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#policestate

6 posts5 participants0 posts today
Continued thread
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

In a story that's not really making many waves in the US media because transphobia, transmisogyny, and hating incarcerated people are all bipartisan establishment positions, the Trump administration is also transferring incarcerated trans women to men's prisons; despite the fact that it's both illegal, and multiple judges have issued restraining orders to prevent the regime from doing so:

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s order

"Transgender women incarcerated in the US prison system have been transferred to men’s facilities under Donald Trump’s executive order, despite multiple court rulings blocking the president’s policy, according to civil rights lawyers and accounts from behind bars.

Trump’s day-one “gender ideology” order, one of several sweeping attacks on trans rights, said the attorney general “shall ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers” and that no federal funds go to gender-affirming treatment or procedures for people in custody.

The executive order was quickly challenged in court. In three lawsuits filed on behalf of trans women housed in women’s prisons, federal judges have ruled that the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) cannot withhold their medical treatment and was barred from moving them to men’s facilities. One judge said the plaintiffs had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm will follow."

Lawyers fighting Trump’s directive say the court rulings prevented the transfers of 17 trans women who are plaintiffs in the cases, but others not included in the litigation are now facing placements in men’s facilities."

In case you're missing the shell game going on here, the Trump administration is pretending that only the 17 specific trans women mentioned in the cases to block this cruel fuckery are covered, while simply going ahead to target other trans women who are not specifically mentioned in the court orders. Not only is this an abnormal, malicious violation of the spirit of the judge's orders, but it's also literally straight up illegal:

"Prisons are required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (Prea), a longstanding federal law, to screen incarcerated people for sexual assault risk and consider LGBTQ+ status when making housing decisions. Legal experts say Trump’s blanket policy of housing trans women in men’s facilities clearly violates Prea."

This is a hard story to read, because it demonstrates a pattern of pointless, wonton cruelty towards trans women by Trump's Bureau of Prisons; in addition to moving trans women to men only facilities that put them in very real danger, the BOP has also issued *orders* for guards to deadname prisoners and use incorrect pronouns, change their gender markers on official forms, deny requests for gender appropriate clothing, and to allow male guards to pat down trans women prisoners. Furthermore because this administration (and some would say, American society) hates trans women more than they like ice cream, nobody is making any effort here to prevent abuses that would seemingly go even beyond Trump's fascist executive order. There are already reports of male guards "groping" trans women prisoners, prison officials seizing the bras and underwear of trans women prisoners like they were contraband, threats to force detransition incarcerated trans women by denying their hormone therapy, and even one report of a woman who had gender-affirming surgeries before her incarceration, being moved to a men's prison. As one lawyer noted, this "is essentially sanctioning sexual assault in some instances."

Of course, given that trans people represent a microscopic minority inside the U.S. population, and 17 trans women are being protected by temporary restraining orders, only a small number of trans women are subject to what I'd describe as a form of psychological torture and the constant threat of violence; perhaps that's why the US political and media establishment in the "opposition" doesn't care, rather than their well established indifference towards trans lives, if not outright transphobia. I would however argue that the fact that the Trump administration is plowing ahead to target such a small number of trans women demonstrates that this isn't about safety or the rule of law; the cruelty is indeed the point, and a Trump regime that cares little about malnourished children, seniors living check to check on social security, or American workers, is clearly prepared to move heaven and earth to make existence so intolerable for trans women that they simply stop existing.

The Guardian · Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s orderBy Sam Levin
#Fascism#Trump#PoliceState
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"The Anchorage Police Department (APD) has concluded its three-month trial of Axon’s Draft One, an AI system that uses audio from body-worn cameras to write narrative police reports for officers—and has decided not to retain the technology. Axon touts this technology as “force multiplying,” claiming it cuts in half the amount of time officers usually spend writing reports—but APD disagrees.

