Posted: 27 Jan 2013 10:07 PM PST – It’s 2024, does this still exist ?

Today, January 28, is Data Privacy Day, when the world recognizes the importance of preserving your online privacy and security.
If it’s like most other days, Google—like many companies that provide online services to users—will receive dozens of letters, faxes and emails from government agencies and courts around the world requesting access to our users’ private account information. Typically this happens in connection with government investigations.
It’s important for law enforcement agencies to pursue illegal activity and keep the public safe. We’re a law-abiding company, and we don’t want our services to be used in harmful ways. But it’s just as important that laws protect you against overly broad requests for your personal information.
To strike this balance, we’re focused on three initiatives that I’d like to share, so you know what Google is doing to protect your privacy and security.
First, for several years we have advocated for updating laws like the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act, so the same protections that apply to your personal documents that you keep in your home also apply to your email and online documents. We’ll continue this effort strongly in 2013 through our membership in the Digital Due Process coalition and other initiatives.
Second, we’ll continue our long-standing strict process for handling these kinds of requests. When government agencies ask for our users’ personal information—like what you provide when you sign up for a Google Account, or the contents of an email—our team does several things:

We scrutinize the request carefully to make sure it satisfies the law and our policies. For us to consider complying, it generally must be made in writing, signed by an authorized official of the requesting agency and issued under an appropriate law.
We evaluate the scope of the request. If it’s overly broad, we may refuse to provide the information or seek to narrow the request. We do this frequently.
We notify users about legal demands when appropriate so that they can contact the entity requesting it or consult a lawyer. Sometimes we can’t, either because we’re legally prohibited (in which case we sometimes seek to lift gag orders or unseal search warrants) or we don’t have their verified contact information.
We require that government agencies conducting criminal investigations use a search warrant to compel us to provide a user’s search query information and private content stored in a Google Account—such as Gmail messages, documents, photos and YouTube videos. We believe a warrant is required by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure and overrides conflicting provisions in ECPA.

And third, we work hard to provide you with information about government requests. Today, for example, we’ve added a new section to our Transparency Report that answers many questions you might have. And last week we released data showing that government requests continue to rise, along with additional details on the U.S. legal processes—such as subpoenas, court orders and warrants—that government use to compel us to provide this information.
We’re proud of our approach, and we believe it’s the right way to make sure governments can pursue legitimate investigations while we do our best to protect your privacy and security.

Posted by David Drummond, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer

~ Culture & History

70th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation

01/27/2025 Nativegrl77

A Holocaust survivor stands outside a detention block of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

Some 300 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz for the 70th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation by the Soviet Red Army in 1945, down from 1,500 who attended the event 10 years ago.(AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

This Week in Labor History: 1/21 – 1/27

01/27/2025 Nativegrl77

Indian field hands at San Juan Capistrano mission refused to work, engaging in what was probably the first farmworker strike in California – 1826

Birth of Terence V. Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor – 1849

The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio, with the merger of the Knights of Labor Trade Assembly No. 135 and the National Progressive Miners Union – 1890

