Reading list
Shortform reading
This is an incomplete list of the shortform reading (and listening and watching) I’ve been doing lately.
The Case for Leaving Protesters Be
Coercive force will not make anybody happy because it will not accomplish anyone's goals, even those who most want to see the protesters gone.
#free-speech · #israel–palestine-conflict · #policing · #protests
Near Milwaukee, the lives of landlord Todd Brunner and tenant Angelica Belen intersect in a house that catches fire. What came before and after shows there's one kind of justice for those who own and another for those who rent.
Universal Basic TSA (Podcast)
Use of Controversial Phone-Cracking Tool Is Spreading Across Federal Government
Cellebrite's extensive federal sales come as another Israeli phone-spying firm, NSO Group, falls under federal sanctions.
- Morris writes about decades of misogyny and abusive behavior within radical leftist organizations, and about how some of the men responsible for it have been infiltrators and informants.
#anti-fascism · #feminism · #gender · #policing · #race
The new warrant: how US police mine Google for your location and search history
Police are increasingly issuing warrants for geofence location data—location data used by companies like Google to return results relevant to their physical location. Bhuiyan describes an incident in which a man's user data was being requested by law enforcement because he had gone on a bike ride with his phone in his pocket, in an area where a burglary had occurred. These are reverse search warrants, where police specify a location and ask for individuals meeting those criteria (rather than a traditional warrant, which applies to an individual). Law enforcement are also increasingly using reverse warrants based on keyword searches, where they ask for lists of individuals who performed specific searches. Some privacy experts and lawyers have argued these broad warrants are similar to general warrants, which were prohibited by the fourth amendment.Making the Subway Safer With Fewer Police
A recent report from a NYC transit think tank argues that heavy police presence on public transit has exacerbated issues of racism in policing, and is not the best way to promote public safety. The report argues that police should deprioritize enforcing low-level offenses like fare evasion and public sleeping, and increase unarmed personnel to offer aid for those who are unhoused or experiencing mental health issues. According to the report, 90% of people arrested for fare-related offenses by the NYPD from October 2017 to June 2019 were people of color. Furthermore, officers in the NYPD testified they were told to focus on Black and brown fare evaders, and ignore those who were white or Asian.Attorneys for woman in Winston Smith's car say she did not see him with a gun
On June 3, law enforcement killed Winston Boogie Smith, a 32-year-old Black man, after alleging he drew a gun on them while they were attempting to arrest him on a warrant. This description of events has been contradicted by a woman who was in the car with him, who said she had never seen a gun on Smith or in his car. The incident is complicated by the fact that the warrant was served by U.S. Marshals assisted by local law enforcement, who were not allowed to use body cameras or dashcams while making the arrest, a policy which has been changed in the aftermath of Smith's death.