The APD deputy chief told Alaska Public Media, “We were hoping that it would be providing significant time savings for our officers, but we did not find that to be the case.” The deputy chief flagged that the time it took officers to review reports cut into the time savings from generating the report. The software translates the audio into narrative, and officers are expected to read through the report carefully to edit it, add details, and verify it for authenticity. Moreover, because the technology relies on audio from body-worn cameras, it often misses visual components of the story that the officer then has to add themselves."

eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/anch

Electronic Frontier Foundation · Anchorage Police Department: AI-Generated Police Reports Don’t Save TimeThe Anchorage Police Department (APD) has concluded its three-month trial of Axon’s Draft One, an AI system that uses audio from body-worn cameras to write narrative police reports for officers—and has decided not to retain the technology. Axon touts this technology as “force multiplying,” claiming...
#USA#Alaska#Anchorage
Replied to AnarchoNinaAnalyzes
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The_Caretaker

@AnarchoNinaAnalyzes
The US government pays Core Civic, a privately owned prison corporation, over $4,300 a month to keep ICE detainees. A disabled veteran with a 100% disability rating gets paid about $4,100 a month. It would only cost about $1000 to send most of the ICE detainees back to their country of origin on a commercial flight. The government could get a discount by buying in bulk. But the oligarchs who own the prisons wouldn't get all that tax money. #Oligarchy #PoliceState #Anarchism

Continued thread
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

And just what does that rapid expansion of the fascist police state look like even in the infancy of the Trump administration? As this March 9th piece published on Truthout notes, it's already a fascist nightmare where migrants are kept in inhumane conditions and their human rights are routinely violated in violent, even lethal ways - and Downmarket Mussolini's regime is only getting started:

truthout.org/articles/as-mass-

As Mass Incarceration of Immigrants Rises, Detention Centers Eye New Contracts

"That crisis is set to grow as detention expansion continues. Last week, ICE signed a $1 billion, 15-year contract with the private prison company GEO Group to reopen an empty jailhouse in Newark to incarcerate up to 1,000 immigration prisoners at a time, the first large detention expansion under Trump’s crackdown.

GEO Group pushed hard for the contract and sued New Jersey in 2024 to successfully overturn a state law originally supported by racial justice activists that banned private companies from contracting with ICE to house immigrants. Now, GEO Group reportedly has plans to increase the facility’s capacity to incarcerate people and potentially generate an additional $500 to $600 million in annual profit. The company has faced multiple lawsuits after immigrants were subjected to what attorneys describe as underpaid and forced labor. Most recently, a federal court upheld a ruling requiring GEO Group to pay $23 million in damages after the company paid ICE detainees $1 a day for labor at a detention center in Tacoma, Washington."

Like most honest reporting about America's horrifying migrant carceral complex, this is a hard story to read for folks who aren't already familiar with the cruelty, depravity, and casual disregard for human life with which Americans conduct their one-sided war on migrants. The testimony from formerly-incarcerated individuals provided in just this single story should be enough for most people to understand that this has nothing to do with so-called responsible policing, or keeping anyone safe, while the dollar figures involved make it clear that broadly speaking the US government is heavily-funding a whole lot of odious people in the business of torturing migrants for profit. Furthermore, as Trump works to expand the hunting, detention, and deportation of migrants, the piles of money, flow of human rights violations, and atrocities committed in the name of protecting Americans from the lady who works at your local nail salon, will only expand correspondingly.

Chain link fences and razor wire at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on February 28, 2025. The for-profit, privately run detention facility is getting a contract from the federal government to reopen as a federal immigration processing and detention center.
Truthout · As Mass Incarceration of Immigrants Rises, Detention Centers Eye New ContractsOne attorney warns of a “humanitarian crisis” in detention centers as a jail notorious for abuse reopens to ICE.
#Fascism#PoliceState#Trump
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio also got in on the act, tweeting that the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

Supporters? By declining to allege any kind of material support to Hamas, Rubio is saying that any speech the government considers “support” is enough to get you a visit from ICE.

