Transgressions Are CLEAR
March 4, 2021
The Good News
- ‘Our work is about joy’: the artists redesigning hospitals for kids (Guardian)
- UK will no longer use bee-harming pesticide (BBC)
“We are the sources of surveillance capitalism’s crucial surplus: the objects of a technologically advanced and increasingly inescapable raw-material-extraction operation. Surveillance capitalism’s actual customers are the enterprises that trade in its markets for future behavior” — Shoshana Zuboff
ICE’s Transgressions Are CLEAR
(Joana Toro via Getty Images)
Senate conservatives insist a $15 per hour minimum wage is exorbitant, and they shudder to think some working families might get an extra $800 in stimulus money. Is there any concern that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent tens of millions of your tax dollars on a private database to mine a gross amount of your personal information that agents aren’t authorized to compile on their own?
The Washington Post reported last week that ICE paid almost $21 million to tap into a commercial database called CLEAR, owned by multinational media conglomerate Thomson Reuters. CLEAR contains more than 400 million names, addresses, and service records from over 80 utility companies covering all the staples of modern life, including water, gas, electricity, phone, Internet, and cable TV. It also has employment and housing information, credit reports, criminal histories, and vehicle registrations. The records number in the billions and come from all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. They’re also updated daily.
ICE says it uses the data for immigration and enforcement operations — in other words, to hunt down the undocumented and send them packing. But as federal agencies go, it’s hardly alone. Thomson Reuters says it sells “legal investigation software solution” subscriptions to a broad range of companies and public agencies. Company documents say its utility data comes from the credit-reporting giant Equifax; its marketing materials show the system has been used by police in Detroit, a credit union in California, and a fraud investigator in the Midwest. Federal purchasing records reveal that the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense are among the federal agencies with ongoing contracts for CLEAR data use.
On paper there are strict protocols and regulations — much of it codified in the Privacy Act of 1974 — that determine how the federal government can gather personal information and infringe on an individual’s privacy. Such intrusions normally require a court order. But agencies like ICE don’t bother going that route. They just buy the information with taxpayer dollars.
Social psychologist and Harvard business school professor Shoshana Zuboff’s first book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, became an epoch-defining international bestseller after its publication in 2019. Zuboff defines surveillance capitalism as a “new economic order” and “an expropriation of critical human rights that is best understood as a coup from above.” In a nutshell, her argument is that what began as advertising is now an assault on freedom and democracy.
Other critics argue that what government agencies like ICE are doing is worse than simple surveillance capitalism, and it should worry us all. While Facebook may want to know everything about your shopping and surfing habits, the worst it can do to someone individually is put them in “Facebook Jail.” Governments can send people to real prison. (Guardian; WaPo, $)
Coronaviolence Spreads In The Netherlands
(Koen Van Weel via Getty Images)
- An explosion damaged a Dutch drive-through coronavirus test center in Bovenkarspel around 7 am Wednesday morning. A crude pipe bomb blew out a half-dozen of the building’s windows, but no one was hurt. Police consider it a deliberate attack, although they don’t yet have a suspect or a motive.
- In January there was an arson attack at another Netherlands test center in the fishing village of Urk. It occurred during three days of rioting triggered by the introduction of a nationwide curfew. Three people, one just 16 years old, were arrested after that attack.
- Windows have been smashed at test centers in Amsterdam, and last October a couple vandalized a test center in the southern town of Breda, writing graffiti and slogans like “coronavirus is a hoax” on the walls. (Guardian)
After Bombing, Escalation Frustration
- A US contractor died of a heart attack Wednesday after at least 10 rockets slammed into an airbase in western Iraq that houses American and coalition troops. Heightened tensions with Iranian-backed militia groups are raising concerns that this latest strike could trigger a new round of escalating violence.
- It was the first assault since the US bombed Iran-aligned militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border last week. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but the White House warned that it may consider a military response. The attacks continue to complicate President Biden’s desire to restart talks with Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal, and hinder an ongoing US strategy to focus more attention on Asia.
- Pope Francis decided to go on with his scheduled weekend trip to Iraq — the first ever papal visit to that country — despite concerns over security and rising numbers of coronavirus infections. The 84-year-old pontiff said all health precautions had been taken, and that the trip is “an act of love for this land, for its people and for its Christians.” (Yahoo News, AP)
Additional World News
- Macron admits France murdered top Algerian independence figure (Al Jazeera)
- Going dark: Mapping internet shutdowns around the world (Al Jazeera)
- Myanmar security forces shoot dead 8 protesters (AP)
- Chinese labour schemes aimed to cut Uighur population density (Guardian)
- Smile for the camera: dark side of China’s emotion-recognition tech (Guardian)
- TikTok urged to take action over Myanmar death threat videos (Guardian)
- ‘Facebook has a blind spot’: why Spanish-language misinformation is flourishing (Guardian)
- Letter from Kyiv: The Armies of the Right (Harpers)
- Khashoggi report ‘unlikely’ to change Saudi Arabia credit rating (Al Jazeera)
Texas Governor: Mask On, Mask Off
- In an act of unmitigated partisanship and stupidity, Texas Governor Greg Abbott raced to be the first Republican governor to lift all mandates related to slowing the spread of Covid-19, and to urge businesses of any type to open at 100% capacity, starting March 10 — just in time for Spring Break. Abbott’s announcement, made Tuesday at a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce event, was met with stunned disbelief by health officials everywhere.
