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‘Genetic Paparazzi’ Could Steal Celebrity DNA For Dark Purposes, Professor Warns

Celebrity fans can sometimes be passionate and bordering on crazy, and now there’s a worry that infatuation could get more obsessive and even sinister.

Experts are now warning against ‘genetic paparazzi’ and the potential rise of ‘celebrity DNA theft’. Yes that’s right, actual stealing of DNA.

Law professors from Georgia State University and the University of Maryland are now arguing that ‘genetic paparazzi’ could soon be coming after the DNA of public figures, including celebrities and politicians.

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Blog, Criminal, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

Justice Department Announces Charges Against Alleged Gun Trafficker

Over 70 Guns Purchased in Just Six Months

The Justice Department announced today that a man who allegedly purchased guns later used in multiple incidents in the United States and Canada has been charged with federal firearm crimes. According to court documents, Demontre Antwon Hackworth, 31, allegedly purchased at least 92 guns from federally licensed firearms dealers, including 75 guns in just six months from a single dealer that later relinquished its seller’s license.

“As part of the Department-wide anti-violent crime strategy we launched last year, we are marshalling the resources of every one of our U.S. Attorneys’ offices, law enforcement agencies, grant-making entities, and other components to work in partnership with state and local law enforcement to disrupt violent crime,” said Attorney General Merrick B Garland. “We are cracking down on the criminal gun-trafficking pipelines that flood our communities with illegal guns, and we have instructed our federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents to prioritize prosecutions of those who are responsible for the greatest gun violence. The case we are announcing today is just one example of those efforts.”

“The second amendment protects the rights of law-abiding citizens – but not prohibited persons, or those who arm them,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham for the Northern District of Texas. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office, ATF Dallas, and the entire Department of Justice is working our level best to keep guns away from dangerous offenders before they can put finger to

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Sinn Fein leader: UK about to break international law

London is preparing unilateral changes to the protocol governing trade in Northern Ireland post-Brexit. The head of Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party accused Boris Johnson’s government of choosing a “destructive path.”

A day before the UK is set to unveil new legislation on Northern Ireland, the head of Irish Sinn Fein party, Mary Lou McDonald said the changes would “undoubtedly” breach international law.

The UK government has remained tight-lipped on the details of its plan. But the UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told British broadcaster Sky News that the changes would be “lawful and correct.”

Northern Ireland Protocol — a source of discord

The legislation, due to come into force on Monday, will affect the existing Northern Ireland protocol negotiated by the EU and the government led by current Prime Minister Boris Johnson after Britain officially left the bloc in 2020. The accord allows for the Republic of Ireland to maintain a de-facto open border with Northern Ireland, which is a part of the UK. One of the provisions requires checks on goods arriving from England, Scotland, and Wales, to prevent them from entering the EU’s single market. London is expected to scrap most of the checks.

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Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Legal News

IT’S NO LONGER A FEDERAL CRIME TO PROBE ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR DISCRIMINATION, THANKS TO HELP OF NORTHEASTERN RESEARCHERS

In a big win for computer scientists and other online researchers, the U.S. Department of Justice recently updated its official charging memo—an internal document used to determine whether federal prosecutors should pursue criminal charges—for computer-fraud cases.

Alan Mislove. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

The updated memo includes a carve-out for researchers who create dummy accounts on social-media platforms in order to study the propriety algorithms for evidence of bias, discrimination or breaches in security. Among those researchers? Alan Mislove and Christo Wilson, two faculty members in Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, who were part of a lawsuit that aimed to make such a change to the federal statutes.

This is a big step in the right direction for online research,” says Mislove, professor of computer science and associate dean for academic affairs atin the Khoury College, “but the problem still isn’t completely solved.”

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Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Dom Phillips: Officials link disappearance of British journalist in Brazil to ‘fish mafia

Dom Phillips went missing with indigenous official Bruno Pereira on 5 June in western Brazil. Police have since found blood on a suspect’s boat and “apparently human” material in the Amazonian rainforest.

The disappearance of a British journalist in Brazil has been linked to an international network that pays poor fishermen to illegally fish in the country’s second-largest indigenous territory, authorities said.

Journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous official Bruno Pereira were last seen on 5 June near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which sits near the borders of Peru and Colombia in western Brazil.

The two men were in the Sao Rafael community and were returning by boat to the nearby city of Atalaia do Norte but never arrived.

Local volunteers, the army, civil defence officials and state police have been searching for the pair since they went missing and police have launched a criminal investigation.

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