I’m not a lawyer, but the law seems pretty clear that a green card holder can only be deported if they violate rules relating to their status, conduct a serious crime, or commit espionage, terrorist, or pose a “threat” to “national security.” That’s a huge and vague category, national security. An accusation of being anti-American and posing a threat to national security can be levied against even citizens who are exercising their first Amendment rights. That’s what could be next."

kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-is

Ken Klippenstein · Trump Is Coming After Legal Residents. Are Citizens Next?By Ken Klippenstein
#USA#Trump#PoliceState
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"The above terms appeared in government memos, in official and unofficial agency guidance and in other documents viewed by The New York Times. Some ordered the removal of these words from public-facing websites, or ordered the elimination of other materials (including school curricula) in which they might be included.

In other cases, federal agency managers advised caution in the terms’ usage without instituting an outright ban. Additionally, the presence of some terms was used to automatically flag for review some grant proposals and contracts that could conflict with Mr. Trump’s executive orders.

The list is most likely incomplete. More agency memos may exist than those seen by New York Times reporters, and some directives are vague or suggest what language might be impermissible without flatly stating it.

All presidential administrations change the language used in official communications to reflect their own policies. It is within their prerogative, as are amendments to or the removal of web pages, which The Times has found has already happened thousands of times in this administration.

Still, the words and phrases listed here represent a marked — and remarkable — shift in the corpus of language being used both in the federal government’s corridors of power and among its rank and file. They are an unmistakable reflection of this administration’s priorities."

nytimes.com/interactive/2025/0

The New York Times · The Words Federal Agencies Are Discouraged From Using Under TrumpBy Karen Yourish
#USA#Trump#DEI
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"The Trump administration may soon demand the social media accounts of people applying for green cards, US citizenship, and asylum or refugee status. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — the federal agency that oversees legal migration, proposed the new policy in the Federal Register this week — calling this information “necessary for a rigorous vetting and screening” of all people applying for “immigration-related benefits.”

In its Federal Register notice, USCIS said the proposed social media surveillance policy is needed to comply with President Trump’s “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” executive order, issued on his first day in office. That order requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other government agencies to “identify all resources that may be used to ensure that all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or who are already in the United States, are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”"

theverge.com/policy/624945/tru

Illustration of the seal for the US Department of Homeland Security on a red and tan background.
The Verge · The Trump administration wants to review all prospective citizens’ social media accountsBy Gaby Del Valle
#USA#Trump#USCIS
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

So uh, what stage of "you can't call it fascism!"TM is it when Downmarket Mussolini sends the immigration Gestapo that pretty much answers to only him, to unlawfully arrest student protest leaders who are legally in the country, and disappear them into the labyrinth of the American migrant carceral complex?

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

Ice arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia protests, lawyer says

"Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned apartment, blocks from the private Ivy League university’s main campus in New York when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press.

One of the agents told Greer by phone that they were executing a state department order to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil, who graduated last December, was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that too, according to the lawyer.

The arrest comes as Donald Trump vows to deport foreign students and imprison “agitators” involved in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza."

As the story goes on to mention, Khalil, who is Palestinian, is in the United States on a legally-issued Green Card, which cannot be revoked by either ICE Gestapo pigs or our fascist State Department without the order of an immigration judge; which makes this an unlawful arrest and detention. What the story doesn't discuss however is that Khalil's wife, who is eight months pregnant, is an American citizen. I mention these things not because it would somehow be "okay" for the fascist Trump regime to snatch up a student leader for the (not illegal) "crime" of protesting a genocide if he only had a student visa, or his wife wasn't a U.S. Citizen, but to point out that clearly the administration and its security forces do not give a flying fuck about any of the rules they're violating or laws they're breaking to punish dissent. Furthermore, reports posted on social media by a person identifying themselves as Khalil's lawyer, indicate that the Department of Homeland Security has *already* moved Mahmoud, possibly as far as Georgia, and thus he does not have access to legal representation. If this were Middle Eastern country with oil reserves, our establishment would rightfully note that the regime has thus effectively "disappeared" what amounts to a political prisoner.

