New Mexico county asks governor to send in National Guard to deal with migrants

by Anna Giaritelli

| April 18, 2019 07:08 PM

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/new-mexico-county-asks-governor-to-send-in-national-guard-to-deal-with-migrants

PHOENIX — A New Mexico county near El Paso, Texas, declared a state of emergency Thursday over migrants arriving at and being released in the region.

The board of commissioners in Otero County voted unanimously on the declaration, which includes a request for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., to deploy National Guard troops to the county, which has seen a surge of migrants starting in January.

Local officials gave the state one week to take emergency action and said they will consider suing the state if nothing happens in that time.

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“Otero County will also consider litigation in regards to the State of New Mexico failing to follow its constitutional duties towards the people of Otero County," County Commission Chairman Couy Griffin said in the meeting.

The development comes two days after Yuma, Ariz., a city on the international border, became the first city to declare a state of emergency because it lacks the resources to handle the influx of people.

Commissioners in Otero County have asked that National Guard troops be sent to their region so that agents can return to the field from administrative and other tasks to carry out law enforcement work at the highway checkpoints, which were closed late last month.

"Because of the crisis at the Mexican border, the Border Patrol officers who staff the highway checkpoints on U.S. 70 near the White Sands National Monument and U.S. 54 near Orogrande have been reassigned and the border checkpoints closed. This means that drug traffickers and illegal aliens can enter Otero County freely," the resolution states.

Guardsmen were deployed to the region last April as a result of President Trump's executive action. However, in February, Lujan Grisham pulled the 118 troops working with Customs and Border Protection on the southern border.

Otero County is comprised of around 63,000 residents and includes 6,628 square miles.

The El Paso Border Patrol sector includes all of New Mexico's border and has seen the second-highest number of families arriving at and illegally crossing the southern border since October.

From Oct. 1, 2018, through March 31, agents in the El Paso region apprehended 53,000 people who claimed to be traveling with a family member. Only the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas saw more members of families arrested: 78,000. The other seven sectors along the southwest border saw anywhere from approximately 500 to 25,000 family members.

>>6237411

Great!!

>>6237855

Is that Crystal Caves in Bermuda??

Apr 19, 2019, 03:23am

Facebook Quietly Confirms Millions Of Unencrypted Instagram Passwords Exposed – Change Yours Now

Davey Winder

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/04/19/facebook-quietly-confirms-millions-of-unencrypted-instagram-passwords-exposed-change-yours-now/#66bdaa764453

Hot on the heels of Instagram users being warned about hackers stealing passwords, more password insecurity issues have been disclosed. This time involving Instagram itself. Here's what has happened, and why every Instagram user should change their password now.

What happened?

Last month, Facebook admitted that "some user passwords" were being stored in plain text and went on to state that this included "tens of thousands" of Instagram users. In an update to that original statement posted yesterday, Facebook has confirmed that actually that estimate was a little low. "We now estimate that this issue impacted millions of Instagram users" according to Pedro Canahuati, vice-president of engineering, security and privacy of Facebook, who continued "our investigation has determined that these stored passwords were not internally abused or improperly accessed."

Worrying delay

The fact that it took a month to discover, or at least to disclose, that millions of Instagram user passwords were exposed this way is worrying. As is the fact that the disclosure, when it finally came, arrived quietly as an update to the month old statement rather than as a new notification. Karissa Bell, writing for Mashable, points out that "It's equally troubling that the company would wait for one of the most momentous political events in recent memory to disclose the information" referring to the Mueller report.

What now?

At this point there is no indication of how long those unencrypted passwords have been stored like this, nor how many employees had access to them. For this reason alone, I recommend that every Instagram user doesn't hang around and wait to see if you get an official notification informing you that your password was one of them. Instead, there are two things that you should do right now:

1. Change your Instagram password immediately. To do this go to your Instagram profile and click on the hamburger top right of screen. Select Settings>Privacy and Security>Password. Enter your current password and then enter your new password. Ensure your new password is random and complex, including upper and lower cases, numbers and special characters. Using password manager software makes generating, storing and using such passwords both easy and secure.

1. Enable two-factor authentication for your Instagram account. This is best done using codes from an application such as Google Authenticator. Go to your profile and that hamburger menu again. From the Privacy and Security settings option, select Two-Factor Authentication. Click on the Get Started option and follow the instructions there.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg could be held accountable in FTC settlement, report says

Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY Published 9:49 p.m. ET April 18, 2019 | Updated 11:58 p.m. ET April 18, 2019

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/04/18/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-could-held-accountable-ftc/3515561002/

SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg is in the crosshairs of federal regulators who are considering whether to hold him accountable for privacy lapses in how Facebook handles the data of its more than 2 billion users, according to a published report.

The issue of whether to increase oversight of Facebook's co-founder, CEO and chairman comes as the social media giant is in talks to settle a probe by the Federal Trade Commission that has gone on for more than a year, the Washington Post reported.

"We hope to reach an appropriate and fair resolution," Facebook said late Thursday. The FTC declined to comment.

For Facebook, beset for months by scandals and setbacks, the probe is just another in a long line of challenges. But the FTC penalizing one of corporate America's best known leaders would turn up the pressure on Zuckerberg and send a message with broad implications for Silicon Valley.

The FTC's investigation stems from March 2018 reports that Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to the data of some 87 million Facebook users. At issue is whether Facebook violated an agreement it reached with the FTC in 2011 to safeguard the privacy of its users. On Thursday Facebook admitted it had mishandled the passwords of millions of users of Instagram, which it owns, the latest disclosure that has shaken public confidence in the company.

A fine from the FTC could also run into the billions of dollars and the settlement could limit the way Facebook collects and handles user data which is vital to Facebook's advertising business.

Promises, promises?: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has promised to protect user privacy before. Will this time be different?

Privacy lapses plague Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg pledges Facebook will put 'people first,' avoid past mistakes

Last year when appearing before Congress in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg told lawmakers the buck stops with him at Facebook.

“I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here,” he told lawmakers. But he also insisted that the privacy lapse did not violate Facebook's agreement with the FTC.

Other agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission have also probed what happened with Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook used to be treated like royalty in Washington, D.C., but has been getting the cold shoulder recently as it grapples with the fallout from Russian election interference and other troubles. The tech giant is not alone.

Regulators have intensified their scrutiny and lawmakers have stepped up their rhetoric. This "tech lash" is also a hot topic on the campaign trail. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been most aggressive, calling for the break up of Amazon, Google and Facebook through antitrust laws and stricter regulation of how firms stockpile vast amounts personal data.

Facebook's troubles with Republicans: Ted Cruz threatens to regulate Facebook, Google and Twitter over charges of anti-conservative bias

Facebook could face more regulation: Facebook, Twitter face threat of regulation as Congress criticizes response to Russia, bias claims