A little more than six months after the racist attack on Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker, six former officers pleaded guilty on Thursday.
The officers included Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. Their attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The Mississippi attorney general’s office announced Thursday it had filed state charges against the men including assault, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Federal court records detail how they burst into a home without a warrant, handcuffed Jenkins and Parker, assaulted them with a sex toy and beat Parker with wood and a metal sword. They poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces and then forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess.
Then one of them put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and fired.
As Jenkins lay bleeding, they didn’t render medical aid. They knew the mission had gone too far and devised a hasty cover-up scheme that included a fictitious narcotics bust, a planted gun and drugs, stolen surveillance footage and threats.
The deputies were under the watch of Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, who called it the worst episode of police brutality he has seen in his career.
Law enforcement misconduct in the U.S. has come under increased scrutiny, largely focused on how Black people are treated by the police. The 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police ignited calls for sweeping criminal justice reforms and a reassessment of American race relations. The January beating death of Tyre Nichols by five Black members of a special police squad in Memphis, Tennessee, led to a probe of similar units nationwide.
In Rankin County, the brutality visited upon Jenkins and Parker was not a botched police operation, but an assembly of rogue officers “who tortured them all under the authority of a badge, which they disgraced,” U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca said.
The county is just east of the state capital, Jackson, home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any major U.S. city. A towering granite-and-marble monument topped by a Confederate soldier stands across the street from the Rankin County sheriff’s office.
The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents say, referencing an area with higher concentrations of Black residents.
Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the trauma “is magnified because the misconduct was fueled by racial bias and hatred.” She mentioned another dark chapter in Mississippi law enforcement: the 1964 kidnapping and killing of three civil rights workers.
The violent police misconduct is a reminder “there is still much to be done,” Clarke said.
After Dedmon summoned “The Goon Squad,” the officers crept around the ranch-style home to avoid a surveillance camera. They kicked down the carport door and burst inside without a warrant.
Opdyke found a sex toy, which he mounted on a BB gun he also found, and forced into Parker’s mouth. Dedmon tried to sexually assault Jenkins with the toy. The officers repeatedly electrocuted the victims with stun guns to compare whose weapons were more powerful.
Elward forced Jenkins to his knees for a “mock execution” by firing without a bullet, but the gun discharged. The bullet lacerated Jenkins’ tongue and broke his jaw before exiting his neck.
As Jenkins bled on the floor, the officers devised a cover story for investigators: Elward brought Jenkins into a side room to conduct a staged drug bust over the phone and Jenkins reached for a gun when he was released from handcuffs.
Middleton offered to plant an unregistered firearm, but Elward said he would use the BB gun. Dedmon volunteered to plant methamphetamine he had received from an informant. Jenkins was charged with a felony as a result, but the charges were later dropped.
Opdyke put one of Elward’s shell casings in a water bottle and threw it into tall grass nearby. Hartfield removed the hard drive from the home’s surveillance system and later tossed it in a creek.
Afterward, McAlpin and Middleton made a promise: They would kill any of the officers who told the truth about what happened.
They kept quiet for months as pressure mounted from a Justice Department civil rights probe. An investigation by The Associated Press also linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.
One of the officers came forward in June, Bailey said.
Bailey on Thursday said he was lied to and first learned everything that happened to Jenkins and Parker when he read unsealed court documents. Some of the deputies, including McAlpin and Elward, had worked under Bailey for years and been sued several times for alleged misconduct.
The sheriff promised to implement a new body camera policy and said he was open to more federal oversight. He also called the officers “criminals,” echoing federal prosecutors.
The researchers will present their research next week at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas.
Christian Werling, one of the three students at Technische Universität Berlin who conducted the research along with another independent researcher, said that their attack requires physical access to the car, but that’s exactly the scenario where their jailbreak would be useful.
“We are not the evil outsider, but we’re actually the insider, we own the car,” Werling told TechCrunch in an interview ahead of the conference. “And we don’t want to pay these $300 for the rear heated seats.”
The technique they used to jailbreak the Tesla is called voltage glitching. Werling explained that what they did was “fiddle around” with the supply voltage of the AMD processor that runs the infotainment system.
“If we do it at the right moment, we can trick the CPU into doing something else. It has a hiccup, skips an instruction and accepts our manipulated code. That’s basically what we do in a nutshell,” he said.