Folks, I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but like I've been telling you (even long before Trump was re-elected) the fact is that fascists don't give a fuck about the laws, rules, or standard operating procedures. If the law can be used to justify seizing power, eliminating civil rights, and punishing enemies they're happy to employ it. But if not, they'll replace or simply ignore any rule that gets in the way of the attempts to purge the opposition and transform society into the full on fascist dictatorship of their dreams. You don't get to let this one slide because "he's not an American," you don't care about Gaza, or you've been taught to hate student protestors by your media and the larger ruling class establishment. If Americans (including the nominal opposition in the US establishment) stand by and watch this happen to folks like Mahmoud Khalil, then it is an absolute historical certainty that it is only a matter of time before Trump is sending jackbooted thugs after anyone who won't goosestep along with the fascist order - and that includes figures in our complicit media and political classes. A whole bunch of affluent liberals have spent the past couple of years tossing around historical warnings about how Nazism and the Holocaust happened in Germany; now its time to prove you understand the lessons those words were trying to teach you about resisting the slide into overt fascism before it goes far enough that you can no longer stop it - because I assure you, if you tolerate this then (you and) your children *will* be next.

The Guardian · Ice arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia protests, lawyer saysBy Guardian staff reporter
#Fascism#Trump#ICE
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"Police have used drones and robots over the years for purposes ranging from getting an eye-in-the-sky view of accidents to remotely tear-gassing a hard-to-reach suspect. Many anticipate police use of robot and drone technologies to increase.

Most police departments lack policies and standards around acceptable use of drones and robots, says Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

A policy framework from New York University Law School’s Policing Project offers recommended guidance for setting limits and safeguards on use of such tools."

governing.com/policy/the-risin

Spot the Robot Police Dog
Governing · The Rising Call for Regulating Police RobotsPolice have increasingly adopted drones and ground robots to supplement their work. But departments often lack clear policies on the tools’ uses.
#USA#PoliceState#PoliceRobots
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

I might have to post about this again if and when Trump actually signs the order, but I wanted to highlight this Guardian post because White House staff secretary Will Scharf really goes out of his way to give away the whole fascist game of Calvinball going on here.

This is fascist ideological policing 101 and yet another example of the crass word games these nazis are using to create a fascist dictatorship in America. Scharf openly admits that it's NOT just criminal activity the regime intends to target, but literally "what *we* would consider to be improper activities" - and by we, he means the fascist Trump administration of course. Furthermore Scharf goes on the clarify the government intends to prevent student loan forgiveness for federal employees that "support" illegal immigration and foreign terrorist organizations, and as we just discussed yesterday "support" is a nebulous term that means whatever the fascists want it to mean, and by pre-emptively declaring anyone who opposes Israel's genocide in Gaza to be "pro-Hamas" the regime has the ability to accuse anyone protesting a genocide funded, armed, and supported by the American empire, of "supporting foreign terrorist organizations." Have you posted criticism of Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza online? Have you publicly objected to cruel ICE raids targeting hard-working migrants and their children? Then these fascist assholes literally mean people like you when they're discussing who this will target.

A lot of people are going to ignore this because "it's just student loan forgiveness for federal employees" and American attitudes towards students and loan forgiveness have been poisoned by a mainstream discourse that has taught them to hate college students and assume anyone getting loan forgiveness is a parasite who is getting away with something *they* don't have access to. The fact is however that the Trump regime is asserting the government's right to marginalize anyone who doesn't agree with their odious ideological positions, and that opposing those positions makes you ineligible for rights and support services that are by design, legally open to everyone who qualifies. Historically speaking, this is always how fascist regimes and ideological dictatorships start. They don't build Dachau on day one, they start by restricting access to government services and denying the benefits of a larger democratic society to targeted marginalized groups "regular" people don't like very much for typically hateful reasons. Once they've got you to agree that the government has the right to punish and revoke the rights and privileges of *some* people for ideological reasons, you've now handed them a skeleton key and a proof of concept model for doing it to literally anyone the fascist regime says is "bad" or even just "wrong."

