CiVL Dispatch

CiVL’s Newsroom. Transparency beats false neutrality. Currently in Beta. A project of @civldotcom

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

As Americans become increasingly aware of the privacy dangers posed by Flock cameras, some cities are cancelling their contracts with the controversial company only to turn around and sign new contracts with Axon, a competitor of Flock that offers ALPRs in addition to CCTV cameras, drones, body cameras, and unmanned ground vehicles.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

The July nonfarm payrolls report came in far below expectations—a loss of 23,000 jobs versus a projected 80,000 gain, with May and June revised down another 103,000 combined. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, but not for good reasons: the labor force shrank, pushing participation to its lowest level since February 2021.

Pete Earle, Senior Director of Research at the American Institute for Economic Research, breaks down what the numbers really say.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have created SpudCell, a synthetic cell assembled
entirely from non-living chemicals that can feed, grow, copy its DNA, and divide.

It isn't a fully self-sustaining organism—it only survives for around five generations—and the research is still awaiting peer review. But it's an impressive milestone in synthetic biology and could help scientists better understand how life emerges from chemistry.

Sometimes the biggest scientific breakthroughs begin with the world's weakest little cell.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

In late July, OpenAI and Anthropic announced that they had discovered different incidents where their AI models were able to break free from controlled environments and access the internet. In OpenAI’s case, the AI models breached American company Hugging Face.

What do these attacks mean for the future of AI and a free humanity?

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

Two recent court cases have addressed whether US government agents and law enforcement can legally search Americans' phones. Despite growing privacy concerns across the country, the courts ruled that the government can search phones without a warrant.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

The U.S. is proposing its first federal deep-sea mineral lease sale, opening the possibility of mining more than 31 million acres of Pacific seabed near American Samoa.

Strategic necessity or federal misstep?

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

A new report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation is warning about the dangers associated with wearable technology like smart watches, rings, and bands. Most of these technologies are not encrypted and the companies who own them offer little transparency on how the data gathered is being shared with third parties.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

As Americans are fighting against automatic license plate reads (ALPRs) across the country, the Los Angeles Police Department has allowed their contract with Flock to expire due to privacy concerns.

#CiVLDispatch #FlockCameras #ALPR #LAPD #PrivacyWins

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

On July 14th, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order halting the construction of all new data centers until further studies are conducted and the public is consulted. The move comes as public resistance and opposition to data centers continues to grow around the United States. 

#CiVLDispatch #DataCenters #NewYork #KathyHochul #PublicVoice

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

A federal appeals court has overturned an historic settlement against Clearview AI, a controversial data collection company known for scraping the internet to create one of the world’s largest facial recognition databases.

In 2024, Clearview was sued by Americans who found that the company violated Illinois’ legal protection against biometric data collection.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

The WHO published a 63-page draft roadmap outlining how pharmaceutical manufacturing can become more sustainable. Their new draft guideline proposes measuring everything from waste and water use to solvent recovery and carbon footprint while keeping good manufacturing practices front and center.

It's still a draft, and anyone can submit comments before August 5. Is this how we’ll get greener pharmaceuticals, or will this disadvantage smaller competitors, stifle innovation, and further insulate large pharmaceutical companies from their ecological responsibilities?

@WHO

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

What if conservation didn't just protect habitats, but preserved the genetic blueprint of species themselves?

A new partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colossal Biosciences aims to build a permanent genetic archive for approximately 2,300 endangered species, storing living cells and reproductive tissues at -321°F.

Potentially one of conservation’s most promising new tools, we may be able to change the strategy from DE extinction to PRE extinction interventions.

@colossal

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

As Flock surveillance cameras expand across the United States, law enforcement officers are being arrested for using the cameras to stalk people, including romantic interests.

At the same time, Americans are beginning to revolt against the technology by calling for the end of Flock contracts and
extreme measures like cutting down the cameras.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

Mammals are generally terrible at regeneration.

Salamanders can regrow limbs. Starfish can regrow arms. Humans lose a limb and just… cope.

But a new study suggests that at least some mammalian tissues may retain more regenerative potential than previously thought.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

There's more than one way to skin an axolotl.

Now that skin is helping other animals regenerate.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

The government is Colorado has entered the Trout Gender Wars.

This time for conservation.

[CiVL Dispatch @CiVLDispatch]

The House just passed the KIDS Act, a bill aimed at protecting kids from addictive apps and online pornography.

Supporters are calling it a long-overdue safeguard for the youngest generation. Critics warn it could open the door to something bigger: requiring every American to verify their identity just to get online.

Protection or precedent? Where's the line?