With the same technique, the researchers said they were also able to extract the encryption key used to authenticate the car to Tesla’s network. In theory, this would open the door for a series of other attacks, but the researchers said they still have to explore the possibilities in this scenario.
The researchers said they were also able to extract personal information from the car such as contacts, recent calendar appointments, call logs, locations the car visited, Wi-Fi passwords and session tokens from email accounts, among others. This is data that could be attractive to people who don’t own that particular car, but still have physical access to it.
Mitigating the hardware-based attack that the researchers achieved is not simple. In fact, the researchers said, Tesla would have to replace the hardware in question.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
he floating barrier, which is intended to block migrants crossing from Mexico, was installed last month without federal authorization, according to the US Justice Department, which is suing the state of Texas over its use of the buoys.
The Mexican government has also decried Abbott’s decision to float the buoys. Last week, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Alicia Bárcena Ibarra said her country had sent its second diplomatic note to the US complaining about the barriers.
They not only violate two treaties between the US and Mexico, she said, but a slide that accompanied her remarks claimed that a portion of the 305 meters of deployed buoy is on “Mexican territory.”
López Obrador on Thursday warned that the buoys violated Mexico’s “sovereignty and human rights,” adding that “we are already demanding that these buoys be removed.”
In two separate cases in the Southern and Central Districts of California, two U.S. Navy servicemembers were arrested for transmitting sensitive military information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
“These individuals stand accused of violating the commitments they made to protect the United States and betraying the public trust, to the benefit of the PRC government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to use every tool in our arsenal to counter threats from China and to deter those who aid them in breaking our laws and threatening our national security.”
“These arrests are a reminder of the relentless, aggressive efforts of the People’s Republic of China to undermine our democracy and threaten those who defend it,” said Assistant Director Suzanne Turner of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “The PRC compromised enlisted personnel to secure sensitive military information that could seriously jeopardize U.S. national security. The FBI and our partners remain vigilant in our determination to combat espionage, and encourage past and present government officials to report any suspicious interactions with suspected foreign intelligence officers.”
United States v. Jinchao Wei, Southern District of California
A U.S. Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, aka Patrick Wei, was arrested yesterday on espionage charges as he arrived for work at Naval Base San Diego, the homeport of the Pacific Fleet. He was indicted for conspiracy to send national defense information to an intelligence officer working for the People’s Republic of China.
The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges that Wei, was an active-duty sailor on the amphibious assault ship the U.S.S. Essex stationed at Naval Base San Diego. In his role as a machinist’s mate, Wei held a U.S. security clearance and had access to sensitive national defense information about the ship’s weapons, propulsion and desalination systems. Amphibious assault ships like the Essex resemble small aircraft carriers and allow the U.S. military to project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious readiness and expeditionary strike capabilities.
According to the indictment, in February 2022, Wei began communicating with an intelligence officer from the PRC who requested that Wei provide information about the U.S.S. Essex and other Navy ships. Specifically, the Chinese intelligence officer tasked Wei with passing him photos, videos and documents concerning U.S. Navy ships and their systems. The two agreed to hide their communications by deleting records of their conversations and using encrypted methods of communication.
At the request of the intelligence officer, between March 2022 and the present, Wei sent photographs and videos of the Essex, disclosed the locations of various Navy ships and described defensive weapons of the Essex. In exchange for this information, the intelligence officer paid Wei thousands of dollars over the course of the conspiracy.
The indictment further alleges that in June 2022, Wei sent the intelligence officer approximately 30 technical and mechanical manuals. These manuals contained export control warnings and detailed the operations of multiple systems aboard the Essex and similar ships, including power, steering, aircraft and deck elevators, as well as damage and casualty controls. The intelligence officer confirmed with Wei that at least 10 of those manuals were useful to him. For passage of those materials, the indictment alleges that Wei was paid $5,000.
In June 2022, the intelligence officer requested that Wei provide information about the number and training of U.S. Marines during an upcoming international maritime warfare exercise. In response to this request, Wei sent multiple photographs of military equipment to the intelligence officer.
In August 2022, Wei sent an additional 26 technical and mechanical manuals related to the power structure and operation of the Essex and similar ships. The manuals contained warnings that this was technical data subject to export controls and that it was deemed “critical technology” by the U.S. Navy.