Screenshot of a live news update post from The Guardian; the contents of that post are: "Trump order will bar student loan forgiveness for public servants engaged in ' improper activities' Donald Trump plans to today sign an executive order barring government and non-profit employees from a student loan forgiveness program if they engage in “improper activities”. The order affects the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, under which employees of those organizations can have their federal student debt forgiven if they meet certain criteria. White House staff secretary Will Scharf said that the order will target employees of non-governmental organizations “that engage in illegal, or what we would consider to be improper activities, supporting, for example, illegal immigration or foreign terrorist organizations or otherwise law-breaking activities”. The order will direct the treasury and education departments to ensure that people involved in those activities are not eligible for the forgiveness." The words "what we would consider improper activities" is highlighted in the graphic to demonstrate that this is absolutely fascist Calvinball and has nothing to do with the the rule of law or going after "criminals."
#Fascism#Trump#StudentLoans
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

Love to watch our fascist government weaponize already-existing American xenophobia and a 17+ month long, wholly mainstream and bipartisan campaign to conflate opposing a genocide with antisemitism and support for "terrorists," to construct an automated digital panopticon that absolutely *will* be used to hunt down anyone critical of the US regime regardless of whether or not they're "foreign" or "students" tho:

axios.com/2025/03/06/state-dep

Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas"

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an AI-fueled "Catch and Revoke" effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups, senior State Department officials tell Axios.

Why it matters: The effort — which includes AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts — marks a dramatic escalation in the U.S. government's policing of foreign nationals' conduct and speech.

The reviews of social media accounts are particularly looking for evidence of alleged terrorist sympathies expressed after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, officials say. Officials plan to examine internal databases to see whether any visa holders were arrested but allowed to stay in the country during the Biden administration.

They say they're also checking news reports of anti-Israel demonstrations and Jewish students' lawsuits that highlight foreign nationals allegedly engaged in antisemitic activity without consequence. The State Department is working with the departments of Justice and Homeland Security in what one senior State official called a "whole of government and whole of authority approach."

I'll give Axios partial credit for at least *implying* that this is all fascist made up bullshit; but only partial because they didn't actually say it and like most mainstream media orgs that are at least pretending to oppose fascism, they're relying on readers to read between the lines - a skill which most Americans simply do not posses if our political discourse is any indication.

So let's say it out loud for them:

The first thing you need to understand here is that Trump and the fascist movement have ALREADY defined ALL protest against Israel's genocide in Gaza as criminal in nature. Frankly, as far as I can tell, the Trump administration considers ALL protest a criminal activity, but they are particularly keen on prosecuting this viewpoint through attacks on anti-genocide protestors at American universities.

The second thing you need to understand is that this same fascist regime (and a significant portion of the American "centrist" establishment) have ALREADY defined opposing Israel's genocide in Gaza as being "pro-Hamas" and our government has officially labelled Hamas as a terrorist group, which unlocks a plethora of nightmare fascist enforcement and punishment options our governments installed in response to 9/11. Please keep in mind that whether you agree or disagree with the official designation of Hamas as a terrorist group is irrelevant, that's the law as presently constructed and you absolutely don't have to be pro-Hamas for these chucklefucks to say you are because you oppose facilitating a genocide and bombing fucking hospitals.

The third thing you need to understand here is that while the Trump regime is using foreign students as the thin end of the wedge to justify this war on free speech because Americans are xenophobic and their media has taught them to hate student protestors, the fact is that there is absolutely nothing stopping them from expanding their targets to include every American or person in America because we have laws and regulations on the books already that allow the US government to destroy your life and imprison you for supporting "terrorism" and they (and their fascist in-pocket judges) get to define what "supporting" and "terrorism" mean in this context. I mean I don't want to imply these folks give a shit about "rules" at all, but we've stupidly allowed the US government to essentially revoke our civil rights if they yell "terrorism" loud enough, legally.

