Sunday, March 5, 2023

News bits: Rabid Christian nationalists savage the trans community; Abortion wars; Voice cloning scams

Reports are coming out that the Florida legislature wants the state to be able to separate children from parents if any gender-related medical treatment is involved by anyone. One source writes:
Florida courts could take 'emergency' custody of kids with trans parents 
or siblings — even if they live in another state
  • Florida Senate Bill 254 would grant courts emergency custody of kids who receive gender-affirming care.
  • The bill, introduced Friday, would also allow the courts to modify out-of-state custody agreements.
  • The bill would grant officials authority under the law that protects kids from domestic violence.
A proposed bill making its way through the Florida State Senate would allow the state "emergency jurisdiction" over children who receive or are "at risk of" receiving gender-affirming care — or if their parent receives it themselves.
Qs: If that isn’t savage Christian cruelty, then what is it? A gentle, loving God spreading his infinite love, tolerance and grace in the world?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abortion wars obliterate privacy concerns: Personal data is being turned over to law enforcement by online companies such as Google and Facebook (Meta) to help police prosecute people for violating forced birth laws. One source writes:

Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help 
police prosecute abortion seekers
  • Police make requests for social media user data to aid prosecution after a crime has been committed.
  • Sometimes, the crime is abortion and social apps are turning over user chat logs and search history.
  • One legal expert said social platforms may cooperate with police even if not legally required to.
As abortion bans across the nation are implemented and enforced, law enforcement is turning to social media platforms to build cases to prosecute women seeking abortions or abortion-inducing medication – and online platforms like Google and Facebook are helping.

This spring, a woman named Jessica Burgess and her daughter will stand trial in Nebraska for performing an illegal abortion — with a key piece of evidence provided by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Burgess allegedly helped her daughter find and take pills that would induce an abortion. The teenage Burgess also faces charges for allegedly illegally disposing of the fetus' remains.

TechCrunch reported internal chat logs were provided to law enforcement officers by the social media company, which indicated the pair had discussed their plan to find the medication through the app.

An investigation by ProPublica found online pharmacies that sell abortion medication such as mifepristone and misoprostol are sharing sensitive data, including users' web addresses, relative location, and search data, with Google and other third-party sites — which allows the data to be recoverable through law enforcement requests.

ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx.
The FBI, and Los Angeles and New York police departments did not provide information about what they are doing. At this point, there is no basis for trust about personal privacy by online companies. Despite constant propaganda about how seriously they take customer privacy, online businesses have been treating customers’ privacy like worthless garbage. So, when you go to a business like PrivacyPillRXSecure Abortion Pills or Abortion Privacy, you can rest assured that your privacy is absolutely not secure when it really counts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AI scam persuasiveness intensifies: Bad people are creative when it comes to finding new ways to make people’s lives miserable, steal from them, and so forth. The WaPo writes about an increasingly frequent scam technique based on impersonating voices:
Scammers are using artificial intelligence to sound more like family members in distress. People are falling for it and losing thousands of dollars

Technology is making it easier and cheaper for bad actors to mimic voices, convincing people, often the elderly, that their loved ones are in distress. In 2022, impostor scams were the second most popular racket in America, with over 36,000 reports of people being swindled by those pretending to be friends and family, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission. Over 5,100 of those incidents happened over the phone, accounting for over $11 million in losses, FTC officials said.

Advancements in artificial intelligence have added a terrifying new layer, allowing bad actors to replicate a voice with just an audio sample of a few sentences. Powered by AI, a slew of cheap online tools can translate an audio file into a replica of a voice, allowing a swindler to make it “speak” whatever they type.

Experts say federal regulators, law enforcement and the courts are ill-equipped to rein in the burgeoning scam.  
Although impostor scams come in many forms, they essentially work the same way: a scammer impersonates someone trustworthy — a child, lover or friend — and convinces the victim to send them money because they’re in distress.  
Artificially generated voice technology is making the ruse more convincing. Victims report reacting with visceral horror when hearing loved ones in danger.  
“Two years ago, even a year ago, you needed a lot of audio to clone a person’s voice,” Farid said. “Now … if you have a Facebook page … or if you’ve recorded a TikTok and your voice is in there for 30 seconds, people can clone your voice.”

No comments:

Post a Comment