Politico. Too much to hope for from Obama, unfortunately, given his unprecedented war on whistleblowers.

Police commander whose emails supposedly cannot be retrieved(Hillary’s case proves that almost anything can be recovered) resigned after spy plane program became public knowledge. Baltimore Sun

Google publishes eight National Security Letters to earn users’ trust. Eight, but how many remain secret?

US police have killed 1058 people in 2016, according to The Guardian’s project, The Counted

There’s been no change in teen marijuana use in Colorado following legalization

British counsels use sweeping surveillance powers to snoop on illegal pigeon feeding, barking dogs

Facebook doesn’t tell users everything it knows about them 

Trump urged to launch warrantless surveillance against Muslims, by, of course, Rep. Steve King

In a nice chart. Things really pick up around 1955.

From Cato: “The laudable goal of increasing accountability in law enforcement could lead to increased surveillance. Perhaps nothing illustrates this danger better than the merger of body camera and facial recognition technology, something some body camera manufactures have already achieved. Strict policies on facial recognition being used on body camera data are not in place at any of the major police departments that either are or soon will be equipping officers with the cameras. This is especially concerning at a time when body cameras are very popular with the American public. But, with restrictions in place, it is possible to increase police accountability while protecting privacy.”

The only solution appears to be complete oversight of body cam use, with a firewall in place between body cameras and facial recognition tech.

With all the surveillance toys available to police these days, civilian oversight committees must be created to establish complete oversight on their use and abuse.

Russia won’t expel US diplomats in response to expulsion of Russia’s diplomats from US soil and new sanctions

Obama’s attempt to tie Trump’s hands over Russia before he leaves office may backfire.

When those cameras tie into a real-time facial recognition database.  An officer becomes a de facto, walking, real-time surveillance tower. NBC News

Police body cams are an unequivocal good.  When cops know they are being filmed, they behave better.  The problems with implementation, though, appear to be how easily the cop can turn the camera on or off, what the punishment is for not activating the camera before an incident, and whether the cameras further the aims of total surveillance.  The solution seems to be to take away control of the body cam from the cop, and severe the connection between the cameras and facial recognition surveillance.  In the end, it may still be up to private citizens to take the initiative and film police encounters.

GovTech. The Stingray mimics an actual cell tower, so all phones in the vicinity link to it.  Besides the obvious problem of warrantless, mass surveillance, if someone needs to place an emergency phone call, that call might not go through the Stingray, placing innocent lives in danger.  While some of the devices do allow 911 calls to pass through, most non-emergency calls do not.

“It’s hard to know with certainty how many innocent cellphone users have experienced jamming due to police use of cell-site simulators. Federal restrictions on information about their use prevents collecting such details.”

The article notes that 68 gov’t agencies are running around with these $40,000 spy tools.  The FBI alone uses 194 of these cell-site simulators.

It seems that the eagerness to acquire more powerful spy goodies outstrips law enforcements’ ability or desire to control their use.

The kind that the Establishment peddles, anyway.  Pat Buchanan explains.

New York Post.  A big thorn in the side of the political class, one that they would refuse to admit exists, is the easy access to alternative opinion pieces, rather than news per se.  A good skewering by a skilled writer over corroborated facts, cranked out on a daily basis, can inflict quite a bit of damage. How do they propose to regulate that?