Facial-Recognition Company That Works With Law Enforcement Says Entire Client List Was Stolen
Clearview AI, which contracts with law enforcement after reportedly scraping 3 billion images from the web, now says someone got “unauthorized access” to its list of customers.
A facial-recognition company that contracts with powerful law-enforcement agencies just reported that an intruder stole its entire client list, according to a notification the company sent to its customers.
In the notification, which The Daily Beast reviewed, the startup Clearview AI disclosed to its customers that an intruder “gained unauthorized access” to its list of customers, to the number of user accounts those customers had set up, and to the number of searches its customers have conducted. The notification said the company’s servers were not breached and that there was “no compromise of Clearview’s systems or network.” The company also said it fixed the vulnerability and that the intruder did not obtain any law-enforcement agencies’ search histories.
Tor Ekeland, an attorney for the company, said Clearview prioritizes security.
“Security is Clearview’s top priority,” he said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. “Unfortunately, data breaches are part of life in the 21st century. Our servers were never accessed. We patched the flaw, and continue to work to strengthen our security.”
The firm drew national attention when The New York Times ran a front-page story about its work with law-enforcement agencies. The Times reported that the company scraped 3 billion images from the internet, including from Facebook, YouTube, and Venmo. That process violated Facebook’s terms of service, according to the paper. It also created a resource that drew the attention of hundreds of law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, according to that report. In a follow-up story, the Times reported that law-enforcement officials have used the tools to identify children who are victims of sexual abuse. One anonymous Canadian law-enforcement official told the paper that Clearview was “the biggest breakthrough in the last decade” for investigations of those crimes.
The notification did not describe the breach as a hack. David Forscey, the managing director of the no-profit Aspen Cybersecurity Group, said the breach is concerning.
“If you’re a law-enforcement agency, it’s a big deal, because you depend on Clearview as a service provider to have good security, and it seems like they don’t,” Forscey said.
Facial-recognition technology—which matches photos of unidentified victims or suspects against enormous databases of photos—has long drawn intense criticism from privacy advocates. They argue it could essentially mean the end of personal privacy, especially given the proliferation of security cameras in public places. Some law-enforcement officials, meanwhile, see it as a tool with enormous potential value.
Article via TheDailyBeast
Boosie Wants Politicians To Address Reparations For Black People
Article via Moguldom
Rapper Boosie BadAzz(formerly Lil Boosie)went to social media to support reparations for Black Americans. In his Instagram post, Boosie said Black people should receive reparations as Native American Indians received from the U.S. government. And he thinks politicians running for office should address reparations.
His post read: “I was just watching a show about Blacks n Black business n what they went through,” Boosie wrote. “Bra our people deserve money like the dam Indians get. We got completely murdered n fucked over by this nation. Every time we get successful they hung us. Do y’all know about Greenwood, Black Wall Street and how they did us. Bra I’m pissed. Where the fuck our money at?”
He continued: “Our wealth n lives was [taken] from us for any n everything,” Boosie continued. “Especially our business men n women. Why haven’t none of our fucking presidents ask that Black people be compensated forever? Why has this never been an issue at any presidential rally etc. Have we forgot? Do leaders feel we deserved it? Millions of Black lives taken n ‘Black Wealth’ just stripped, which have affected us ’til this day financially and emotionally. I hate u bitches who did that 2 us. I wish death 2 all of you. Blacks in this country still got no fucking respect r love n that’s real.”
Finally, he asked why reparations have yet to happen for Black Americans, XXL reported. “Where our fucking money at bitches?” Boosie said in closing. “Democrats, Republicans, presidents etc. Do u give a fuck what we been through? Political Blacks who r n power, why haven’t yo ass spoke up about our race being compensated. I guess y’all don’t give a fuck cause y’all [straight] now. Where our fucking money at?”
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Britney Spears Sparks Mental Health Concerns After Speaking With A British Accent
Britney Spears has many worried about the current state of her mental health after the pop star posted a video on social media where she is back to using a British accent.