Taken together then, all of that more or less indicates that the Trump administration is actively criminalizing opposition to American imperialism, criticism of American client states (particularly Israel,) and opposing a genocide. Pretending they might not MEAN to go that far like our media continues to do, is a very naïve position to take at this late a day and with the available evidence of how the Trump regime operates.

Finally, an aside - remember when I told you AI is literally "a fascism machine?" This is the kinda shit I meant; computers can't think and AI is garbage, but repression and violating the rights of millions of people, absolutely CAN be automated.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio (face to camera) talks with Rep. Jim Jordan (back to camera)
Axios · Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas"By Marc Caputo
#Fascism#Trump#MarcoRubio
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"Responding to South Wales Police’s announcement that it will be installing a network of facial recognition cameras across Cardiff city centre for Six Nations rugby games, Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch, said:

“Embedding facial recognition surveillance in a city-wide CCTV network represents a shocking expansion of police surveillance, and turns Cardiff into an Orwellian zone of biometric surveillance. This unprecedented use of the technology could pave the way for the mass rollout of permanent facial recognition surveillance across the UK.

“Live facial recognition technology turns us into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects. This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt-out of a biometric police identity check."

bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-r

Big Brother Watch condemns UK’s first use of city-wide facial recognition in Cardiff — Big Brother WatchBig Brother Watch condemns UK’s first use of city-wide facial recognition in Cardiff — Big Brother Watch
#UK#Wales#Cardiff
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"Flock Safety loves to crow about the thousands of local law enforcement agencies around the United States that have adopted its avian-themed automated license plate readers (ALPRs). But when a privacy activist launched a website to map out the exact locations of these pole-mounted devices, the company tried to clip his wings.

The company sent DeFlock.me and its creator Will Freeman a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that the project dilutes its trademark. Suffice it to say, and to lean into ornithological wordplay, the letter is birdcage liner.

Representing Freeman, EFF sent Flock Safety a letter rejecting the demand, pointing out that the grassroots project is well within its First Amendment rights."

eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/anti

Electronic Frontier Foundation · Anti-Surveillance Mapmaker Refuses Flock Safety's Cease and Desist DemandFlock Safety loves to crow about the thousands of local law enforcement agencies around the United States that have adopted its avian-themed automated license plate readers (ALPRs). But when a privacy activist launched a website to map out the exact locations of these pole-mounted devices, the...
#USA#FlockSafety#ALPRs
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"In a memo obtained by The Washington Post, Department of Homeland Security authorities asked the IRS on Thursday to connect the names of potentially undocumented immigrants with the people’s last known addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

It follows a DHS request roughly two weeks ago that would allow immigration officials to provide a list of names to the IRS in hopes of obtaining home addresses from the tax agency, according to five people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of professional reprisals.

IRS leaders initially rejected the DHS requests, the people said, and are attempting to negotiate terms to assist immigration enforcement officials without violating tax privacy laws. The memo suggested the creation of a team of IRS officials to review taxpayer data so it is not accessed by DHS personnel.

At the end of the workday Friday, though, a new acting IRS commissioner, Melanie Krause, took over the agency and quickly indicated she was interested in exploring how to comply with the DHS request, two of the people said. As of late Friday night, it did not appear that the IRS would immediately be able to turn over the information DHS sought."

washingtonpost.com/business/20

#USA #Trump #PoliceState #Surveillance #DHS #IRS Immigration

The Washington Post · IRS rejected request for addresses of people believed to be in U.S. illegallyBy Jacob Bogage
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"A bill headed to the Senate floor in Utah would require officers to disclose if a police report was written by generative AI. The bill, S.B. 180, requires a department to have a policy governing the use of AI. This policy would mandate that police reports created in whole or in part by generative AI have a disclaimer that the report contains content generated by AI and requires officers to legally certify that the report was checked for accuracy.

