September 15, 2021 by Maggie McNeill
Prosecutors are not allowed to just randomly tie defendants to heinous crimes they're not on trial for...and yet here we are. - Elizabeth N. Brown
To Molest and Rape (#941)
Rapist cop is still a rapist cop:
A Border Patrol [cop named Steven Holmes] who was released from jail after being charged in multiple [violent rapes]...two years ago is...now being held without bond in [Tucson]...He is being [protected] from other inmates due to his [being a cop]...Holmes was p[reviously...released [on bond]...with a GPS tracking device...[but a woman he has been fucking] for the past 3 months...[reported that] on Aug. 26, they were having sex [when]..."something changed" and...Holmes...[suddenly started strangling her until she] los[t]...consciousness...Holmes [then] continued [raping]...her after she had asked him to stop...She managed to leave and...called the [local] police...the[y now admit the]re may be more potential victims out there...
Cops will continue to do this until there are criminal penalties for it:
I Spy (#1098)...the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission has [sued]...the Oakland Police Department...[for] violat[ing] the city's surveillance technology vetting ordinance, the city charter and multiple state laws...[by] retaining data for two years [when they're allowed only 6 months, and by]...giving the FBI "unfettered access" to the license plate data...the police department [has] fail[ed] to audit the use of its surveillance technology...and [refused to] provid[e] information...requested under the state's public records act...the police department has [also] used surveillance technology such as drones without a search warrant or prior approval...
Encryption won't protect you if providers are willing to hand metadata to the cops:
ProtonMail is a well-known and well-regarded mail service...[which] was recently forced to cooperate with Swiss authorities in providing user data (date of account creation), which was subsequently handed over to American security authorities...That ProtonMail made its home in Switzerland has previously been a point of praise for the mail service. However...the country is by no means a bastion of digital privacy...due in no small part to new laws passed in response to the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris...
US "authorities" keep pretending "because sex" is an excuse for any tyranny:
I Spy (#1167)[In] the federal trial of Backpage.com's founders and former executives...prosecutor Reggie Jones misrepresented Backpage ads and the law, while harping on specific crimes of which the defendants aren't even accused. Defense lawyers are already calling for a mistrial...the...motion [states]..."The opening...consisted of inflammatory, unproven, and unprovable assertions that fail in any event to address what the government must prove to convict any defendant"...
"Delayed" isn't good enough:
A Broker in Pillage (#1170)Apple has delayed plans to roll out its [new surveillance]...technology ...citing [criticism] from customers and policy groups...The Electronic Frontier Foundation...amassed more than 25,000 signatures...[and] close to 100 policy and rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, also called on Apple to abandon plans to roll out the technology. In...[reply], Apple [bloviated about how allowing governments to spy on everyone is]..."critically important"...Apple's so-called NeuralHash technology... could [easily] be abused by...governments...to implicate innocent victims or [enforce criminalization of thought]...researchers...were [even] able to... trick...the system into thinking two entirely different images were the same...
Burying government in lawsuits is the only way to slow its depredations:
To Molest and Rape (#1170)Ameal Woods was driving near Houston in May 2019 when he was pulled over by a Harris County [cop using the common pretext that he was suppos]edly...driving too close to a semi-truck. The [cop used this an excuse to rob]...Woods' and his wife's life savings...$43,200 in cash...that Woods and Davis say they planned on using to...purchase a tractor-trailer for Woods' trucking business...Now Woods and his wife, Jordan Davis, are the lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit ...against Harris County...by the Institute for Justice...Harris County prosecutors have a pattern of seeking civil forfeitures based on boilerplate [fantasies] written by [cops] who were not...the[re]...at least 113 forfeiture petitions since 2016...used stock language and identical phrases...[which] led to errors...such as contradictory dates and incorrectly stating what property was s[tolen by the cops]...Harris County's forfeiture practices fail to provide owners with prompt hearings to challenge property seizures, require owners to prove their own innocence, and create perverse profit incentives for law enforcement, all of which violates the Texas constitution...
Notice how often predatory cops' victims are underage?
A Mohave County (Arizona) [cop] is facing a felony charge of s[tatutory rape]...after he was arrested on...Aug[ust 31]...when Kingman police...[discovered] Andrew Jacob Sundberg...[had intentionally gotten] a 15-year-old girl [drunk so as to seduce her]...