If you have followed Britney’s conservatorship case, you know at her lowest point, she was using the British accent while talking to photographers and was heard using it after being committed to a Los Angeles Psych Ward.
Britney posted a video to Instagram today, where is describing and showing her fans just how loud the birds are inside the Maui zoo.
She captioned the video, “I’ve never heard something so loud before in my life …. I felt like I was in a zoo !!!!! Such a cool day !!!! PS if you’re a bird then I’m a bird too …. pssss I get to be loud too wheeeee !!!!!”
But, towards the end video, she jokingly gets loud too and yells… “They’re so loud!”
The problem is that she switches to a British accent for the last part and it has may concerned about her current condition and has some worried about the last time she used the accent.
Back in 2008, when Britney Spears was committed to UCLA’s Psych Ward for evaluation she was primarily speaking in a British accent. At the time, law enforcement sources told TMZ, Britney was speaking “almost entirely in a British accent the night she was committed.”
Plus, while hospitalized, Britney made two calls from inside the unit where she was heard screaming on the phone about her father becoming the conservator of her estate. On the call, in a heavy British accent, Britney was heard saying “I’m so sick of all of this they can have the goddamn house and stick it up their f***ing asses. Actually, no they can’t.”
She continued to yell in the accent at the top of her lungs, saying, “Nobody’s taking my house. Who is my family?” At the time, she didn’t want her parents near her home and vowed to fight them in court.
As we reported, eventually Britney agreed with the conservatorship and had been in it for over 10 years.
Article via TheBlast
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Florida woman left boyfriend in suitcase to die, laughed when he cried for help
WINTER PARK, Fla. (AP) — Authorities in Florida have arrested a woman accused of zipping her boyfriend into a suitcase, recording his repeated cries for help and leaving him locked inside until he died, according to sheriff’s office documents.
Deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office took Sarah Boone, 42, into custody on second-degree murder charges in the death of Jorge Torres Jr., 42, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
Boone called 911 Monday afternoon from her Winter Park home and told dispatchers her boyfriend was dead, news outlets reported. Investigators said she claimed they had been drinking the night before and agreed it would be funny if Torres got into the suitcase during a game of hide-and-seek, according to court records obtained by news outlets.
Boone reportedly admitted she zipped Torres into the suitcase, went upstairs to bed and awoke the next morning to find him still inside and unresponsive, the documents alleged.
The sheriff’s office said Boone’s statements didn’t line up with video evidence found on her phone showing a blue suitcase facing downward with Torres trying to free himself. In the video, he called for help and yelled that he couldn’t breathe, authorities said.
Boone could be heard laughing and saying: “That’s what I feel like when you cheat on me,” investigators wrote in the documents.
It’s unclear whether Boone has an attorney who can comment on her behalf.
Photo Credit: Orange County Sheriff’s Offfice
CDC recommends shaving facial hair to protect against coronavirus
(CNN) — When it comes to novel coronavirus safety, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has some suggestions about facial hair.
Side whiskers, soul patches, lampshades and handlebar moustaches are good to go, according to a CDC infographic. But styles like a stubble, beard, Dali and mutton chops, are not recommended because they are likely to interfere with a facepiece respirator.
Masks and respirators are being utilized around the world to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has reached more than 80,000 cases globally. A respirator covers at least the nose and mouth and protects against particles including infectious agents, the CDC said. However, the CDC does not recommend routine use outside of workplaces.
Facial hair poses a risk to the effectiveness of respirators because it may keep the exhalation valve from working properly if the two come into contact, the infographic said.
No matter the style choice, the hair should not cross the respirator sealing surface, the infographic said.
A goatee, horseshoe and villain mustache are okay, with caution, the infographic noted.
Photo Credit: CDC
Man who killed 9 in church shooting stages hunger strike in prison, complains of ‘harsh’ treatment
WASHINGTON (AP) — White supremacist mass murderer Dylann Roof staged a hunger strike this month while on federal death row, alleging in letters to The Associated Press that he’s been “targeted by staff,” “verbally harassed and abused without cause” and “treated disproportionately harsh.”
