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Submission + - Theranos' Holmes May Pursue 'Mental Disease' In Her Defense (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Former Theranos Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes is exploring a “mental disease” defense for her criminal fraud trial, in one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched cases. That possibility was revealed Wednesday when the judge overseeing the case ruled that government prosecutors can examine Holmes. The ruling was in response to the failed blood-testing startup founder’s plan to introduce evidence of “mental disease or defect” or other mental condition “bearing on the issue of guilt,” according to the filing. Holmes may be seeking to introduce the evidence to challenge the requirement that prosecutors prove her intent to do something wrong or illegal.

Holmes intends to use testimony from Mindy Mechanic, a clinical psychologist at California State University at Fullerton, according to the filing. Mechanic is an expert on the psychosocial consequences of trauma, with a focus on violence against women, and often provides expert testimony in cases involving “interpersonal violence,” according to her faculty profile on the school’s website. Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at the University of Michigan law school, said mounting a so-called insanity defense won’t be easy, as the defendant must meet a high standard of proof. “Contrary to what you may see in the movies, an insanity defense in federal cases is rare and hard to fake,” McQuade said in an email. Holmes must show that, at the time she committed the alleged offenses, a severe mental defect made her “unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of (her) acts.” In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila rejected Holmes’s argument that she shouldn’t have to submit to a psychological examination by government experts. The judge ruled that such an examination is fair given Holmes’s intent to use testimony from Mechanic. Davila also ruled, over Holmes’s objections, that the examination of the former CEO will be videotaped. Holmes’s lawyers argued the recording would “negatively affect the tenor or the interview,” according to the ruling.

Submission + - Japan on Track to Introduce Flying Taxi Services in 2023 (ieee.org)

damitr writes: > Last Friday, start-up company SkyDrive Inc. demonstrated the progress made since then when it held a press conference to spotlight its prototype vehicle and show reporters a video taken three days earlier of the craft undergoing a piloted test flight in front of staff and investors.

> Also in 2018, the Japanese government formed the Public-Private Conference for Air Mobility made up of private companies, universities, and government ministries. The stated aim was to make flying vehicles a reality by 2023. Tomohiko Kojima of Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau told Spectrum that since the Conference’s formation, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has held a number of meetings with members to discuss matters like airspace for eVTOL use, flight rules, and permitted altitudes. “And last month, the Ministry established a working-level group to discuss certification standards for eVTOLs, a standard for pilots, and operational safety standards,” Kojima added.

> “What SkyDrive is proposing is entirely do-able,” says Wright. “Almost all rotor-only eVTOL projects are limited to sub-30-minute endurance, which, with safety reserves, equate to about 10 to 20 minutes flying.”

This I think is a rather achievable target.

Submission + - The Big Tesla Hack: A hacker gained control over the entire fleet (electrek.co)

AmiMoJo writes: A few years ago, a hacker managed to exploit vulnerabilities in Tesla’s servers to gain access and control over the automaker’s entire fleet. In July 2017, Tesla CEO Elon Musk got on stage at the National Governors Association in Rhode Islandand confirmed that a “fleet-wide hack” is one of Tesla’s biggest concerns as the automaker moves to autonomous vehicles. What Musk knew that the public didn’t was that Tesla got a taste of that actually happening just a few months prior to his talk.

Back in 2017, Jason Hughes was already well known in the Tesla community under his WK057 alias on the forums. The hacker told Electrek: “I realized a few of these things could be chained together, the official term is a bug chain, to gain more access to other things on their network. Eventually, I managed to access a sort of repository of server images on their network, one of which was ‘Mothership’.” Mothership is the name of Tesla’s home server used to communicate with its customer fleet.

After downloading and dissecting the data found in the repository, Hughes started using his car’s VPN connection to poke at Mothership. He eventually landed on a developer network connection. That’s when he found a bug in Mothership itself that enabled him to authenticate as if it was coming from any car in Tesla’s fleet. All he needed was a vehicle’s VIN number, and he had access to all of those through Tesla’s “tesladex” database thanks to his complete control of Mothership, and he could get information about any car in the fleet and even send commands to those cars.

