cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27054525

> The Trump administration aims to "ultimately collapse the system" that allows tens of millions of Americans to collect their earned Social Security benefits each month, said one leading advocate for the system Wednesday after officials announced a major change to the Social Security Administration. > > Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek claimed the agency needs to "identity-proof" Social Security beneficiaries as he told reporters that millions of people will now be required to verify their identities using an online system—and will have to provide documentation at local field offices if they're unable to use the SSA website's verification system. > > The change is set to take effect March 31 and comes as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, his billionaire ally whom he named to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) with the aim of slashing government jobs and spending, have baselessly claimed that the Social Security system is riddled with fraud and sends benefits to millions of deceased Americans and to undocumented immigrants. > > A source at the SSA told Judd Legum, author of the newsletter Popular Information, that there are "no significant concerns about fraud at intake" and said the change is aimed at creating "additional hurdles to filing claims and [overwhelming] the system." > > Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, noted that for decades, senior citizens and people with disabilities who rely on Social Security payments have been able to verify their identities over the phone when applying for benefits. > > "The new process would force seniors and people with disabilities to navigate a needless technical hurdle in applying for their earned benefits. If these claimants (who do not always have computers or smartphones, reliable internet service, or the technical skills to complete the process online) cannot verify their identity online, they would have to call SSA via the already overburdened phone line to set up an appointment, and travel in person to an SSA field office," said Richtman. > > "The combination of fewer workers, fewer offices, and a massive increase in the demand for in-person services could sabotage the Social Security system." > > With DOGE pushing to cut 7,000 jobs within the SSA and close at least 47 regional and local field offices, the change would particularly harm the ability of people in rural areas, with mobility limitations, and with limited internet access to obtain their monthly benefits. > > "The combination of fewer workers, fewer offices, and a massive increase in the demand for in-person services could sabotage the Social Security system," said Legum, who reported on the SSA memo on Monday. > > Doris Diaz, the SSA acting deputy commissioner for operations, is among those who have warned Dudek against forcing seniors to verify their identities online, saying the change would cause longer wait and processing times and would send an estimated 75,000-85,000 beneficiaries to increasingly understaffed field offices per week. > > Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, which works to counter right-wing claims about Social Security and lobbies to strengthen the system, told Common Dreams that "despite Leland Dudek's claims, the only thing putting the American people's personal Social Security data at risk is that Dudek turned it over to DOGE operatives." > > The new plan "will make it far harder for the American people to claim their earned benefits. It could even cause major delays, and ultimately collapse the system, by overwhelming the field offices," said Altman. > > "It is part of what appears to be an ongoing effort to cause Social Security to collapse," she added. > > Richtman said that the only "rational conclusion" regarding the coming change in SSA operations is that Trump and Musk want to "undermine public support for Social Security by rendering the SSA dysfunctional, so that the program can be squeezed for cash, cut, and privatized." > > "Intentionally erecting obstacles for the people who've earned these benefits (and who pay for SSA operations with every paycheck) betrays at the least an indifference—and more likely, an outright hostility—to the elderly, people with disabilities, their families, and survivors who rely on Social Security," said Richtman. "One has to ask why the world's richest man—who has received in the tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts—is targeting the agency that helps so many Americans keep their heads above water financially."

cross-posted from: https://tldr.nettime.org/users/remixtures/statuses/114190193296489346

> "In 2006, a retired AT&T engineer knocked on the door of the EFF's office in a rundown part of San Francisco's Mission district and asked, "Do you folks care about privacy?" With him he carried schematics exposing the largest US government domestic spying operation since Watergate. > > That person was Mark Klein, who died on March 8 this year from cancer. He was 79. > > After a life working in telecoms, Klein realized he had helped the NSA wire up a listening station in AT&T's San Francisco switching facility - the infamous Room 641A - that was being used to illegally spy on Americans. > > The evidence he gathered and shared led to two lawsuits that exposed the extent to which US citizens were being spied on by their own government in the post-9/11 world. Klein faced legal pressure, death threats, and the constant fear of ruin, to get his story out and tell the public what was going on. But Klein regretted nothing." > > https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/15/rip_mark_klein/ > > #USA #NSA #Surveillance #ATT #MassSurveillance #PoliceState #Privacy

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/25295351

> Clearview AI spent nearly a million dollars in a bid to purchase “690 million arrest records and 390 million arrest photos” from all 50 states, court records reveal.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27372199

