United States | News & Politics

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/30473984

The lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, Fumiko Lopez, alleged that Apple devices improperly recorded their daughter, who was a minor, mentioning brand names like Olive Garden and Air Jordans and then served her advertisements for those brands on Apple’s Safari browser. Other named plaintiffs alleged that their Siri-enabled devices entered listening mode without them saying “Hey Siri” while they were having intimate conversations in their bedrooms or were talking with their doctors.

In their suit, the plaintiffs characterized the privacy invasions as particularly egregious given that a core component of Apple’s marketing strategy in recent years has been to frame its devices as privacy-friendly. For example, an Apple billboard at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show read “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone,” according to the lawsuit.

The proposed settlement, filed in California federal district court on Tuesday, covers people who owned Siri-enabled devices from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024 and whose private communications were recorded by an unintended Siri activation. Payout amounts will be determined by how many Apple devices a class member owned that improperly activated a listening session.

Mount Prospect Police Chief Michael Eterno said the teens attacked the two men in two different incidents on the evening of July 8, 2024. The victims were two gay men, aged 41 and 23, who responded to ads placed on an unnamed gay dating app. After arriving at the locations, a combination gas station and convenience store parking lot and a residential street in a different part of town, the teens allegedly attacked the men and vandalized their cars. Both victims were able to escape and report the attacks to police.

The charged teens were all aged 17 except for one boy aged 16. Police say all 11 participated in one or both attacks. Each was charged with either one or two felony counts each of Aggravated Battery, Criminal Damage to Property, and Mob Action. One of the 17-year-olds was also charged with two felony Hate Crime counts for “yelling a racial and another derogatory term” during the attacks.

https://archive.ph/8vYWj

• White supremacist incidents are on the rise across the US, with over 750 such incidents occurring since 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
• The majority of these incidents have taken place in the last 18 months, with a 63% increase in 2023 compared to 2022.
• Experts attribute this trend to changing demographics, political turmoil, and social catalysts, which have created an environment that fuels hate groups.
• Small groups of masked men are chanting and waving swastika or white power flags in public, yelling racial slurs, and unfurling offensive banners over highways or posting racist fliers in communities.
• The normalization of hate in public and political discourse is creating an environment that fuels these groups, with many using social media to generate video clips and recruit new members.
• The growth in flash demonstrations can also be attributed to smaller groups opting to mount individual actions instead of coordinating with larger organizations.

[opinion piece by Bernie Sanders - goes beyond health care, gives proposals on other issues]

by Bernie Sanders
Tue 31 Dec 2024 14.59 EST

Tony Blair’s advisers privately questioned if the US had “proper political control” of military operations in Iraq after a senior US official confided that George W Bush believed he was on a “mission from God” against Iraqi insurgents, newly released documents reveal.

Blair needed to “deliver some difficult messages” to the then US president for a “more measured approach” in April 2004, following a US military operation to suppress a major uprising in the city of Falluja, according to papers released to the National Archives in Kew, west London.

In a surprisingly candid conversation, recorded in a document marked “please protect very carefully”, Richard “Rich” Armitage, then US deputy secretary of state, told Sir David Manning, then UK ambassador, that Bush had needed a “dose of reality” after demanding US forces “kick ass” in Falluja, where US troops were engaged in a bloody battle with Iraqi militants after four private military contractors were ambushed and killed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/24215236

By world-outlook.com on December 24, 2024