S.B. 180 is unfortunately a necessary step in the right direction when it comes to regulating the rapid spread of police using generative AI to write their narrative reports for them. EFF will continue to monitor this bill in hopes that it will be part of a larger conversation about more robust regulations. Specifically, Axon, the makers of tasers and the salespeople behind a shocking amount of police and surveillance tech, has recently rolled out a new product, Draft One, which uses body-worn camera audio to generate police reports. This product is spreading quickly in part because it is integrated with other Axon products which are already omnipresent in U.S. society.

But it’s going to take more than a disclaimer to curb the potential harms of AI-generated police reports."
eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/utah

Electronic Frontier Foundation · Utah Bill Aims to Make Officers Disclose AI-Written Police ReportsA bill headed to the Senate floor in Utah would require officers to disclose if a police report was written by generative AI. The bill, S.B. 180, requires a department to have a policy governing the use of AI. This policy would mandate that police reports created in whole or in part by generative...
#USA#Utah#PoliceState
Public
Mark

Lobbying led #UK universities to adopt #US-style security during #Gaza protests

#University leaders reassured #campus security officials amid pro-Palestine protests in the UK that they would back them if “things got tough”

Reports emerged of students on #British campuses facing disciplinary & tough bail conditions after police were called on largely #non-violent #demonstrations, raising claims of a heavy-handed strategy

theguardian.com/education/2025

The Guardian · Lobbying led UK universities to adopt US-style security during Gaza protests, emails revealBy Daniel Boffey
#oppression#students#PoliceState
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"Hackers leaked thousands of files from Lexipol, a Texas-based company that develops policy manuals, training bulletins, and consulting services for first responders.

The manuals, which are crafted by Lexipol’s team of public sector attorneys, practitioners, and subject-matter experts, are customized to align with the specific needs and local legal requirements of agencies across the country.

But the firm also faces criticism for its blanket approach to police policies and pushback on reforms.

The data, a sample of which was given to the Daily Dot by a group referring to itself as “the puppygirl hacker polycule,” includes approximately 8,543 files related to training, procedural, and policy manuals, as well as customer records that contain names, usernames, agency names, hashed passwords, physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Among the manuals seen by the Daily Dot, agencies include police departments, fire departments, sheriff’s offices, and narcotics units."

dailydot.com/debug/lexipol-dat

The Daily Dot · EXCLUSIVE: Hackers leak cop manuals for departments nationwide after breaching major providerCritics accuse the company of wielding outsized private influence on public policing.
#USA#Hacking#Lexipol
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"The result of these historically unprecedented firings at our agency is that a board intentionally designed by Congress to be staffed on a bipartisan basis across administrations is now exclusively staffed by a single Republican. That Republican has previously aligned herself with Merrick Garland and the Biden administration in defending warrantless surveillance by the FBI on average Americans – a practice that a federal court in New York ruled unconstitutional last week. And worse, the board (which requires a quorum of three members to do anything) will no longer engage in any oversight of presidential surveillance of American citizens. In other words, by firing us, the president has extinguished independent oversight of surveillance activities of the exact kind that plagued Trump and Carter Page in past years.

The same story is being repeated throughout the executive branch. Trump has fired many of the inspectors general whose job is to prevent government waste, fraud and abuse. He’s fired the heads of other independent agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board, with many others likely to follow. And he’s undertaking a swift purge of the civil service to get rid of anyone not perceived as sufficiently loyal.

These partisan witch-hunts and firings need to stop. Congress creates independent agencies and insulates civil servants from partisan firings for a reason."

theguardian.com/commentisfree/

The Guardian · Trump fired me. Now it will be easier for the government to spy on AmericansBy Guardian staff reporter
#USA#Surveillance#Privacy
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