The indictment further alleges that in October 2022, Wei sent a technical manual to the intelligence officer describing the layout and location of certain departments, including berthing quarters and weapons systems. Specifically, Wei sent a weapons control systems manual for the Essex and similar ships. This manual contained export-controlled data that could not be exported without a license from the U.S. government. The indictment alleges that Wei knowingly violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulations by transmitting this manual to the Chinese intelligence officer without obtaining a required license.
The intelligence officer continued to request information in 2023, including information about the overhaul and upgrades to the Essex. Specifically, he requested blueprints, especially those related to modifications to the flight deck. Wei provided information related to the repairs the Essex was undergoing, as well as other mechanical problems with similar vessels.
During the alleged conspiracy, the intelligence officer instructed Wei to gather U.S. military information that was not public and admonished him not to discuss their relationship and to destroy any evidence regarding the nature of their relationship and their activities.
“We have entrusted members of our military with tremendous responsibility and great faith,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California. “Our nation’s safety and security are in their hands. When a soldier or sailor chooses cash over country, and hands over national defense information in an ultimate act of betrayal, the United States will aggressively investigate and prosecute.”
U.S. Attorney Grossman thanked the prosecution team and investigating agencies for their excellent work on this case.
The FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Parmley and Fred Sheppard for the Southern District of California and Trial Attorney Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
United States v. Wenheng Zhao, Central District of California
A U.S. Navy servicemember, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, aka Thomas Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, was arrested following an indictment by a federal grand jury, charging him with receiving bribes in exchange for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an individual posing as a maritime economic researcher, but who was actually an intelligence officer from the PRC.
The indictment alleges that Zhao, who worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme and held a U.S. security clearance, received bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for violating his official duties as a U.S. sailor by, among other actions, disclosing non-public sensitive U.S. military information.
Beginning in August 2021 and continuing through at least May 2023, at the Chinese intelligence officer’s direction, Zhao allegedly violated his official duties to protect sensitive military information by surreptitiously recording, and then transmitting to the intelligence officer, U.S. military information, photographs and videos. According to the indictment, the Chinese intelligence officer told Zhao that the intelligence officer was a maritime economic researcher seeking the information for investment decisions.
In exchange for bribes, Zhao allegedly sent the Chinese military officer non-public and controlled operational plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region, which detailed the specific location and timing of Naval force movements, amphibious landings, maritime operations and logistics support.
The indictment further alleges that in exchange for bribes, Zhao also photographed electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.
The intelligence officer allegedly directed Zhao to conceal their relationship and to destroy evidence of the unlawful and corrupt scheme.
In exchange for the sensitive information Zhao provided – information Zhao accessed as a result of his position within the U.S. Navy – the Chinese intelligence officer paid Zhao approximately $14,866, the indictment alleges.
“By sending this sensitive military information to an intelligence officer employed by a hostile foreign state, the defendant betrayed his sacred oath to protect our country and uphold the Constitution,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. “Unlike the vast majority of U.S. Navy personnel who serve the nation with honor, distinction and courage, Mr. Zhao chose to corruptly sell out his colleagues and his country.”
If convicted, Zhao faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The FBI Los Angeles Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division and NCIS investigated the case. IRS Criminal Investigation provided substantial assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Annamartine Salick, Sarah Gerdes, Christine Ro and Kathrynne Seiden of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section for the Central District of California are prosecuting this case. Trial Attorney Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section is providing substantial assistance.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Updated August 3, 2023
Twitter is threatening legal action against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that researches hate speech and content moderation on social media platforms.
The letter from Twitter's lawyers alleges that CCDH's research publications are intended to 'harm Twitter's business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims.'
This is a pretty bold move from Twitter, especially considering that CCDH is a well-respected organization that has been doing this kind of research for years. And it's especially ironic coming from Elon Musk, who has said that he's a 'free speech absolutist.'
But Musk has also shown that he's sensitive to criticism, so it's not surprising that he's taking this kind of action against CCDH
Police in Frisco, Texas held a Black couple at gunpoint and handcuffed their son earlier this month after mistyping their car's license plate into their system, leading them to falsely believe the car the family was driving was stolen.
