Links

Supreme Court to weigh in on landmark cell phone privacy case

Privacy advocates want to revamp FISA

Judge who once ruled against NSA metadata program tosses lawsuit

Homeland Security deploys Stingray surveillance device hundreds of times per year

The opioid crisis is becoming the fentanyl crisis: 1800% rise in overdose deaths from the synthetic opioid

Death toll of Indonesian drug war continues to rise

Mexico homicides in 2017 surpass those from 2016

Drug War is fueling Mexico’s violence: Mexico is losing the drug war

Saudi Arabia continues to blockade Yemen’s ports, despite earlier pledge 

Pat Buchanan: The US-Saudi Starvation Blockade

America, smoking less but getting fatter

NYT: An American Spy Base Hidden in Australia’s Outback

Elon Musk: AI will destroy mankind

Water companies still using divining rods

US planned phony Soviet attacks to provide pretext for strike against Russia

 

Overnight odds and ends

The privacy threat from Big Tech

Plant Spies: DARPA’s plan to create organic surveillance sensors

Wireless surveillance systems market to expand significantly by 2024

Privacy case before the Supreme Court is about press freedom, too

NSA section 702 Q&A glosses over incidental collection problems, domestic surveillance

121 pieces of malware flagged on NSA employee’s home computer

US Sleepwalking into Renewing Vast NSA Surveillance Law

BoingBoing: Uber admits it breached 57,000,000 accounts, then bribed the hackers to cover it up, now they’re paying a top ex-NSA lawyer to teach them transparency

New NSA breach “worse than Snowden”

Facial recognition tech coming to an airport near you

A terrifying vision of the future

NextBigFuture:Weaponized drones vs. anti-drone systems

Gazette Times: Oregon State University researcher developing robot swarms

And a few month-olds, but still all-too-relevant:

GNC: Laying the foundation for drone swarms

Motherboard Vice: Pentagon wants drone ‘swarms’ to support infantry

I have a bad feeling that this tech will develop as rapidly as the smartphone, with the near future resembling something like drone swarm from the Doctor Who episode, ‘Smile’.

Using CBD at work suddenly sounds amazing

After reading this article from GQ: CBD is the Drug You Can Do at Work:

“Regular weed has a twofold effect, thanks to the compounds THC and CBD. The former is the psychoactive component of marijuana, which accounts for euphoria, lethargy, the munchies, and the rest. CBD is the other, mellowing part of the high. It’s been a breakthrough ingredient for muscle pain for that very reason. Studies have noted that, when ingested, antipsychotic properties are linked to mood stabilization and the treatment of anxiety. Lord Jones offers both CBD gummies (legal everywhere) and CBD-plus-THC gummies (legal in California if you’ve got one of those cards). I can’t say if I have tried the latter, though they sound like they would be very fun to bring to an outdoor fall picnic, to share with friends. You guys will probably have a good time, and one of you might laugh so hard that wine spews from your nose. I don’t know; I can’t say.

My CBD gummies, meanwhile, live in the top drawer of my desk. When I take one, I feel slightly but markedly better. My chair feels like it is mangling my body less. It’s harder to make a fist. It’s easier to navigate an hour or two of bullshit, which means it’s easier to do my job. It doesn’t matter if anybody notices that I am 10% more pleasant, because I feel 10% more pleasant, anyway.”

The writer uses CBD gummies made by Lord Jones, and by God, I’m going to order some.

 

Mexican cartels are making a fortune on heroin in the US

Thanks to skyrocketing demand for opiates in some form here, the Sinaloa drug cartel is making a fortune supplying heroin in the United States.

Business Insider: Mexican heroin is flooding the US, and the Sinaloa Cartel is steering the flow

The article points out that the cartels have moved away from marijuana as a cash crop due to the broad legalization that the plant has experienced in the US.

Another wonderful side effect of the US drug war? Potency, purity of drugs reaching ever higher levels

Links

The Good, the Bad, and the Unspeakably Ugly: A Reason Surveillance Reform Bill Primer

Also, Reason’s Holiday Guide to Surveillance Reform Legislation.

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act in action

Could the smart city be the death of privacy?

Forcepoint predicts security threats and privacy wars for 2018

Should we reassess body cameras based on latest study?

EFF: Why we’re helping The Stranger unseal electronic surveillance records

Everyone’s personal data is for sale in China

Privacy matters, even if you think it doesn’t

Germany bans children’s smartwatches over privacy concerns

Ron Paul: Why are we helping Saudi Arabia destroy Yemen?

Thousands will die daily if Saudi Arabia doesn’t lift blockade, says new survey

Opium production has set another record in Afghanistan

Oklahoma medical cannabis campaign wants a June 2018 vote