Day: March 13, 2020

The EARN IT Bill Is the Government’s Plan to Scan Every Message Online

Ms. Cat

Imagine an Internet where the law required every message sent to be read by government-approved scanning software. Companies that handle such messages wouldn’t be allowed to securely encrypt them, or they’d lose legal protections that allow them to operate.Take ActionStop the Graham-Blumenthal…
— Read on www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/earn-it-bill-governments-not-so-secret-plan-scan-every-message-online

03.13.2020 – Tonight’s Coronavirus News

Ms. Cat

H/T MoA

White House Knew Of Coronavirus’ ‘Major Threat,’ But Response Fell Short

“The president said that health insurers had waived the cost of treatment for coronavirus. That’s no small thing. Patients who are afflicted can end up in the hospital for weeks. That could have been a multibillion-dollar decision. But as my Politico colleague Sarah Owermohle first reported, insurers had only waived the cost of testing, and that had already been established in White House meetings.”

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Here’s What Trump Can Do in a Coronavirus National Emergency

Ms. Cat

The Stafford Act allows the Trump administration to throw around plenty of cash, but it doesn’t let the president do anything truly crazy — like postpone the 2020 election or suspend the rule of law.
— Read on www.vice.com/en_us/article/7kzmme/heres-what-trump-can-do-in-a-coronavirus-national-emergency

Statutes Available Upon Declaration of a National Emergency

21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3

Secretary of Health and Human Services may authorize the use of an unapproved drug, device, or biological product, or an unapproved use of an approved drug, device, or biological product (2004)

How the Biogen leadership conference in Boston spread the coronavirus

Ms. Cat

Biogen officials reached out to public health authorities in Massachusetts on March 3, according to a document obtained by the Globe, to report a cluster of about 50 conference attendees with flu-like symptoms in this region and overseas. Those officials were told that the cases did not satisfy requirements for testing.
— Read on www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/11/nation/how-biogen-leadership-conference-boston-spread-coronavirus/