The incident occurred on July 23 on the Dallas North Tollway as the family drove to a basketball tournament. While running the car's license plate, officers mistakenly told their system the plate was from Arizona. In reality, the family's car had an Arkansas license plate, leading the system to tell the officers the car was stolen, the Frisco Police Department said in a statement.
Body cam footage shows an officer holding the family at gunpoint. Officers ordered the family to show their hands, and commanded the driver to exit the car, face away from the officers, lift up her shirt while spinning to reveal her waistband, and walk backwards.
The woman repeatedly told officers the car belonged to her and even clarified she's from Arkansas, not Arizona, body cam footage from another office shows. The woman became increasingly concerned after seeing officers handcuff her son.
"Please don't let them do that to my baby, this is very traumatizing," she cried. "Why is my baby in cuffs? What are you all doing? Do not treat my baby this way."
After officers realized their mistake, they acknowledged it to the family.
"This was an honest mistake," an officer told one of the boys in the car. Another took responsibility while speaking to the parents: "That's on me."
"We made a mistake," Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said in the department's later statement. "Our department will not hide from its mistakes. "Instead, we will learn from them."
Civil rights attorney David Henderson told The Dallas Morning News he believes officers profiled the family and violated their constitutional rights.
"In cases I've seen involving people of color who have a license to carry, as soon as they alert the police to the fact that they have a weapon, the police change drastically in terms of how they deal with them," he said.
Police in Frisco, Texas held a Black couple at gunpoint and handcuffed their son earlier this month after mistyping their car's license plate into their system, leading them to falsely believe the car the family was driving was stolen.
The incident occurred on July 23 on the Dallas North Tollway as the family drove to a basketball tournament. While running the car's license plate, officers mistakenly told their system the plate was from Arizona. In reality, the family's car had an Arkansas license plate, leading the system to tell the officers the car was stolen, the Frisco Police Department said in a statement.
Body cam footage shows an officer holding the family at gunpoint. Officers ordered the family to show their hands, and commanded the driver to exit the car, face away from the officers, lift up her shirt while spinning to reveal her waistband, and walk backwards.
The woman repeatedly told officers the car belonged to her and even clarified she's from Arkansas, not Arizona, body cam footage from another office shows. The woman became increasingly concerned after seeing officers handcuff her son.
"Please don't let them do that to my baby, this is very traumatizing," she cried. "Why is my baby in cuffs? What are you all doing? Do not treat my baby this way."
After officers realized their mistake, they acknowledged it to the family.
"This was an honest mistake," an officer told one of the boys in the car. Another took responsibility while speaking to the parents: "That's on me."
"We made a mistake," Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said in the department's later statement. "Our department will not hide from its mistakes. "Instead, we will learn from them."
Civil rights attorney David Henderson told The Dallas Morning News he believes officers profiled the family and violated their constitutional rights.
"In cases I've seen involving people of color who have a license to carry, as soon as they alert the police to the fact that they have a weapon, the police change drastically in terms of how they deal with them," he said.
The flight out of China marked the end of a harrowing ordeal for the Taiwanese businessman who had been held in the country for more than 1,400 days.
"I felt a huge relief after going through the passport check, and I cried a little," he told the BBC this week. "I have returned to the free world."
Mr Lee was arrested and jailed in 2019 after he snapped pictures of police officers in Shenzhen. He was accused of espionage and stealing state secrets - a charge he now denies.
He was released from jail in July 2021, but was prevented from leaving China as he was "deprived of political rights".
It is rare for Beijing to impose this penalty, which includes an exit ban, on convicts who are not mainland Chinese nationals. Activists say that Mr Lee's Taiwanese identity may have prompted authorities to make a political point, amid escalating tensions.
Taiwan regards itself as a self-ruled island, distinct from mainland China, with its own laws and democratically elected leader.
However, China sees island as a breakaway province that will eventually be brought under Beijing's control, by force if necessary.
China and Taiwan: A really simple guide What's behind China-Taiwan tensions? Like the thousands of Taiwanese who do business in China, Mr Lee visited the country on a work trip in August 2019. At the time he was working for a tech company.
He was no stranger to China, as he previously worked and lived in the eastern city of Suzhou, and also travelled to mainland China about twice a year.
When he visited tensions were running high because Hong Kong was engulfed in the most widespread pro-democracy protests it had ever seen. Almost every weekend, the city saw increasingly violent clashes between the police and protesters.
