“Since the 2013 Edward Snowden leaks, surveillance and debates surrounding it have become part of the American experience. In recent years, Ring video doorbell users have successfully pushed back against the company’s policy of sharing data with police departments. A nationwide movement is demanding the discontinuation of Flock Cameras, a widely adopted automatic license plate reader that gathers data on anyone who drives past. However, another concerning surveillance trend has flown under the radar. Since 2023, local and state police departments across the country have purchased technology for real-time monitoring of smart devices from the Israeli firm Cognyte Solutions LP.” (08/28/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thiago VS Coelho
“The federal government has discovered another menace to the republic: the vacuum cleaner. In July, the Federal Communications Commission added foreign-produced ‘advanced robotic devices’ to its Covered List, generally preventing new models from receiving the authorization needed to be imported, marketed, or sold in the United States. Although early headlines emphasized Chinese humanoid robots and mechanical dogs, Sean Hollister reported in The Verge that the rule also encompasses robotic vacuums, lawnmowers, delivery machines, and many warehouse robots. It potentially applies to almost any wireless, software-controlled ground robot weighing more than 4.4 pounds and capable of perceiving its surroundings.” (08/28/26)
“The U.S. military, in conjunction with Ecuadorian officials, boarded and later sank a vessel on Friday allegedly used as a refueling station for drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to U.S. Southern Command. The vessel, which was in international waters near Ecuador, was allegedly used as a floating ship-to-ship refueling station for drug boats belonging to the Los Choneros organization. The ship was boarded by Marines and sailors from the USS San Antonio and cleared without incident, SOCOM said. The people taken off the boat were then taken to Ecuador, and the U.S. sank the boat with an airstrike, SOCOM said, which also provided video of the ship being scuttled.” (08/29/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by staff
“Meta agreed on Wednesday to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle lawsuits brought by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 47 states and several territories. The lawsuits, which accused the company of harming young people through the design of their speech platforms, relied on untested legal theories that faced serious First Amendment challenges. Nonetheless, as part of the settlement, Meta agreed to a series of design changes for minors, including a two-hour daily limit, mandatory pauses to interrupt scrolling, blackouts between midnight and 6 a.m., the elimination of visible like counts, and more robust age verification tools. Some are cheering the settlement. But Americans should understand the consequences: These features cannot be implemented without adults having to prove their identity to access protected speech.” (08/28/26)
“Blackstone offer a convenient target for public frustration. But a local push to ‘legalize starter homes’ is doing the less theatrical work of increasing supply.” (08/28/26)
“Towards the beginning of the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles, Sheriff Bart, confronted by hostile but not especially bright townspeople, takes himself hostage to make his escape. It’s hilarious precisely because it makes no sense. Just as nuts but less funny is the recent confrontation between United States President Donald Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney in which the Canadian matched the American’s protectionist threats by vowing to force his own people to pay high tariffs on goods imported from the U.S. It’s silver-screen-quality idiocy, but it’s not very entertaining if you understand the advantages of free trade and the pointlessness of holding your own side hostage.” (08/28/26)
“[N]early everyone is online now, to some degree. And to be online means that you have, at your disposal, the equivalent of both a printing press and international distribution syndicate at your fingertips. Like the old press, having those things does not guarantee you an audience; and indeed, precisely because these things are available to everyone, the competition for audiences is more fierce than it has ever been. Your odds of casually taking an audience for yourself are quite low. Individual odds aside, in aggregate this does mean that new ‘presses’ are popping up all the time. And given such presses begin their existence as the product of amateurs, they lack the kinds of norms and ethics that might constrain a buttoned up, professionalized operation.” (08/28/26)