The 25-year-old Roof, who killed nine black church members during a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, told the AP in a letter dated Feb. 13 that the staff at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, feel justified in their conduct “since I am hated by the general public.”
A person familiar with the matter said Roof had been on a hunger strike but was no longer on one, as of this week. The person couldn’t immediately provide specific details about the length of the hunger strike or whether medical staff needed to intervene. The person wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Roof wrote in his letter to the AP that he went on the hunger strike to protest the treatment he received from a Bureau of Prisons disciplinary hearing officer over earlier complaints that he was refused access to the law library and access to a copy machine to file legal papers.
Roof’s Feb. 13 letter indicated he was already “several days” into a hunger strike, and he wrote in a follow-up letter that the protest ended a day later after corrections officers forcibly tried to take his blood and insert an IV into his arm, causing him to briefly pass out.
“I feel confident I could have gone much, much longer without food,” Roof wrote in the Feb. 16 follow-up letter. “It’s just not worth being murdered over.”
The allegations could not immediately be verified and a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons said the agency had no comment on Roof’s allegations, citing privacy concerns.
Roof’s lawyers said in a statement that they were “working with BOP to resolve the issues addressed in the letters.”
Roof’s lawyers filed an appeal to his federal convictions and death sentence last month, arguing that he was mentally ill when he represented himself at his capital trial.
In a 321-page legal brief, Roof’s lawyers asked a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, to review 20 issues, including errors they say were made by the judge and prosecutors that “tainted” his sentencing. One of their main arguments is that U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel should not have allowed Roof to represent himself during the penalty phase of his trial because he was a 22-year-old ninth-grade dropout “who believed his sentence didn’t matter because white nationalists would free him from prison after an impending race war.”
Roof is the first person to be ordered executed for a federal hate crime. Attorney General William Barr announced in July that the government would resume executions and scheduled five executions — though Roof is not included among that group — ending an informal moratorium on federal capital punishment as the issue receded from the public domain. The Supreme Court has temporarily halted the executions after some of the chosen inmates challenged the new execution procedures in court.
——
Martinez reported from New York; AP writer Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: Centralized Bond Hearing Court via AP
Jif peanut butter settles debate over how to pronounce GIF
Forget the great potato pronunciation debate — in the internet age, it’s all about GIF.
Just when the world thought that riddle was solved — that GIF, short for graphics interchange format, should be pronounced with a soft G, like the word “gentle” — peanut butter giant Jif is wading into the sticky situation.
Giphy, the addictive site that showcases all things GIF, has taken a definitive stand in a new partnership with the pantry staple.
“We know there’s only one Jif and it’s peanut butter. If you’re looking for all the GIFs, there’s only one Giphy,” the site’s co-founder and CEO Alex Chung said in a statement. “If you’re a soft G, please visit Jif.com. If you’re a hard G, thank you, we know you’re right.”
The debate has raged since 1987 when GIFs, known now for their fun looping videos, first surfaced. However, the format’s creator, Steve Wilhite, told the New York Times in 2013 that, despite popular opinion, it should strictly be pronounced like the peanut butter brand and not like “gift” without the T.
However, many have insisted on a hard G pronunciation, adhering to the natural logic of the acronym, starting with “graphics.”
Even President Barack Obama entered the fray, first from the official White House Twitter account and then in 2014 when he defiantly revealed his hard G stance: “That is my official position. I’ve pondered it a long time.”
For those who want to have their cake and eat it too, the J.M. Smucker Co. is offering limited-edition peanut butter jars with “Gif” labels for under $10 while supplies last at Amazon.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/02/25/jif-peanut-butter-settles-debate-over-how-to-pronounce-gif/
Photo Credit: Jif
7-year-old girl in South Carolina dies 1 minute into surgery to get tonsils removed
GREENWOOD, S.C. — The family of a 7-year-old girl from South Carolina is devastated after her heart stopped while she was having her tonsils removed.
Paisley Cogsdill, 7, died Feb. 21 during a tonsillectomy at Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, South Carolina, WHNS reports.
Her parents say she went into surgery, and one minute later, her heart stopped. Doctors could not revive her.