Curious and sympathetic to the protesters' cause, Mr Lee made a brief detour to Hong Kong, where he watched a rally from the sidelines and passed out pamphlets with messages of support. Then, he went to neighbouring Shenzhen in mainland China to meet a colleague.
At that time, hundreds of armed police officers gathered and armoured vehicles were on display at a stadium in Shenzhen. Many were worried that Beijing would send in these forces to quell the protests in Hong Kong.
The businessman spotted the activity from his hotel room window, so he walked over to the stadium and took some photos. He said there were no warning signs and he didn't cross the police cordon. Many others were also photographing the scene, he said.
Mr Lee denies he was spying. "I am only a curious passer-by… if it really were some state secret, how could everything be seen from a hotel?"
The Shenzhen gathering of police forces was photographed by many people, including news agencies When he was departing Shenzhen, ten video cameras he was transporting back to Taiwan for his business caught the attention of airport officials.
They stopped him to search his luggage and his phone, and found his pamphlets as well as the photos of police forces at the Shenzhen stadium.
National security officers then brought him to a hotel to undergo "residential surveillance at a designated location". For 72 days, he was not allowed to leave his room and watched by three people every day. He wasn't allowed to watch TV, read newspapers, open the curtains or even speak.
"I was actually looking forward to their questioning every day, or otherwise no one was willing to speak to me,"Mr Lee said. "Every day I had nothing to do so I just cleaned the floor, under the bed and the ceiling. It was painful."
Activists say Beijing often uses this secretive and arbitrary form of detention against those accused of national security offences. They can be held for months without trial.
Mr Lee was then whisked off to a detention centre, and only resurfaced months later.
He appeared on state broadcaster CCTV saying he felt sorry for "doing some harm to the motherland".
Mr Lee told the BBC he apologised in the hopes that he would be released as soon as possible. "You couldn't be bothered by things like dignity."
But soon after, he went on trial and was sentenced to one year and ten months in jail for "foreign espionage and illegally sending state secrets".
Chinese state media ran extensive reports about his case, alleging he had taken the pictures of the Shenzhen stadium to send to Taiwanese groups.
They also cited the fact that he had studied in the US and was a member of Taiwanese non-governmental organisations to allege he was a Taiwan independence activist, which Mr Lee denies.
Mr Lee served his sentence in a Guangdong jail, where he was crammed into a small cell with 15 other prisoners. But for him, prison was an improvement from residential surveillance - at least he had company.
He was put to work in a production line and had to wrap computer cables every day. If they failed to finish their tasks on time, they would be physically punished, he said.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office has not responded to the BBC's questions. The BBC has not been able to independently verify all of Mr Lee's claims, but his account of his time in detention is similar to those shared by other detainees.
Taiwan sees MeToo outpouring after Netflix show How China calibrates its Taiwan response During his trial Mr Lee had been sentenced to "deprivation of political rights". At the time he did not give it too much thought, he said, as he did not see himself as a Chinese citizen in the first place.
But a month before his scheduled release, he was shocked to find out that he couldn't leave the mainland for another two years.
Yaqiu Wang of Human Rights Watch said that in Mr Lee's case, "the Chinese government wanted to make a point that he's a Chinese citizen".
It is difficult to ascertain the number of Taiwan-linked individuals arrested in China for national security offences. However, it is "reasonable" to assume the number is increasing amid worsening relations between Beijing and Taipei, she said.
In April, Taiwan-based publisher Fucha, who often printed books critical of Beijing, was held for an investigation for endangering national security. Earlier that month, Taiwanese activist Yang Chih-yuan was charged with secession.
The difference in the Chinese authorities' treatment of Mr Lee compared to previous cases may also be a sign that they are getting tougher on Taiwanese detainees.
Kuwait announced this week that it will print thousands of copies of the Quran in Swedish to be distributed in the Nordic country, calling it an effort to educate the Swedish people on Islamic "values of coexistence." The plan was announced after the desecration of a Quran during a one-man anti-Islam protest that Swedish police authorized in Stockholm last month.
Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said the Public Authority for Public Care would print and distribute 100,000 translated copies of the Muslim holy book in Sweden, to "affirm the tolerance of the Islamic religion and promote values of coexistence among all human beings," according to the country's state news agency Kuna.