- Abbott said mandates were no longer necessary because hospitalizations were down, vaccines were here, and Texans had “mastered the daily habits to avoid getting Covid.” Texas has a population of 29 million and as of Monday just 6.57% of Texans have been fully vaccinated. At least 275 new coronavirus deaths and 7,240 new cases were reported in Texas on Tuesday; over the past week, the average number of new cases reported each day was 7,259.
- Houston’s mayor said Abbott’s announcement “really undermines all of the sacrifices that have been made by medical professionals, doctors, nurses, EMS workers, firefighters, police officers, municipal workers, people in the community.” Austin’s mayor said everyone in his city was “just dumbfounded” over Abbott’s announcement.
- Also on Tuesday, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced the end to all county mask mandates, and that businesses can reopen at 100% capacity starting Wednesday. Meanwhile, thousands of residents in the state capital of Jackson have been without running water since the winter storm over two weeks ago. (CNN)
When Curtains Cost More Than Safety & Security
- A suburban Detroit man who prominently displayed a Ku Klux Klan flag in his window next to the home of a Black family will not face any charges. A Wayne County prosecutor, who happens to be Black, said an ethnic intimidation charge would require physical contact, property damage, or threats of such activity.
- Noting that “horrible conduct” doesn’t violate Michigan law, she added: “I strongly encourage the Michigan Legislature to look, revise and create laws to protect citizens from this kind of horrible conduct.” The Klan flag was hanging inside the man’s home directly across from JeDonna Dinges’s dining room. The man’s girlfriend claimed they couldn’t afford a curtain.
- The menacing KKK flag was removed after police visited the offenders’ home and switched it out with some large cloths. Dinges said she had been concerned about her safety prior to the flag incident, after finding a full gas can inside her outdoor recycling bin. (ABC News)
Additional USA News
- Jackson, Miss., Water Crisis Highlights Longtime Problems (NPR)
- Up to 18 US states haven’t prioritized Covid vaccines for homeless, study finds (Guardian)
- Educators getting testy: Biden administration’s push for standardized tests irks teachers unions, state leaders (Politico).
- Biden COVID-19 relief bill heads to Senate with $3,600 child tax credit (USA Today)
- Disinformation And Conspiracy Theories: Experts Work To Deprogram Americans (NPR)
- Factories Are Thriving But Finding Key Parts Is Just ‘A Mess’ (NPR)
- US militia group draws members from military and police, website leak shows (Guardian)
- Anti-Asian attacks: Chinatown patrols, guns and racial strife (WaPo, $)
- Why Congress can’t stop talking about Section 230 (Verge)
- Biden Says U.S. Will Have Vaccine Supply For All Adults By May, Prioritizes Teachers (NPR)
Glow-In-The-Dark Shark Discovery Makes A Splash
- In January 2020, Belgium scientists were conducting a fish survey of the Chatham Rise, an area of ocean floor off New Zealand’s coast, when they discovered three deep-sea species of sharks that glow in the dark. The species inhabit a space called the mesopelagic, or twilight, zone, which ranges in depth from 200 meters to 1,000 meters, the maximum depth reached by sunlight. The environment gives the sharks no place to hide, and the researchers suggest the animals’ glowing underbellies may be camouflage, helping them hide from predators or other threats beneath them.
- Many marine animals, and some insects like fireflies, produce their own light. And while the three shark species were already known to marine biologists, this was the first time the phenomenon of bioluminescence — organisms emitting light — had been identified in larger sharks. The researchers’ study, published in the journal “Frontier of Marine Science,” documented and analyzed bioluminescence in the kitefin shark, the blackbelly lanternshark, and the southern lanternshark. Now the kitefin shark, which can reach a length over 5 and a half feet, is the largest known luminous vertebrate.
- In explaining the importance of bioluminescence for marine creatures, the scientists said: “[It] has often been seen as a spectacular yet uncommon event at sea, but considering the vastness of the deep sea and the occurrence of luminous organisms in this zone, it is … obvious that producing light at depth must play an important role structuring the biggest ecosystem on our planet.”
- Bioluminescence served another very important role for a man — future Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. In 1953 Lovell was a carrier-based pilot in the US Navy. At dusk, flying over the Pacific Ocean headed for a landing on the carrier, his instruments failed and he lost radio contact. He knew if he flew in too low he’d hit the stern and break his plane into pieces. If he flew in too high he’d overshoot the landing hook and slide rapidly into the sea. He needed to make a surgically precise landing with zero visibility, no instruments, no radio contact.
- He was literally flying blind when he noticed a faint, ethereal glow in the darkening ocean water. It was the phosphorescent glow of planktonic algae. Stirred up by the carrier’s giant propeller, the organisms left a stream of pale bioluminescence in the wake that grew brighter the closer Lovell got to the ship. He was able to use the soft green light as his guide, and bring his plane in for a safe landing on the carrier’s deck. (BBC, Vintage News)
Additional Reads
- Cuttlefish can pass the marshmallow test (ArsTechnica)
- Getting a COVID vaccine is now a dating app flex guaranteed to make you more desirable (Screenshot Media)
- Glitch workers sign tech’s first collective bargaining agreement (Verge)
- Microsoft’s Dream of Decentralized IDs Enters the Real World (Wired)
- Once Upon a Time on Mars (NYT, $)
- ‘Nomadland’ Explores More Than the American West (NYT, $)
- ‘The Earth could hear itself think’: how birdsong became the sound of lockdown (Guardian)
- Jane Does v. GirlsDoPorn: How 22 millennial women brought down a porn empire (ArsTechnica)
- 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Tenors (NYT, $)