Five hundred New York City tenants battle police to prevent evictions – 1932

Resource: aftguild.org

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

New Laws in 2025

01/27/2025 Nativegrl77

Inslee imposes government spending freeze amid projected revenue shortfall
State minimum wage increase to $16.66 per hour ¹ ³.
Expanded paid sick leave for employees with school-aged kids ¹.
New license plate law: having a cover over your license plate will result in a fine ².
Law aimed at enhancing safety for vulnerable road users ⁴.
Legislators have begun pre-filing bills for the 2025 session ⁵
Rideshare drivers’ minimum pay-In 2025, drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft will earn a guaranteed wage based on time and mileage. For trips within the city limits of Seattle, drivers will earn at least 68 cents for each minute a driver is carrying passengers and $1.59 for each mile during the trip. If that number is below $5.95, the driver will earn a guaranteed minimum of $5.95 per trip. For trips outside of Seattle, drivers will earn 39 cents per minute of a trip and $1.34 for every mile driven during that time. The minimum trip amount earned will be $3.45. Food delivery drivers are not covered by the law—only drivers transporting passengers. Seattle also will provide several deactivation-related protections for “app-based workers.”
Health care facilities cannot mandate overtime for some health care workers. A new law clearly defines who is an “employee.” Hospital employees “involved in direct patient care” cannot be required to work overtime. To be eligible, the employees must be employees of the hospital and either receive an hourly wage or be covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Employees involved in patient care include nurses, surgeons, social workers, physician assistants, and more. Contracted or travel staff will not be included under the new law.The law includes exceptions for emergency situations, if an employee is pre-scheduled to be on-call, if the mandatory overtime is required to complete a patient care procedure already in progress, and if the hospital makes “reasonable efforts to obtain staffing” but is unable to avoid overtime.Hospitals are required to document the “reasonable efforts” and will be subject to penalties if they are found to not comply.Although the law went into effect Wednesday, the law will not expand the definition of a “covered employee” for facilities with fewer than 25 beds until July 1, 2025.
Seattle parking fines ~ Seattle parking violations have increased for the first time in 14 years. Fines have raised from a range of $29-$53 up to $43-78. The Seattle Municipal Court said the new penalties bring the fines in alignment with the current parking rates and account for inflation.
Southern Resident orca distance ~ Washington boaters must now stay at least 1,000 yeards away from Southern Resident killer whales at all times.The new rules were passed into law in 2023 and went into effect Wednesday. The regulations amend a previous bill, bumping the distance from 300 yards to 1,000.If a Southern Resident orca approaches a vessel within 400 yards, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) said the new law requires boaters to first stop anything that is propelling the vessel—including cutting transmission, lowering sails, or stopping paddling.Boaters must also attempt to navigate out of the path or away from the whales at a speed of seven knots or fewer.
Free college tuition ~ This new law that provides college tuition for some students does not launch at the beginning of the year. Starting with the 2025-2026 academic year, 10th-12th grade students who receive Basic Food or Food Assistance Program benefits will automatically qualify to receive financial aid from the Washington College Grant (WCG). Students covered under this law will have their income eligibility certified by the Washington Student Achievement Council. According to WCG’s website, the grant “gives eligible people more money for more types of education like certificate programs, job training, apprenticeships, or college.”

Source: Internet

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

on this day 1/27, Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews and millions of other People

01/27/2025 Nativegrl77

World

1606 – The trial of Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators began. They were executed on January 31.

1880 – Thomas Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp.

1888 – The National Geographic Society was founded in Washington, DC.

1900 – In China, foreign diplomats in Peking, fearing a revolt, demanded that the imperial government discipline the Boxer rebels.

1926 – John Baird, a Scottish inventor, demonstrated a pictorial transmission machine called television.

1927 – United Independent Broadcasters Inc. started a radio network with contracts with 16 stations. The company later became Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

1931 – NBC radio debuted “Clara, Lu ’n’ Em” on its Blue network (later, ABC radio).

1943 – During World War II, the first all American air raid against Germany took place when about 50 bombers attacked Wilhlemshaven.

1944 – The Soviet Union announced that the two year German siege of Leningrad had come to an end.

1945 – Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

1948 – Wire Recording Corporation of America announced the first magnetic tape recorder. The ‘Wireway’ machine with a built-in oscillator sold for $149.50.

1951 – In the U.S., atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.

1957 – The “CBS Radio Workshop” was heard for the first time.

1967 – At Cape Kennedy, FL, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft.

1967 – More than 60 nations signed the Outer Space Treaty which banned the orbiting of nuclear weapons and placing weapons on celestial bodies or space stations.

1973 – The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

1977 – The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on female priests.

1981 – U.S. President Reagan greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran at the White House.

1984 – Carl Lewis beat his own two-year-old record by 9-1/4 inches when he set a new indoor world record with a long-jump mark of 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches.

1984 – Wayne Gretzky set a National Hockey League (NHL) record for consecutive game scoring. He ended the streak at 51 games.

1985 – The Coca-Cola Company, of Atlanta, GA, announced a plan to sell its soft drinks in the Soviet Union.

1996 – Mahamane Ousmane, the first democratically elected president of Niger, was overthrown by a military coup. Colonel Ibrahim Bare Mainassara declared himself head of state.

1997 – It was revealed that French national museums were holding nearly 2,000 works of art stolen from Jews by the Nazis during World War II.

1999 – The U.S. Senate blocked dismissal of the impeachment case against President Clinton and voted for new testimony from Monica Lewinsky and two other witnesses.

2002 – A series of explosions occurred at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria. More than 1,000 people were killed in the blast and in the attempt to escape.

2003 – Altria Group, Inc. became the name of the parent company of Kraft Foods, Philip Morris USA, Philip Morris International and Philip Morris Capital Corporation.

2010 – Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPad