government documents filed in the lawsuit and cited by the AP — with roughly 4,600 of those names belonging to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. In 2013, that number was 680,000, according to the AP.
“The fundamental principle of due process is notice and the opportunity to be heard,” said CAIR Trial Attorney Justin Sadowsky. “Today’s opinion provides that due process guarantee to all Americans affected by the watchlist.”
Samsung Galaxy Fold to Launch in South Korea on September 6
Microsoft acquires Seattle-based cloud migration company Movere for an undisclosed amount; Movere is Microsoft's third Azure-related acquisition since July (Taylor Soper/GeekWire)
Microsoft acquires Seattle-based cloud migration company Movere for an undisclosed amount; Movere is Microsoft's third Azure-related acquisition since July — Microsoft didn't have to go far for its latest acquisition. The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant today announced that it acquired Movere …
Realme 5 Pro vs Mi A3 Camera Comparison: Which Phone Has the Better Cameras?
How to transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
ETtech Top 5: NPCI mulls UPI market share cap, Amazon India's offline retail plan & more
Samsung says the 512GB 5G model of Galaxy Fold will be available in South Korea starting September 6 for ~$2,000, US launch to happen "in the coming weeks" (Richard Lawler/Engadget)
Samsung says the 512GB 5G model of Galaxy Fold will be available in South Korea starting September 6 for ~$2,000, US launch to happen “in the coming weeks” — After its first attempt at a launch fizzled out in the spring, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is ready to try again at making a first impression.
Data protection and management company Commvault to acquire Hedvig, a software-defined distributed storage provider, for $225M; Hedvig had raised $52M from VCs (Joseph F. Kovar/CRN)
Data protection and management company Commvault to acquire Hedvig, a software-defined distributed storage provider, for $225M; Hedvig had raised $52M from VCs — With the acquisition, Commvault, which has focused primarily on data protection and management, gains new capabilities …
Amazon coming offline with basics first and hits later
UPI transactions top 900 million in August
Commvault to acquire Hedvig for Rs 1,621 crore
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold arrives in Korea September 6, US in ‘coming weeks’
Five months after its planned launch, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is finally here. Well, almost. After offering a broad September time frame a few months back, the electronics giant just announced that the foldable foldable phone will be arriving in its native South Korea on September 6. Customers in the U.S. will have to wait a bit longer, with device arriving in “coming weeks.” Ditto for France, Germany, Singapore and the U.K.
The handset will be available in both black and silver options, along with a 5G version of the handset in “select countries,” marking the third Samsung device to offer up the next gen wireless technology.
If you follow the mobile space at all, you’re no doubt familiar with the saga. The company was targeting a spring timeframe for the launch of what is ostensibly the first consumer folding phone. The future, however, didn’t arrive as quickly as Samsung was hoping. Multiple review devices returned to the company broken. After initially blaming reviewers for the problems, the company ultimately accepted responsibility and went back to the drawing board for the 7.3 inch device.
“During the past several months, Samsung has been refining the Galaxy Fold to ensure it delivers the best possible experience,” the company explains. “Not only we improved the Galaxy Fold’s design and construction, but also took the time to rethink the entire consumer journey.”
The company’s clearly spinning this as an “opportunity,” and certainly it dodged a bullet by addressing these problems before releasing the product to consumers. Samsung has already discussed the fixes in previous announcements. The screen protector has been extended to under the bezels, so consumers don’t break the display by mistaking it for a removable laminate. Also, the gaps in the folding mechanism have been tightened, so particles can’t fall behind the screen.
The foldable starts at $2,000 and can currently be preordered through Samsung’s site.
Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid western sanctions after its Ukraine invasion (Financial Times)
Financial Times : Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid weste...
-
The first project we remember working on together was drawing scenes from the picture books that our mom brought with her when she immigrate...
-
Sohee Kim / Bloomberg : South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang that exposed ~33.7M accounts; ...