It’s at that point that Hughes decided to compile a bug report. Within minutes of receiving that email on that Friday afternoon in March of 2017, Tesla called Hughes. Hughes asked Tesla to give him the VIN number of the Tesla vehicle closest to him. The hacker proceeded to “summon” the car, which was in California, from his home in North Carolina.

Submission + - Google Geofence data exonorates black man after he spent 15 months in jail (cbs46.com)

McGruber writes: Keith Sylvester, an Atlanta man wrongfully accused of killing his parents who were found dead in a burning home, is now a free man after Google geofence data identified another man as the murderer.

“I had been telling them since 2018 that I was innocent,” said Sylvester. “I was held in jail for almost 15 months and I wrote just about everybody and they finally released me in March.”

Officers accused Sylvester of strangling his parents and then setting their home on fire to get rid of evidence, but there was video evidence that he was not at the scene at the time of murders. “It’s not just the video evidence from the convenient stores, it’s also his cell phone GPS data that they had, it’s also dash camera in his own car that recorded his location throughout the night. Putting all that evidence together it’s impossible to reconcile him being there at a time when he could’ve started a fire,” said Sylvester's attorney Zack Greenamyre.

In a statement District Attorney Paul Howard said they dropped the charges after their Major Felonies Unit conducted their own independent investigation. During the process they acquired a Google geofence search warrant which identified Cornelius Muckle as the culprit. The statement went on to say Muckle’s cell phone was inside the house at the time of the crimes and he has now been charged with the murders.

As for Sylvester, his attorney says that much of the information exonerating him was known at the time of his arrest. He says the officers ignored the evidence and should be held accountable.

Submission + - SPAM: These Scientists Are Giving Themselves D.I.Y. Coronavirus Vaccines

schwit1 writes: As governments around the world scramble to approve a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus, an increasing number of scientists have started administering DIY vaccines to themselves and even their friends and family members.

The methods, results, and claims have varied widely among the dozens of scientists around the world who have taken this unconventional route.

One such effort is by scientist Johnny Stine, who runs North Coast Biologics, a biotech company in Seattle. In June, Washington attorney general slapped Stine with a lawsuit for administering his DIY vaccine to San Juan Island Mayor Farhad Ghatan and around 30 people, charging them $400.

Another vaccine effort going outside FDA approval is the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative, or RaDVaC, which has among its 23 collaborators Harvard geneticist George Church.

Proponents have welcomed the idea of going outside the normal regulatory process, given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic. But critics say these DIY vaccines are not being put to the test of placebo-controlled studies and could have unforeseen negative consequences.

Link to Original Source

Submission + - Auto Industry Claims Right to Repair Benefits Sexual Predators (vice.com)

EmagGeek writes: A camera slowly stalks a woman walking to her SUV in a desolate, empty parking garage. “If question 1 passes in Massachusetts, anyone could access the most personal data stored in your vehicle,” a narrator says. “Domestic violence advocates say a sexual predator could use the data to stalk their victims. Pinpoint exactly where you are. Whether you are alone ” The woman’s keys jingle as she approaches her car. The camera gets closer. The woman whips her head around. The stalker has found her. The screen flashes to black. “Vote NO on 1,” the narrator says.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents nearly every major auto manufacturer in the United States, is funding this and a series of other TV ads like it to scare Massachusetts residents into voting against a ballot measure that would expand the state’s already existing right to repair law to ensure that you can continue to get your car fixed by anyone you want. The ads heavily imply—and at times state outright—that the legislation would somehow lead women to be stalked and sexually assaulted, a charge that cybersecurity experts say has no grounding in reality. Instead, the auto industry wants to ensure that when your car breaks, you have to take it to a manufacturer “authorized” mechanic or the dealer itself.

I've seen a lot of horse shit in my time, but this is pretty high up on the list.

