10.03.25 Security News Bites
10.03.25 Security News Bites
Flock Surveillance Camera Network CEO Says Privacy is Not his Problem
Flock Safety is the operator of a nationwide network of surveillance cameras that read and correlate license plates wherever they may be. Cops and pretty much anyone else whose check clears can participate. The feds use it to track people they want to track, cities use it for their purposes as well. Even HOAs use it. Houston police, for example, logged tens of thousands of searches last year. No warrant required. Flock blocks interstate sharing in states like California where that is illegal. Flock CEO Garrett Langley says that ultimately, how the data is used and shared is not his responsibility. Credit: Flock
Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) Blocked Bill To Extend Privacy Protections That Congress Critters Have to All Americans
Senator Ron Wyden tried to pass the Protecting Americans for Doxing and Political Violence Act, which would help protect ordinary people from violence, stalking and other criminal threats. Senator Cruz blocked the bill passing by unanimous consent. Wyden said that Congress people should not receive special treatment, but apparently, Cruz, who is already protected a another federal that only protects federal officials, doesn’t think you deserve those protections. He made up some lie about sexual predators to justify blocking the bill. Credit: Tech Crunch
FCC Agrees to Move Forward to Allow Cell Phone Jamming in (SC) Prisons
I haven’t seen the actual order yet so I don’t know if this is nationwide, but contraband cell phones in prisons is a problem. A really big problem, so I don’t think it is a bad thing for prisons to be able to jam them. Since prisons are not directly next to homes, it is likely this will have zero effect outside the walls and it will give prisons another tool to make things safer. There is a downside in that once these devices become commercially available, no matter what they try, they will be available to the bad guys as well. Credit: Route-Fifty
DoJ and DHS Lost Their Authority to Mitigate Drone Threats
Not related to the budget bill, but timed to coincide with the end of the government’s fiscal year, DHS and DoJ lost their authority to mitigate drone threats. Knowing this administration they will likely continue to do whatever they want, but, if challenged in court, they will lose since they have no legal basis anymore to do anything to mitigate drone threats. Hopefully, they will fix this once they figure out how to actually run the government. Credit: Route Fifty
Administration Sued Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Price Tag
The work visa program has been plagued with abuse and fraud forever. The H-1B visa is supposedly for jobs where there are no people in the US who can fill them. Instead companies use them as a supply of cheap labor from third world countries. Another high profile example was the EB-1 that Melania Knaus came to the US with. These are reserved, supposedly, for immigrants with “extraordinary ability” and “sustained national and international acclaim”. So the administration is taking a small step to clamp down on some of the abuse by making the cost of the visa commensurate with the supposed value of the position. If the person filling the H-1B visa is super skilled and unavailable in the US then the price tag might be reasonable. Of course, the administration is being sued, so stay tuned on this one. Credit: BBC and Cybernews
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