“Going into surgery, she had no fear. She was smiling and happy. Nothing was wrong. She had no fear,” Paisley’s grandmother, Mary Beth Truelock, told WHNS.
The family says Paisley was a healthy child with no issues, other than she snored in her sleep. Autopsy results were expected Tuesday to help offer more clarification on her death.
“Definitely missing her all the time. You don’t understand why these things happen, but we know it was God’s plan. That’s the only thing that is going to get us through because we know it was God,” Mary Beth said.
Paisley’s uncle, Cameron Truelock, says the 7-year-old was the light in the family. She loved everyone and made sure everybody was close.
She was just spunky, energetic. She would always keep us on our toes,” Cameron said. “She loved going to church, being active in church, and she loved being close to everybody. She was the community’s kid. She loved everybody in the community.”
Mary Beth says the community has shown so much love through this most difficult time. A GoFundMe set up to cover funeral expenses has raised more than $32,000.
“This is a horrible time for us. We live second by second right now because nobody should ever go through this pain that you’re going through,” Mary Beth said.
A service to celebrate Paisley’s life will be held Thursday in Clinton, South Carolina. It will be followed by a burial ceremony.
WHNS, WPTV and CNN Newsource contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Boy, 11, died of heart condition after trainee doctor Googled his symptoms
An 11-year-old boy died hours after a junior doctor failed to spot his enlarged heart on a hospital X-ray and instead used Google to diagnose him, an inquest heard.
Clayton Hague-Winterbottom would likely have survived if the size of his heart had been noted by Dr Rida Fatima and a different treatment put in place, cardiologist Dr Timothy Gray told the hearing.
Assistant coroner Lisa Judge has ruled his death was contributed to by neglect.
The youngster was admitted to The Royal Oldham Hospital on March 31 last year, three days after he was correctly diagnosed with a chest infection by his GP.
Despite his enlarged heart being picked up on an X-ray and a medical history that included epilepsy and autism, Dr Fatima used Google to research his condition. After learning of the GP’s chest infection diagnosis, she focused on examining the boy’s lungs.
Clayton was discharged without any blood tests being taken and collapsed at home just 40 hours later. He was later pronounced dead in hospital.
The cause of Clayton’s death was found to be cardiac failure and pneumonia, contributed to by enlarged chambers of the heart.
At the inquest in Heywood, near Rochdale, Dr Fatima, who is now working at a different health trust in Luton, Bedfordshire, broke down in tears as she apologised to Clayton’s family for the error.
She said: “I can only apologise for not noticing the heart – I am so sorry. My conclusion was Clayton likely had an ongoing chest infection. I didn’t specifically look at the heart but I did look at his lungs.”
Ms Judge recorded a verdict of death by natural causes but said it was contributed to by neglect and “gross failures” in his medical attention. She said: “There were a number of things that should have been done differently.”
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/boy-11-died-heart-condition-143114268.html
Photo Credit: Cavendish Press
A 10-year-old boy was accidentally shot by his babysitter while she was taking selfies with a gun
A 10-year-old boy was accidentally shot by his babysitter when she was taking selfies while holding a gun, a Texas sheriff’s office said.
The boy was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but is recovering.
The incident occurred at an apartment in Houston on Tuesday evening when the 19-year-old relative who was watching the child found a gun, according to tweets from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Thinking the weapon was unloaded, the girl started posing and taking pictures with it, authorities said. That’s when the gun went off, hitting the boy in the stomach.
The child was taken to the hospital in critical condition, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted.
His condition has improved and he is stable after undergoing surgery, Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland told CNN. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have yet been made, Gilliland said.
Accidental and preventable gun deaths make up 1% of overall gun-related deaths in the US, according to the National Safety Council. Gilliland reminded the public to always remember that firearms are not to be played around with.
“Firearms are dangerous weapons so take precautions to make sure things like that don’t happen,” Gilliland said. “Taking selfies was not the best thing to be doing.”
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xandr/10-old-boy-accidentally-shot-222243324.html
Photo Credit: KTRK / KTRK