In the case filed in federal court in San Jose, a group of named plaintiffs have sued Google for violating the federal Wiretap Act by scanning emails sent or received via its Gmail service for words and content, and intentionally intercepting messages between non-Gmail subscribers and subscribers. “The ruling means federal and state wiretap laws apply to the internet. It’s a tremendous victory for online privacy."   read more

A United Nations-sponsored panel of international scientists that convened in Stockholm says it is 95% certain that humans are the “dominant cause” of global warming over the last six decades. That leaves about a 5% chance for the naysayers to clutch onto. But really, experts insist, more than half of the planet’s temperature increases have been caused by humans during the past six decades.   read more

The Farmers Assurance Provision, which critics labeled the “Monsanto Protection Act,” would have allowed biotechnology companies like Monsanto to sell GMO seeds to farmers even after a court blocked their sale. But members of the Senate prevented the plan from being included in a House continuing resolution used to keep the government funded.   read more

The U.S. Senate is considering a change to the Free Flow of Information Act (FFIA), which protects journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources. Under the proposed amendment (pdf), a “journalist” would be more narrowly defined, and it would exclude many independent reporters and bloggers from avoiding court subpoenas.   read more

47% of all U.S. employees are in professions that are vulnerable to being taken over by robots or computers as high-tech advances continue. After examining more than 700 job listings, Frey and Osborne concluded that computers today could replace many people working in transportation, administrative support and other jobs. Given current technology, the jobs that are most vulnerable to computer takeover are ones that pay the least.   read more

USIS wa spun off from OPM in July 1996, during the Bill Clinton administration. Essentially, OPM’s security and investigations unit was privatized as USIS, which retained those OPM employees as part of the company. When the private firm was launched, the government awarded it a three-year non-competitive contract. With 100 active federal contracts under its belt, USIS stands as the government’s largest private contractor handling background checks.   read more

Ten members of Congress who have benefited from government-funded farm subsidies voted last week to reduce funding for food stamps that help poor people eat. Rice farmer Doug LaMalfa led the pack. He and his wife, Jill, own one–third of DSL Lamalfa Family Partnership, which received $188,570 in direct payments in 2012 and $5,132,156 total since 1995.   read more

Several states are paying private prison companies for housing prisoners who don’t exist, according to a new report from the advocacy group In the Public Interest. And there’s not much they can do, because of “occupancy clauses” in many private prison contracts that guarantee revenue even when prison populations decline. The report found quotas for prisoners ranging from 70% to 100% in nearly two-thirds of them. Most of the contracts mandated that at least 90% of prison beds be filled.   read more

“This case started as one featuring allegations of brazen abuse of authority, violation of the law and corruption of the criminal justice system,” the Judge Englehardt wrote. “Unfortunately though the focus has shifted from the accused to the accusers, it has continued to be about those very issues.”   read more

A new study published in the Journal of Patient Safety estimates that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients annually don’t make it out of hospitals because of some kind of preventable harm. This means hospital deaths are now the third leading cause of death in the U.S., behind only heart disease (No. 1) and cancer (No. 2).   read more

These workers, who assist seniors and disabled with everyday living, have been exempt from federal wage laws since 1974. At that time the government categorized home care aides as doing work similar to babysitting, which was Washington’s way of saying they didn’t deserve the same rights as most other types of employees. But with America’s senior population rapidly growing because of aging Baby Boomers, demand for home health care has increased dramatically.   read more

The surfacing of the report follows the deadly attack at the DC Navy Yard, where contractor Aaron Alexis used his access card to enter a building and kill 12 civilians and injure many more. He was in the employ of The Experts, a Hewlett-Packard IT subcontractor, whose job was to perform maintenance on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, the department’s in-house system. Alexis had a history of gun-related arrests and mental health issues before the attack.   read more

This situation has existed for decades since the country closed down many large psychiatric hospitals in the 1970s. Community-based care was supposed to take the place of the hospitals, but that didn’t develop as planned. The result: thousands of mentally ill wound up on the streets, where they got into trouble and landed in the only place that could take them: jails. The U.S. Department of Justice says up to 64% of inmates at local jails have mental health problems.   read more

More than 100 committees and subcommittees claim jurisdiction over DHS. This results in the agency spending inordinate amount of time just responding to congressional requests, instead of focusing on potential threats. “Think of having 100 bosses,” said Kean. “Think of reporting to 100 people. It makes no sense. You could not do your job under those circumstances.” In 2009 alone, the agency spent the equivalent of 66 “work-years” responding to congressional inquiries.   read more

Only 52% of middle-income households had savings in a retirement account in 2010, but their savings came to only 8.12% of total savings in retirement accounts. In contrast, 88% of the households in the top income-fifth had retirement accounts, which came to 72% of total retirement savings. White households have more than six times as much saved in retirement accounts as Hispanic and black households, which is even larger than differences in participation.   read more

If convicted, the company faces a fine of $25,000 a day per violation. The leak went on for about 65 days, beginning on November 10, 2010. If Exxon ended up having to pay the full amount for eight violations, it would have to dole out approximately $13 million…less than the annual compensation for XTO CEO Keith A. Hutton.   read more