On June 28, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi Christian who had sought asylum in Sweden on religious grounds, stood outside the Stockholm Central Mosque and threw a copy of the Quran into the air and burned some of its pages.
The stunt came on the first day of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most important festivals on the Islamic calendar, and it triggered anger among Muslims worldwide. Protests were held in many Muslim nations, including Iraq, where hundreds of angry demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy compound.
CBS News sought comment from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Kuwaiti government's announcement, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.
The U.S. State Department condemned the desecration of the Quran in Stockholm, but said Swedish authorities were right to authorize the small protest where it occurred.
"We believe that demonstration creates an environment of fear that will impact the ability of Muslims and members of other religious minority groups from freely exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief in Sweden," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. "We also believe that issuing the permit for this demonstration supports freedom of expression and is not an endorsement of the demonstration's actions."
The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning the burning of the Quran as an act of religious hatred. The U.S. and a handful of European nations voted against the resolution, which was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), arguing that it contradicts their perspectives on human rights and freedom of expression.
Chromecast has been one of those smaller hardware products that have brought about a meaningful experience upgrade. The first Chromecast solved the pain point of clunky TV software interfaces, making it easier to locate content on your handy smartphone and then play it on your big-screen TV. However, a Court in the US has ruled that Google has infringed upon patents with its Chromecast products and that it should pay $338.7 million in damages because of it.
A Western District of Texas jury has ruled that Google has violated three patents held by a company called Touchstream Technologies, as reported by ArsTechnica. The complaint points to several Chromecast products, including the Chromecast Ultra, the Chromecast with Google TV, and other Chromecast-integrated products.
The first patent application in this complaint was filed in April 2011. The three patents relate to “a system for presenting and controlling content on a display device.”
Further, the complaint claims that Touchstream met with Google in December 2011 but was told that the tech giant wasn’t interested in partnering with it in February 2012. For reference, the first generation Google Chromecast was released in 2013. The latest Chromecast with Google TV (HD) was launched in September 2022, while the 4K variant was launched earlier in September 2020.
Chromecast with Google TV HD box 2 Google opposed the complaint, arguing that the patents are “hardly foundational and do not cover every method of selecting content on a personal device and watching it on another screen.” Further, the Chromecast is said to differ in technologies detailed in Touchstream’s patents.
The jury agreed with Touchstream’s allegations and ordered the company to pay $338.7 million in damages for its patent violations.
Google intends to appeal this decision, as mentioned by their spokesperson in their statement to ArsTechnica.
You no longer need to try a beta to stream Android apps on your Chromebook. Google has released a Chrome OS M115 update that makes Android app streaming available to many more people. If you have Phone Hub enabled, you can run an Android app directly from your mobile device rather than installing it on the computer. The update allows you to reply to a message or check your lunch delivery without the distraction of reaching for your handset.
The feature is still limited to a handful of Android 13-capable phones from Google and Xiaomi. From Google, you'll need a Pixel 4a or later. Xiaomi fans, meanwhile, need at least a 12T. Both your Chromebook and phone must be on the same WiFi network and physically close by. Some networks might not support the feature, but you can use Chrome OS' Instant Tethering to establish a link if need be.
As during the beta, you won't want to use app streaming for games or other intensive Android apps. This is more for responding to notifications than any serious commitment — you'll still want to install apps for that. It gives Chromebooks some of the phone integration you find in macOS and Windows, though, and may help you stay focused while you work.
The M115 upgrade also lets you sign PDF documents and save signatures to use later. Google has also redesigned the keyboard-oriented Shortcut app with a new interface and easier in-app search.
While I agree with everything you say, my ancestors' generational trauma can still be seen today, and nothing has changed. We are supposed to take the moral high ground, but time and time again, nothing changes. The one thing I cannot agree with is the concept that some of these people have redeemable qualities. That being said, they were dubbed the Goon Squad, which means they are one of these off-the-rails "tactical" task forces that can and do anything to get the results they want. This mirrors the Scorpion Squad that beat that man to death, where they took pictures of his bloodied, unrecognizable body to their friends. I hate to say it, but cases like this are not new or uncommon. The only difference is that we have ways to expose the atrocities of our so-called civil servants, since we control the flow of information outside of the mainstream media to an extent. I have so many conflicting thoughts on how to best deal with monsters like these but I guess I can't disagree with your thoughts.