Cannabis market saw 30% growth in 2016, bigger than dot-com era. Forbes

The third such arrest since he became a cop.  Copblock

Despite being banned in the Big Apple. Reason

Twitter restricts law enforcement fusion centers from accessing bulk user data

Keeping our civil liberties in the age of digital surveillance

How to resist the Trump-controlled Surveillance State

What the drug war could look like under President Trump

Phillipine President Duterte apologizes for “unintended killings” in the midst of his murderous drug war. 6,000 people have been murdered since he took office in June of 2016.

Also, Duterte’s murder-spree has orphaned around 18,000 kids

Why does the EPA have it’s own SWAT teams?

54% of Americans say police using military weapons goes too far

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.