News
DC, Maryland: Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide Evidence. The firms operating red light cameras and speed cameras in the District of Columbia and Maryland are working to suppress evidence that could be used to prove the innocence of a photo enforcement ticket recipient. In Washington, the Arizona-based vendor American Traffic Solutions has repositioned cameras and cropped photos so that it is impossible to determine whether another object or vehicle happens to be within the radar unit’s field of view. TheNewspaper.com
The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership. The NSA is also in the business of spying on everyone, and it has realized it’s far easier to collect all the data from these corporations rather than from us directly. In some cases, the NSA asks for this data nicely. In other cases, it makes use of subtle threats or overt pressure. If that doesn’t work, it uses tools like national security letters. The result is a corporate-government surveillance partnership, one that allows both the government and corporations to get away with things they couldn’t otherwise. Bloomberg
WA: A year after privatization, liquor thefts rampant. More than a year after Washington privatized liquor sales stores continue to deal with brazen shoplifters. Right now stores don’t have to disclose what’s been stolen but lawmakers are hoping to change that. While stores don’t have to disclose what’s being stolen, Dian Lee, who lives in the Logan neighborhood, only has to look around her neighborhood and behind the grocery store to see how much is being stolen. KXLY Spokane
OH: Ohio to Privatize Inmate Meal Services. Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) has awarded a two-year contract to Philadelphia-based Aramark to provide meal services to the state’s 50,000 inmates. Expected to save approximately $14 million annually during a time of a $60 million deficit, Aramark won the bid with a cost of $3.61 per inmate, per day. Correctional News
IL: City’s defense of privatizing Midway suggests deal likely soon. With two bidders still on the runway, a top mayoral aide on Thursday appeared to lay the groundwork for privatizing Midway Airport to help solve Chicago’s pension crisis and rebuild the city’s neighborhoods. Chicago Sun-Times