Information like this is useful for navigation. But the exact same data that is used to predict traffic patterns can also be used to predict other kinds of information – information people might not be comfortable with revealing. For example, data about a mobile phone’s past location and movement patterns can be used to predict where a person lives, who their employer is, where they attend religious services and the age range of their children based on where they drop them off for school.

These predictions label who you are as a person and guess what you’re likely to do in the future. Research shows that people are largely unaware that these predictions are possible, and, if they do become aware of it, don’t like it. In my view, as someone who studies how predictive algorithms affect people’s privacy, that is a major problem for digital privacy in the US.

"An iAPI system allows for a two-way communication in near real-time. The airlines transmit the API message on a per-person basis to the requesting authorities at the time of check-in, while law enforcement agencies have the opportunity to decide whether a certain person is allowed or not to board a plane by issuing a board/no-board message."

Think about what this means, the self-proclaimed "largest regional security organization in the world" the OSCE, wants to conduct background checks of every airline passenger in the world. "The work of the OSCE spans the globe, encompassing three continents - North America, Europe and Asia - and more than a billion people." Giving a private organization the ability to control the right to travel of nearly 8 billion people is horrifying.

America sure used to be the greatest country in the world … We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reason. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reason. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy.

We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed… by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

We have managed to survive crackdowns, clampdowns, shutdowns, showdowns, shootdowns, standdowns, knockdowns, putdowns, breakdowns, lockdowns, takedowns, slowdowns, meltdowns, and never-ending letdowns.

We’ve been held up, stripped down, faked out, photographed, frisked, fracked, hacked, tracked, cracked, intercepted, accessed, spied on, zapped, mapped, searched, shot at, tasered, tortured, tackled, trussed up, tricked, lied to, labeled, libeled, leered at, shoved aside, saddled with debt not of our own making, sold a bill of goods about national security, tuned out by those representing us, tossed aside, and taken to the cleaners.

We’ve had our freedoms turned inside out, our democratic structure flipped upside down, and our house of cards left in a shambles.

Seven other states and the District of Columbia allow full-term babies to be killed for any or no reason. Two other states allow full-term, healthy babies to be aborted if they were conceived during rape or through incest. Also, take note of Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Those places are virtual killing fields. They don’t even require the pretense of a “health” reason for women to abort their full-term babies. In those 7 states, there are no bans on abortion at any stage. It’s open season on babies who, through no fault of their own, have the misfortune of being conceived in the wrong womb.

Isis Davis-Marks held nothing back in expressing her bigoted hatred towards all white males, whom she admittedly and broadly regards as liars and sexual predators. Isis further compared all white males to the Honorable Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom she personally believes is guilty of past improprieties against women based solely on the unsubstantiated hearsay of Christine Blasey-Ford.

“When I’m watching the white boy – who is now a white man by this point – on CNN, I’ll remember a racist remark that he said, an unintentional utterance that he made when he had one drink too many at a frat party during sophomore year,” Isis wrote, fantasizing about how she plans to destroy white boys’ lives by dredging up anything she can to tarnish their reputations – if only she remembers to capture that incriminating evidence now.

Isis’ column goes on to denigrate white boys using offensive and derogatory language that, were it to be inverted coming from a white boy against queer, black girls like Isis, would have quickly become a national controversy about “racism” resulting in expulsions and other career-ending punishments. But because a black girl wrote this screed against white boys, nobody except for the independent media and commenters even batted an eye.

Such are the possibilities unleashed by notorious programs like FakeApp, which have enabled bad actors to superimpose the face of unsuspecting victims onto the body of someone else, inviting a predictable flurry of fake celebrity porn. The videos are called deepfakes, and while much has been said about the dangers they impose, the real issues are far broader than you may realize.

Deepfakes are only the first step in a chain of technological developments that will have one distinct end: the creation of AI clones that look, speak, and act just like their templates. Using neural networks and deep learning programs, these clones will first exist in video and in virtual worlds. Whether you’re knowingly involved or not, they’ll provide exacting reproductions of your facial expressions, accent, speech mannerisms, body language, gestures, and movement, going beyond the simple transplanting of faces to offer comprehensive, multidimensional imitations.

