Microchips could be put under prisoners' skin to track them, tech bosses tell prison minister

Microchips could be inserted under the skin of offenders to track their movements, tech bosses have suggested.

The proposal was put forward by tech bosses as a way of monitoring prisoners in real time and around the clock.

The idea was suggested as part of a 'roundtable' event with the Prisons Minister Lord Timpson and representatives from tech firms.

Other ideas put forward included driverless prison vans and robot-run jails.

The meeting took place last year with representatives from more than 30 companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, but details have only started to emerge now.

Firms also suggested that AI could be used to predict the risk posed by certain individuals.

Lord Timpson told the meeting that 'Once-in-a-generation reform is the only way we can truly deal with the scale of the crisis, cut crime and speed up justice.'

He added: 'I want technology to play an integral role in tackling these problems and making our streets safer.' And he told the tech bosses that the meeting was 'just the start of a new conversation between us and you.'

The minutes of the secretive meeting were released to Foxglove, a group that campaigns against the abuse of tech by governments and companies, following a Freedom of Information request.

The group told prison newspaper Inside Time that the ideas sounded 'alarmingly dystopian'.

They added: 'It's worrying that justice ministers have sat with the tech sector to discuss using robots to manage prisoners, implanting devices under people's skin to track their behaviour, or using computers to 'predict' what they will do in future.'

The Ministry of Justice kept most of the details of the meeting secret at the time, but said the discussion would focus on the 'potential for even more effective tracking of offender movement, using data to aid probation officers to perform better risk assessments and whether digital platforms can help offenders rehabilitate and integrate back into society, cutting reoffending'.

Then-Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood said at the time: 'We need bold ideas to address the challenges that we face – supporting our staff, delivering swifter justice for victims, and cutting crime.

'Today, we have an analogue justice system in a digital age.

'The UK has a world-leading and growing tech sector, and I know our tech firms have a huge role to play in delivering our Plan for Change to make streets safer.'

The MOJ said it was looking to follow up the meeting with an event open to the whole of the industry, inviting them to return and present their ideas to the department.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15865953/Microchips-prisoners-skin-track-tech-bosses-told-prison-minister.html

Banning anti-Zionist rabbis is the enlightened and liberal position

Enlightenment philosophers envisioned open, tolerant societies. But they understood that a community without boundaries is as doomed as a language without grammar.

It’s appalling. The more viciously anti-Zionists libel the State of Israel while targeting all Jews, the more some American Jewish institutions welcome Jewish anti-Zionists into their oh so inclusive “tent.”

Only fools and politicians mistake trendy popularity for moral clarity. And those who won’t defend themselves or their people will never succeed in respecting themselves or earning respect.

Last week, the Reform movement’s rift over anti-Zionist enabling deepened.

Keynoting the Re-Charging Reform Judaism Conference, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch chided the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for welcoming anti-Zionist rabbinical students.

“Any seminary” that “acquires the reputation of being hostile to Zionism” or “ordains anti-Zionist clergy has no future in America,” Hirsch warned.

The seminary’s president, Andrew Rehfeld, blasted Hirsch for embracing “anti-intellectualism” and attacking “the very Enlightenment principles that founded our movement.”

Rehfeld keeps rejecting such “litmus tests,” although the movement wouldn’t ordain male rabbinical students who pray separately from women.

Others ducked, pretending they were being forced to choose between championing social justice or remaining Zionist.

That’s poppycock. Liberal Zionists questioning Israel’s tactics are not Zio-deniers who dishonor Israel’s president or won’t stand for “Hatikvah.” Our blue-and-white tent is broad enough to welcome critical liberal Zionists. Hirsch and others oppose Jewish anti-Zionists whose wish to collapse the tent encourages antisemitic anti-Zionists trying to burn the tent down.

Somehow, if you value a liberal value – like banning racists – you “stand on principle.” But, when it comes to Zionism, the appeasers swallow the slow-acting sweet-tasting poison of inclusivity, suspending “judgment,” warning against “imposing orthodoxies.”

Rehfeld is a distinguished political scientist. Beyond recognizing how illiberal anti-Zionism is, he knows that “Enlightenment” and “intellectualism” don’t mean having no standards or being self-destructive.

Enlightenment philosophers envisioned open, tolerant, societies. But they understood that a community without boundaries is as doomed as a language without grammar.

John Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) championed intellectual freedom, trusting people to find meaning within “the inward persuasion of the mind.” Nevertheless, collectively, Locke warned against embracing positions “prejudicial to the commonweal of a people.”

Locke explained that while the social contract validates dreams of untrammeled freedom, individuals nevertheless sacrificed some liberty to receive governmental protection, join functional communities, and enjoy defined religious and political identities.

