Iowa CrayonMaster • 3 weeks ago • 96%

Edit: other link was having issues, this should work > Three Libertarian candidates in Iowa running for the U.S. House will not be listed on ballots this November after a panel ruled they failed to comply with state law, a decision that could affect the outcome of at least one tightly contested race > The state’s objection committee, composed of one Democratic and two Republican elected officials, ruled 2-1 Wednesday in favor of Iowans who challenged the candidates’ legitimacy. > Democrat on the panel who opposed the candidates’ removal, State Auditor Rob Sand, accused his colleagues of political bias, saying in a statement that the decision was “a wrong-headed plot by Iowa’s uniparty to limit voters’ choices.” > One of Iowa's four congressional races was decided by a razor-thin margin in 2022. Republican Zach Nunn, who was challenging incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne, won by less than a percentage point. There was not a third-party candidate.

Iowa CrayonMaster • 1 month ago • 100%

> An advocate for seniors is calling on the state auditor’s office to investigate the state’s failure to collect $10.7 million in fees owed by corporate nursing home owners. > According to documents obtained through the state’s open records law, one for-profit company based in West Des Moines operates 18 care facilities that collectively owe the state $3.6 million in unpaid fees. The company’s top two executives, meanwhile, have made $293,000 in political donations to Statehouse leaders, the governor and industry lobbyists. > Hale said an investigation by the Iowa auditor of sate is warranted, in part to make sure nursing facilities that claim to be increasing staff pay are doing so. > Auditor of State Rob Sand said his office has publicly reported DHHS’ failure “to collect these fees as required by law. However, the auditor’s office isn’t an enforcement agency. We have no legal authority to force DHHS to collect the fees or impose penalties on the facilities that don’t pay them.”

Knitting CrayonMaster • 3 months ago • 97%

Is this actually a widespread thing? I'd never heard of it (sorry if this doesn'tfit the sub)

Fanfiction of Our Own - A World Within and Beyond Fandoms CrayonMaster • 5 months ago • 77%

The message said something about spam, did anyone see it?

Privacy CrayonMaster • 9 months ago • 94%

arstechnica.com

Cross posted from: https://midwest.social/post/6593381

Technology CrayonMaster • 9 months ago • 98%

arstechnica.com

> Criminal suspects can refuse to provide phone passcodes to police under the US Constitution's Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, according to a unanimous ruling issued today by Utah's state Supreme Court. The questions addressed in the ruling could eventually be taken up by the US Supreme Court, whether through review of this case or a similar one. > The state argued "that, even if providing a passcode could be considered testimonial, the only meaningful information it would have conveyed here was that Valdez knew the passcode to the phone," the court said. Because police already knew the phone belonged to Valdez and that he would know his own passcode, the state contended that "this information would not convey anything new to law enforcement" and that it thus "triggers the foregone conclusion exception." > There is a difference between communicating a passcode to police and physically providing an unlocked phone to police, the court said. Though these two acts "may be functionally equivalent in many respects, this functional equivalency is not dispositive under current Fifth Amendment jurisprudence," the court said. "We conclude that the act-of-production analytical framework makes sense only where law enforcement compels someone to perform an act to unlock an electronic device."

Privacy CrayonMaster • 10 months ago • 98%

www.404media.co

>The FBI investigated a man who allegedly posed as a police officer in emails and phone calls to trick Verizon to hand over phone data belonging to a specific person >Despite the relatively unconvincing cover story concocted by the suspect ... Verizon handed over the victim’s data to the alleged stalker, including their address and phone logs. The stalker then went on to threaten the victim and ended up driving to where he believed the victim lived while armed with a knife >Version Security Assistance Team–Court Order Compliance Team (or VSAT CCT) received an email from steven1966c@proton.me.“Here is the pdf file for search warrant,” Glauner, allegedly pretending to be a police detective, wrote in the email. “We are in need if the this [sic] cell phone data as soon as possible to locate and apprehend this suspect. We also need the full name of this Verizon subscriber and the new phone number that has been assigned to her. Thank you.” >Verizon is not the only telecom that has failed to properly verify requests like this. In a somewhat similar case, I spoke to a victim who was stalked after someone posing as a U.S. Marshal tricked T-Mobile into handing over her phone’s location data.

Right To Repair CrayonMaster • 10 months ago • 99%

www.404media.co

>A judge rejected John Deere’s motion to dismiss a landmark class action lawsuit over the agricultural giant’s repair monopolies, paving the way for a trial that will determine whether the company’s repair practices are illegal >At issue are the many tactics Deere has used to make it more difficult and often impossible for farmers to repair their own tractors, from software locks and “parts pairing” that prevent farmers from replacing parts without the authorization of a Deere dealership >"Deere—by itself or through its agents—repeatedly made public statements that purchasers could make repairs to their own Tractors but the reality was that they couldn’t,” Johnson wrote.

www.eff.org

>A federal court on Thursday blocked Montana’s effort to ban TikTok from the state, ruling that the law violated users’ First Amendment rights to speak and to access information online, and the company’s First Amendment rights to select and curate users’ content. >“Ultimately, if Montana’s interest in consumer protection and protecting minors is to be carried out through legislation, the method sought to achieve those ends here was not narrowly tailored,” the court wrote. > The court’s decision this week joins a growing list of cases in which judges have halted state laws that unconstitutionally burden internet users’ First Amendment rights in the name of consumer privacy or child protection.

zillowgonewild CrayonMaster • 11 months ago • 96%

ETA: It has been brought to my attention that San Jose is not, in fact, a neighborhood in LA. Sorry, I'm from Iowa.

Privacy CrayonMaster • 11 months ago • 98%

www.eff.org

"Unless your data is fully encrypted or stored locally by you, the government often can get it from a communications or computing company. Traditionally, that required a court order. But increasingly, the government just buys it from data brokers who bought it from the adtech industry." "this corporate-government surveillance partnership has mostly evaded judicial review." "Police can also track people whose devices have been inside an immigration attorney’s office, a reproductive health clinic, or a mental health facility" "The Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act is bipartisan, commonsense law that would ban the U.S. government from purchasing data it would otherwise need a warrant to acquire. Moreover, with the invasive surveillance law Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act set to expire in December 2023, Congress has a chance to include a databroker limits in any bill that seeks to renew it."

www.eff.org

Network neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services The FCC will meet on October 19th to vote on proposing Title II reclassification that would support accompanying net neutrality protections

Technology CrayonMaster • 11 months ago • 98%

www.eff.org

Network neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services The FCC will meet on October 19th to vote on proposing Title II reclassification that would support accompanying net neutrality protections

Fanfiction of Our Own - A World Within and Beyond Fandoms CrayonMaster • 11 months ago • 100%

I noticed that I love Mariner/Boimler in fanfiction, but if it went cannon I'd be upset. Thoughts? Is this common?

Fanfiction of Our Own - A World Within and Beyond Fandoms CrayonMaster • 1 year ago • 100%

How long do you consider a normal length for a fic?

Fanfiction of Our Own - A World Within and Beyond Fandoms CrayonMaster • 1 year ago • 100%

What do writers look for in comments? I read a lot but I've only written a little. I'm working on writing more in-depth comments then "This is great! Can't wait to see where it goes!" but so far I'm really just setting word count goals and dragging it out until I meet them. What do writers want to read?

Books CrayonMaster • 1 year ago • 100%

Basically what it say on the tin. I just finished Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler) and I loved it. Any suggestions on what else I might like? It's been a while since I got into a scifi novel. Edit: It's come to my attention that there's a sequel. I'll start there then. Thank you everyone!