In the more distant future, these advances in machine learning will be married to advances in robotics, enabling physical robots to fully assume the form and behavior of particular human beings, both alive and dead. In the process, the nature of individuality and personhood will be altered, as we find ourselves living alongside our own clones and proxies, which will act on our behalf as alternate versions of ourselves. This isn’t Westworld science fiction. It’s already starting to happen.

We’re not sure anyone bought that, though, and now there are several Democratic candidates for president who will be forced to explain whether or not they actually support a bill that aims to – among other things – eliminate every car, boat, and plane in America within ten years.

To endorse the deal, Democrats will have to reconcile a basic belief in capitalism with their support of legislation that guarantees everyone in the country a job, including those who are “unwilling to work.” Additionally, they will have to explain to their constituents why they are on board with a bill that would eliminate the entire transportation sector, in addition to private vehicles. And that’s really only the start of the problems with this bill.

I do not think Brexit will be delivered, ever. We have a Remain prime minister, leading a Remain government, with a Remain Opposition, sending a Remain civil servant to Remain Brussels to discuss Brexit. What could possibly go wrong? The cat was really out of the bag this week. Olly Robbins, top Brexit civil servant and closest ally of Mrs May and directly answerable to her only, was overheard in an EU bar on Tuesday night saying that MPs have a choice, back May's deal or extended Article 50 for a very long time.

The hapless Secretary of State for DexU, floundered on the airwaves yesterday, admitting that talks have taken place in Brussels and London about extending our leaving date. He stated, "We are committed to leaving on the 29th March… any extension is not a unilateral decision". The key word here is 'committed'. That can be reneged upon and that is exactly what is happening.

Language is important, it's the carefully crafted get out clause, briefed by the spin doctors. There has been much talk of brinkmanship from the PM, while the clock is ticking down to the 29th March. I think her cunning plan is to push it to the wire so that MPs on her side vote for her deal whilst threatening a ‘no deal', which is now the people's popular choice.

Let's remember who we're negotiating with. This week in Strasbourg an investigation into German Martyn Selmayr's promotion from Juncker's chief of staff to Commission secretary-general "did not follow EU law, in letter or spirit, and did not follow the Commission's own rules," declared the office of the ombudsman. MEPs condemned Martin Selmayr's appointment, yet they ignore elected politicians.

He's a close friend of Juncker and now occupies the most powerful spot of any Eurocrat. Juncker openly says he lies to defend the Union. Tusk thinks that Brexiteers belong in a 'special hell', not an ordinary devil type of hell and Verhofstadt believes that the guillotine awaits us, which is inciting violence if you're that way inclined. Would you do business with these people?

Sadly, it's farewell to democracy, farewell to fairness, farewell to those voters who really thought they had made a difference and their voices had been heard. Many will never vote again and all will never trust our political classes ever again.

Once upon a time, our beautiful western cities were the envy of the rest of the world, but now they serve as shining examples of America’s accelerating decline.  The worst parts of our major western cities literally look like post-apocalyptic wastelands, and the hordes of zombified homeless people that live in those areas are too drugged-out to care.  The ironic thing is that these cities are not poor.  In fact, San Francisco and Seattle are among the wealthiest cities in the entire nation. 

So if things are falling apart this dramatically now, how bad will things get when economic conditions really start to deteriorate? We like to think that we are setting a positive example to the rest of the world, but the truth is that they are laughing at us. America is in an advanced state of decay, and it is getting worse with each passing year. If we keep doing the same things we will keep getting the same results, and right now there are no signs that the overall direction of this nation will change any time soon.

The cities are massively overcrowded, California has the worst traffic in the western world, drug use and illegal immigration both fuel an astounding amount of crime, tax rates are horrendous and many of the state politicians appear to literally be insane.  And on top of all that, let us not forget the earthquakes, wildfires and landslides that are constantly making headlines all over the world.  Last year was the worst year for wildfires in California history, and these days it seems like the state is hit by some new crisis every few weeks.

But none of those factors are the primary reason why so many people are eager to leave. According to a brand new survey by Edelman Intelligence, the main reason why so many are considering leaving the state is the high cost of living… A growing number of Californians are contemplating moving from the state — and not due to wildfires or earthquakes but the sky-high cost of living, according to a survey released Wednesday.