Liberals juggle. In Locke’s spirit, academics map out the world, asking questions, to encourage openness while cultivating certain skills. But any rabbinical program – or teaching and leadership institute – should offer blueprints to build one particular house, answering key questions; so in this case the denomination should remain “Reform,” not just some generic religion.

The future of Zionism in Reform Judaism

As a voluntary religious movement in free societies, the Reform movement sidestepped the harder Enlightenment calculation sacrificing genuine, inherent liberties for political benefits. Still, Karl Popper’s 1945 warning about the “paradox of tolerance” remains relevant. In The Open Society and Its Enemies, Popper wrote: “In the name of tolerance, we should claim the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-898093

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Activist Short Seller Convicted for $21M Stock Market Manipulation Scheme

Yesterday a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted an activist short seller of securities fraud for a long-running market manipulation scheme reaping profits of more than $21 million.

“Andrew Left used his expertise to profit at the expense of retail investors, ordinary people who owned the stocks he targeted. He callously boasted that it was like ‘taking candy from a baby,’” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Egregious schemes like this strike at the heart of free, fair and open markets, and warrant prosecution when they involve criminal manipulation. Investors should have confidence that U.S. markets are safe and free from the type of deliberate manipulation that Left engaged in to enrich himself at the expense of American investors.”

“Left used his TV appearances to disguise his intentions, manipulate the stock market, and pad his pockets,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “A fair and transparent securities market is a foundation of our nation’s financial system. We will continue to bring to justice individuals who abuse the public trust placed in financial advisors.”

“Andrew Left abused his position and influence when he devised a scheme known as ‘Short-and-Distort,’ to manipulate the market for personal gain,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). “Now he’s facing the consequences. Postal inspectors and our federal counterparts continue to partner to ensure spreading misleading or false material to the investing public has only one result: jail time.”

“Frauds such as the one perpetrated by Left can erode investor confidence which impacts our capital markets,” said Assistant Director in Charge Patrick Grandy of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. “While this conviction cannot make up for the significant and emotional harm he inflicted upon his unwitting investors, it does send a message to those who may be looking to profit from similar schemes – think twice because the FBI has a proven track record of rooting out fraudsters who illegally tilt the playing field against honest investors and undermine confidence in our markets.”

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/activist-short-seller-convicted-21m-stock-market-manipulation-scheme

Aspiration Partners Co-Founder Sentenced to Prison for $248M Scheme to Defraud Investors and Lenders

A California man who was a co-founder and former board member of Aspiration Partners, Inc., a financial technology and sustainability services company, was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison for a five-year scheme to defraud multiple lenders and investors of at least $248 million.

“Joseph Sanberg preyed on investors and lenders who believed in his vision of environmentally conscious fintech,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Instead of delivering on Aspiration’s promises, he orchestrated a multi-year scheme involving fake clients, sham payments, and deceptive loan collateral that caused at least $248 million in losses to numerous victims. This sentence holds him accountable and serves as a clear warning to others who abuse trust for personal gain and obtain loans from the financial industry based on lies and misrepresentations.”

“This serial fraudster used his Cinderella-like background, impressive educational credentials, and virtue signaling skills to swindle investors and lenders out of hundreds of millions of dollars,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “This criminal case serves as a warning: Anyone can get duped by a con man.”

“As evidenced by this case, Mr. Sanberg selfishly put businesses and clients at risk who expected him to provide a valuable service to protect their interests” said Assistant Director in Charge Patrick Grandy of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. “Along with our law enforcement partners, the FBI will continue to allocate expert resources to investigate and prosecute all those who take advantage of a position of trust to defraud American businesses.”

“Yesterday’s sentencing reflects our commitment to the public,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group. “The reward for lying, stealing, and falsifying records, is jail time.”

According to court documents, Joseph Neal Sanberg, 46, of Orange, California, devised a scheme that began in 2020 and continued into 2025 to use his significant share of Aspiration stock to defraud various lenders and investors. Between 2020 and 2021, Sanberg and Ibrahim AlHusseini, who were both members of Aspiration’s board of directors, fraudulently obtained $145 million in loans from two lenders by pledging shares of Sanberg’s Aspiration stock. In order to secure the loans, Sanberg and AlHusseini falsified AlHusseini’s bank and brokerage statements to fraudulently inflate AlHusseini’s assets by tens of millions of dollars.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/aspiration-partners-co-founder-sentenced-prison-248m-scheme-defraud-investors-and-lenders

So "Pride Month" is in full effect.

As such, I think it's a great time to remember the sage words from the master, Norm Macdonald, and his thoughts Pride.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2061483856394645946