United States

The Gig Economy Is Failing. Say Hello to the Hustle Economy. (medium.com) 109

An anonymous reader shares a report: "We have nothing to sell besides physical touch." The thought jarred Amber Briggle awake some nights. It kept her from eating in the first week of the Covid-19 shutdown when she lost six pounds fretting over the sudden collapse of the business she'd built up her "entire adult life." For seven years, Briggle has owned a massage studio called Soma in Denton, Texas. She grew the operation from a pop-up in her house to a mini-empire with a wall of local "best of" awards. But when Texas Governor Greg Abbott closed businesses statewide on March 21, Briggle realized in an instant it could all be over. Her bills totaled more than $3,000 per month, and it wasn't as if she could give massages from home. "I had nothing, literally nothing," Briggle said. "And this is my life's work. I spent the entire first week crying. What else could I do about it?" Then, in the second week of the shutdown, during a pro-bono consultation with a local business advisor, she was asked if she'd ever considered a Patreon.

As the consultant explained, the digital-subscription platform -- once home mainly to YouTubers and podcast hosts -- had also become an ad hoc safety net for thousands of teachers, cashiers, line cooks, and hairstylists who lost work with the onset of stay-at-home orders. It wasn't just Patreon, either, which added more than 100,000 new users between mid-March and July. OnlyFans reported daily six-figure sign-ups on its popular cam site. Etsy logged 115,000 new sellers in the first three months of the year, more than double the past two years' user growth. Teachable, which lets people make and sell online courses, signed on 14,000 new creators between March and July, and in July reported its first quarterly revenue over $10 million.

Comment Re:You don't need to be a millennial to keep your (Score 2) 322

I'd rather work at a place where my performance matters, not bullshit superficial appearances.

Agreed. Wondering if this will have any measurable repercussions? Less than two decades ago, I remember coming across the old adage "nobody ever got fired for picking big blue". Is any backlash relevant? (With the sale of client/server to Lenovo what seems like ages ago). As a GenX IT consultant, IBM just rose to the top of my sh!t list. Odds are they aren't the only one doing this, they just got caught and made El Reg. Would like to know the outcome of this case. Seems like a David vs. Goliath. It'd be nice to do more than just send good wishes to Jonathan Langley. Like a KickStarter for his legal team, or a GoFundMe for his (inevitable) side-gig (not mentioned in TFA).

IBM sucks, which was apparent nearly a century ago. How is this not a modern-day twist on Dehomag, 45 notwithstanding?

Comment Re:Good news (Score 1) 391

Well, when you have gun control advocates in Congress trying to pass laws regulating things that they know absolutely nothing about... you get the current state of affairs.

How Carolyn McCarthy thinks a heat shroud is a defining characteristic of an "assault weapon", and then describes it was "a shoulder thing that goes up".. yeah. Enjoy your laws.

Comment Re:Lower Receiver? (Score 1) 391

Barrels are not serialized.

Bullets can be matched up to a point. What you're describing are known an individual characteristics, which are the unique properties of each barrel. Those properties change through regular wear and tear, or by deliberate action such as running a file or other abrasive down the barrel. My hunting rifle is a tack driver, but over time it will start getting worse and worse due to wear. In my case, it will happen quickly as the rifle is a magnum. If I were a suspect, the cops would need to get hold of my rifle quickly before I go for target practice because the properties of my barrel would change. In my case, I'd go to the range and fire off a munch rounds in quick succession, heating up the barrel so it wears faster. My rifle is uncommon enough that just based on the class characteristics, it may be enough to stand up in court.

On certain rifles, such as anything from Savage or an AR, it's pretty easy to change out a barrel, or even change the caliber entirely. I can change out a Savage barrel in about 20 minutes.

Of course, this is assuming that you have a suspect and a rifle to test.

Comment Re:Fabricating an assualt rifle in California... (Score 1) 391

None of the rifles you linked to are assault rifles, and the definition of what an assault rifle is is most definitely settled. This vendor has absolutely no idea of what an assault rifle is (in one case, he's selling an "assalut" rifle), or is attempting to capitalize on idiots who think they're buying a rifle capable of select fire.

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