World News in Brief: $236 billion a year profit from forced labour, Senegal election update, peacekeepers in Lebanon

In an alert, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said that this increase had been fuelled by the growing number of people forced to work illegally, but also by higher profits. ILO senior research officer Federico Blanco told journalists in Geneva that traffickers and criminals make close to $10,000 per victim, around $1,700 more than they […]

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First Person: Water key to cultivating financial independence in southern Madagascar

They live in the village of Ankilinanjosoa in Anosy, a region which has suffered a series of droughts leading to the failures of multiple harvests. Twenty-five women formed a grower’s association which has access to water as part of a project supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Tenefo Votsirasoa is a member of a […]

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Lucy Parsons Labs Takes Police Foundation to Court for Open Records Requests

The University of Georgia (UGA) School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic has filed an Open Records Request lawsuit to demand public records from the private Atlanta Police Foundation (APF). The lawsuit, filed at the behest of the Atlanta Community Press Collective and Electronic Frontier Alliance-member Lucy Parsons Labs, is seeking records relating to the Atlanta […]

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Records smashed – new WMO climate report confirms 2023 hottest so far

Heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones caused misery and mayhem, upending everyday life for millions and inflicting many billions of dollars in economic losses, according to the WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report. “Sirens are blaring across all major indicators… Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting. And changes are […]

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Decoding the California DMV’s Mobile Driver’s License

The State of California is currently rolling out a “mobile driver’s license” (mDL), a form of digital identification that raises significant privacy and equity concerns. This post explains the new smartphone application, explores the risks, and calls on the state and its vendor to focus more on protection of the users.  What is the California […]

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U.S.-Guatemala High Level Economic Dialogue

On March 18, the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez led the U.S. delegation to the first High Level Economic Dialogue with Guatemala to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Root Causes Strategy and Vice President Harris’ Central America Forward initiative.  President Arévalo led the Guatemalan government delegation along with Vice President Herrera. […]

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EFF to California Appellate Court: Reject Trial Judge’s Ruling That Would Penalize Beneficial Features and Tools on Social Media

EFF legal intern Jack Beck contributed to this post. A California trial court recently departed from wide-ranging precedent and held that Snap, Inc., the maker of Snapchat, the popular social media app, had created a “defective” product by including features like disappearing messages, the ability to connect with people through mutual friends, and even the […]

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San Diego City Council Breaks TRUST

In a stunning reversal against the popular Transparent & Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology (TRUST) ordinance, the San Diego city council voted earlier this year to cut many of the provisions that sought to ensure public transparency for law enforcement surveillance technologies.  Similar to other Community Control Of Police Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinances, the TRUST ordinance was […]

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Under Secretary Fernandez to Lead U.S. Delegation at U.S.-Guatemala High Level Economic Dialogue

Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez will travel to Guatemala City, Guatemala, to lead the U.S. delegation at the first U.S.-Guatemala High Level Economic Dialogue on March 18. Additional representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Departments of State, Agriculture, and Labor, the U.S. Trade and […]

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The SAFE Act to Reauthorize Section 702 is Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is one of the most insidious and secretive mass surveillance authorities still in operation today. The Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act would make some much-needed and long fought-for reforms, but it also does not go nearly far enough to rein in a surveillance law that […]

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