It claimed technical difficulties, but eventually submitted a formal objection to handing over the data, four days after the warrant’s deadline. Then, Twitter pushed back against the secret warrant’s nondisclosure clause: “Although the company did not question the validity of the search warrant, it asserted that the nondisclosure order was facially invalid under the First Amendment,” said an appeals court in their opinion on the matter.
In response, a court eventually held Twitter in civil contempt, ordering a $50,000 sanction against the company that would double every day until it handed over the data. Twitter waffled another three full days before producing the data – for those not good at fast math, that’s a $350,000 fine. While Trump has called the warrant a “major ‘hit’ on my civil rights,” legal scholars say that social media warrants are becoming increasingly common in criminal investigations, and that secret warrants are normally issued when targets gaining knowledge of a warrant might harm the investigation.
A recent indictment has also leaked some more information on the Trump camp’s strategy after he lost the 2020 presidential election – a memo by a Trump lawyer reportedly planned to use false electors in order to “derail the proper certification of Biden as president-elect.” Trump ally Rudy Giuliani has also made headlines after voting machine company Smartmartic named him in their $2.7 billion defamation case, claiming he’s been using excuses like “the dog ate my homework” to avoid turning in materials relevant to the lawsuit.
This week, the eight member states of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) met for the first time in a decade, with the stated intention of “stopping the Amazon region from reaching the point of no return,” according to a statement from Brazil’s government.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hosted leaders from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname in the Brazilian state of Pará, where they attempted to agree on a 113-point agenda named the Amazon Alliance to Fight Deforestation among States Parties. The alliance would promote the “compliance of national goals, including the ones related to zero deforestation through the elimination of illegal logging, by strengthening the implementation of forest legislation.” Unfortunately, ACTO members were unable to come to an agreement on the agenda.
The failure to agree on a common policy comes at a critical time for the rainforest, which is home to a wide number of species and stores a massive amount of carbon dioxide. Under the leadership of the previous president of Brazil, the rate of Amazon deforestation rose by 70% from 2018 to 2021, and roughly three-quarters of the rainforest is showing signs of “resilience loss,” meaning the ecosystem will have a harder time bouncing back from logging, droughts, and wildfires.
Ran Out Of Office, Running Out Of Food
According to an adviser close to the issue, Niger’s ousted president is running out of food as he continues to live under house arrest two weeks after being booted from office by a military coup. The adviser says President Mohamed Bazoum is living off rice and canned foods with no electricity in the presidential palace, where he was moved after being deposed on July 26.
On Monday, Niger’s new military government named civilian economist Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine prime minister. It rejected international offers to mediate the situation as West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to invade its borders, and has accused France of trying to destabilize the country. While France’s government has denied that accusation, its constant military presence in Africa, colonial past, and the fact that its former colonies have now all shifted away from Paris might show that West Africans are tired of French influence in the region.
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” – Laozi
Ron’s Brief Return To Relevancy
On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – who you’ve likely heard is trailing behind former President Trump by a longshot in his bid for the GOP presidential candidacy – decided to inject a little life into his waning campaign by suspending yet another elected Florida prosecutor. DeSantis argued that State Attorney Monique Worrell was too lenient with criminals, therefore endangering the public.
This is the second time that DeSantis has removed an elected prosecutor from office, having suspended Andrew Warren a year ago after Warren signed a pledge that he would not enforce a newly adopted ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A judge said Warren was not thoroughly investigated before DeSantis suspended him, so with Worrell, DeSantis came armed with over 20 pages of documents to back up his claim that she was in “dereliction of duty.”
An Island Ablaze
Throughout the day on Wednesday, Maui was terrorized by a wildfire that tore through Lahaina, destroying dozens of homes and businesses and killing at least six people and injuring at least two dozen others. Many people were forced to jump into the ocean to escape the flames.
Aerial video showed entire blocks of buildings reduced to ash and thick smoke blanketing the city. All roads in and out of the town were closed except to emergency personnel, and 911 service was out in certain places. Hurricane Dora, which was about 500 miles off the coast, contributed to the 60 mph wind gusts that fueled the flames.
Zoom has zipped into the headlines this week, though time in the spotlight is probably the last thing the company is looking for right now. Everyone’s favorite video conferencing service has come under fire for a change in its terms of service (TOS), which was worded so badly that consumers were worried the company was using their meetings to train its AI. The kerfuffle came at a tough time for the company, which has ironically dragged its employees back into hybrid work as it struggles to turn a profit in the post-pandemic world. At least Covid seems to be making a comeback!
On Sunday, a blogger named Alex Ivanovs published a post about Zoom’s TOS, which was updated in March. He highlighted a new section that says that Zoom can harvest user data for multiple different purposes, including “machine learning or artificial intelligence (including for the purposes of training and tuning of algorithms and models).”
Zoom quickly responded with a new update to its TOS reading, “Notwithstanding the above, Zoom will not use audio, video or chat Customer Content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent.” The company says the wording was added to clarify that it uses user data to improve its products, though it’s up to you if you want to believe a company that’s lied to consumers about its encryption services.