> Rasha Abou Jalal > Mar 18, 2025 > > No one in Gaza feels safe. Israeli warplanes circle the skies nonstop, bombing civilian homes mercilessly, killing dozens without reason. > > The airstrikes last night killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 174 children, 89 women, and 32 elderly people. > > We’re still in shock. My eight-year-old daughter can no longer sleep. > > I tried to comfort her, to help her sleep, but she kept waking up crying. She told me, “Mama, every time I close my eyes, I feel like another bomb is falling on us.” >

cross-posted from: https://quokk.au/post/3723750

> But many residents say they are being shut out of the opportunities that corporate tourism giants will seize. “They tell us this will bring prosperity, but we can’t invest. And the little money they’re offering us to leave barely buys a house, let alone land to farm,” says Adan Sosa, an agricultural worker who says he was offered $75,000 (£58,000) for his home and a separate plot where he grows crops. > > The rising cost of land near the airport has made it almost impossible for small businesses and local vendors to establish themselves in the new economy, leaving many to ponder who will genuinely benefit. > > Land prices in the area have soared by up to 3,200% since 2000, making ownership unattainable for most residents.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58469061

> Summary > > The EU warns that Trump-aligned tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, pose an "existential threat" by pressuring Brussels to weaken its digital regulations. > > Trump has threatened tariffs on countries enforcing strict rules on U.S. tech firms, with Musk openly mocking EU governance. > > Brussels insists on its right to regulate disinformation and antitrust issues but faces growing U.S. retaliation. > > The dispute could escalate into a trade war, with both sides preparing countermeasures.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19515961

> Archived version > > Nearly 200 advocacy groups have urged [U.S.] Democratic representatives to “proactively and affirmatively” reject potential industry attempts to obtain immunity from litigation. > > “We have reason to believe that the fossil fuel industry and its allies will use the chaos and overreach of the new Trump administration to attempt yet again to…shield themselves from facing consequences for their decades of pollution and deception,” reads a letter to Congress on Wednesday. It was signed by 195 environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and Sunrise Movement; legal nonprofits including the American Association for Justice and Public Justice; and dozens of other organizations. > > Over the last decade, states and municipalities have brought more than 30 lawsuits accusing big oil of intentionally covering up the climate risks of their products, and seeking potentially billions in damages. The defendants have worked to kill the cases, with limited success. > > Now, with Republicans in control of the White House and both congressional chambers, advocates fear the industry will go further, pursuing total immunity from all existing and future climate lawsuits. To do so, they could lobby for a liability waiver like the one granted to the firearms industry in 2005, which has successfully blocked most attempts to hold them accountable for violence. > > [...] > > [Edit typo.]

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19430914

> Archived copy of the article

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/nottheonion@lemmy.world/t/1903996

> Nothing quite says “high-performance muscle car” like a popup ad for a Mopar Extended Warranty covering your whole center console. That’s right, Dodge Charger owners are now experiencing an exciting new feature: pop-up ads that appear every time the vehicle stops at a light. This absolute garbage feature was spotted in the wild, take a look here.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/33467614

> > DataBreaches.net declined to comply, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26375626

> >A team of volunteer archivists has recreated the Centers for Disease Control website exactly as it was the day Donald Trump was inaugurated. The site, called RestoredCDC.org, went live Tuesday and is currently being hosted in Europe. > > > >As we have been following since the beginning of Trump’s second term, websites across the entire federal government have been altered and taken offline under this administration’s war on science, health, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Critical information promoting vaccines, HIV care, reproductive health options including abortion, and trans and gender confirmation healthcare have been purged from the CDC’s live website under Trump. Disease surveillance data about bird flu and other concerns have either been delayed or have stopped being updated entirely. Some deleted pages across the government have at least temporarily been restored thanks to a court order, but the Trump administration has added a note rejecting “gender ideology” to some of them. > > >“Our goal is to provide a resource that includes the information and data previously available,” the team wrote. “We are committed to providing the previously available webpages and data, from before the potential tampering occurred. Our approach is to be as transparent as possible about our process. We plan to gather archival data and then remove CDC logos and branding, using GitHub to host our code to create the site.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26347636

> Arellano’s article focused on the KKK’s place in Anaheim city politics a century ago. The AI-generated alternate viewpoint downplayed the KKK’s history there, saying that “local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of ‘white Protestant culture’ responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement.” A screenshot of the summary, taken by Mac, also noted that “critics argue that focusing on past Klan influence distracts from Anaheim’s modern identity as a diverse city.”